African Scientific Network

African Scientific Network Educators without borders, Empowering the African faculty members and students through networking and information

News and information on science, mathematics, engineering and technology research and education in Africa

CD-ROM Project
Abebe Kebede, NC A&T State University
Reggie Smith, University of Virgina

The advent of information technology made it possible for learners to develop crucial skills to solve problems. As a supplement to classroom instructions we propose to develop a mega CD-ROM for science,mathematics,engineering and technology courses. The contents of the CD-ROM include simple computer simulations, virtual demonstrations and literature resources. The resources will be linked to virtual libraries, laboratories and facilitators. The resources will also include lecture, test banks, assessment tools, and fully developed courses with faculty members spread across the virtual world. In the first phase of the project we will target introductory science and math courses, and in the second phase we will target advanced courses and in the third phase we will target interdisciplinary courses.

Call for collaoration

A group of faculty members in the US are working with a group of physicists, mostly from Africa, who are interested in helping their colleagues on the continent obtain free software for scientific and educational use. Often, many science departments in Africa have little or almost nonexistent funding to purchase new software packages, especially for scientific research or education. Some know of the free software available but say it takes up large amounts of time over often slow internet connections to find and obtain it. I am asking for any recommendations on freeware or open source software, for any operating
system, that anyone knows about. We are looking at the Debian version of Linux for a lot of the great software that comes with it but resources for MS Windows would be helpful as well. Free educational software of any level is appreciated though we prefer college and graduate level
software. Also, field specific software is great, e.g. software for condensed matter physics, computational physics, mechanics, electomagnetism, particle physics, general relativity etc. Eventually we'll probably combine the software on CDs to be distributed to
these scientists. Any help is appreciated especially with programs that perform simulations, mathematical and statistical analysis and plotting, compilers, lab software, etc. The users of the software will most likely be physicists or mathematicians.

For further information please contact
Reggie Smith (reggiesmith@alumni.virginia.edu)
or Abebe Kebede (gutaye@ncat.edu),

Since this is a group effort, we welcome educators to participate in development of the CD-ROM.
Sincerely, Abebe Kebede

We eventually build the science, mathematics, engineering and technology component of the Africa Lecture Hall

World Lecture Hall Links

Contents of CD ROM

GAMESS Quantum chemistry software
Web Link: http://www.msg.ameslab.gov/GAMESS/GAMESS.html
Download:
We must register with them and get a password

Copyright info: http://www.msg.ameslab.gov/GAMESS/dist.menu.html
We will have to write them for a free academic site-license

MOLMOL
MOLecule analysis and MOLecule display
Web Link: http://www.mol.biol.ethz.ch/wuthrich/software/molmol/
Download:
Win: ftp://ftp.mol.biol.ethz.ch/software/MOLMOL/
Download all files in Win directory

Unix/Linux: ftp://ftp.mol.biol.ethz.ch/software/MOLMOL/
Download all files in unix directory

RasMol Graphical visualization of proteins, nucleic
acids, and small molecules
Web Link: http://openrasmol.org/
Download:
http://www.bernstein-plus-sons.com/software/rasmol/
Download all files for win, mac, and unix versions

MIDAS, Data Acquisition System
Web Link: http://midas.psi.ch/
Download: http://midas.psi.ch/

Go to download button and download the following files
for all versions:

CHANGELOG
COPYING

For NT:
INSTALL_NT
cern_lib_nt_1997.zip
cern_lib_nt_2000.zip
zlib104.zip
midas192.exe

For Unix:
INSTALL_UNIX
cernlib_osf1.tar.gz
zlib-1.0.4.tar.gz
midas-1.9.2.tar.gz

CERN's PAW Physics Analysis Workstation
Web Link: http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/asd/paw/index.html
Download: http://wwwinfo.cern.ch/asd/cernlib/version.html

For WinNT get: README, all binaries and all libraries (note if we need more space these are all available compressed
in the compressed tar section).

For LinuxRH6.1 get README, binaries, libraries. Again all versions are available compressed in the tar section.

PHYSICA - Data Analysis and Visualisation Software
Web Link: http://www.triumf.ca/physica/html/homepage.html
Download: ftp://csftp.triumf.ca/pub/CompServ/physica/
Windows: Get all files under windows/fortran-version (note this is only a preliminary version) and aareadme file
Linux: in linux folder get physica.v2.57.tar.gz and physica.v2.57-link.tar.gz and aareadme file.

Documentation: http://www.triumf.ca/people/chuma/physica/docs.html
Copyright info: ??? Must email

SciLab Numerical computations and analysis
Web Link: http://www-rocq.inria.fr/scilab/
Download: ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/Meta2/Scilab/distributions
win: scilab26.exe
linux: scilab2.5.bin.linux-i686.tar.gz

Documentation: http://www-rocq.inria.fr/scilab/doc.html
Copyright info: ??? Email

UTSCSA Image Analysis Program
Web Link: http://ddsdx.uthscsa.edu/dig/
Download: http://ddsdx.uthscsa.edu/dig/download.html WINDOWS ONLY!!
Download everything under 3.0 (windows only)

GRI Scientific graphics programming
Web Link: http://gri.sourceforge.net/
Download: http://gri.sourceforge.net/download.php
windows: gri-2.8.6-bin.zip
gri-2.8.6-doc.zip
gri-2.8.6-src.zip
linux: follow directions for GNU version of linux

Documentation: http://gri.sourceforge.net/gri.pdf
Copyright info: ??? I think it's free for all though.

Gnuplot Graphing and analysis
Web Link: http://www.gnuplot.info/
Download: ftp://ftp.gnuplot.info/pub/gnuplot/
win:gp371cyg.zip gpdoc.zip gpdoc2.zip
linux:gnuplot-3.7.1.tar.gz gpdoc.zip gpdoc2.zip

SciGraphica Data analysis and technical graphics
Web Link: http://scigraphica.sourceforge.net/
Download: http://scigraphica.sourceforge.net/download.html
Hold off on this, there is a lot of accessory stuff you need

Documentation: http://scigraphica.sourceforge.net/documentation.html
Copyright info: ??? I think it's free for all though.

GRACE, 2D Plotting Tool
Web Link: http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/Grace/
Download: ftp://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/pub/grace/
linux: grace-latest.tar.gz

Documentation: http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/Grace/doc/UsersGuide.html
Copyright info: http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/Grace/doc/GPL.html
GNU so it's free for all!

StatLib Collection of statistical software
Web Link: http://lib.stat.cmu.edu/
Just a statistics repository

Istat Statistical analysis
Web Link: http://www.acm.org/~perlman/stat/
Download: Must email asking permission
Documentation: http://www.acm.org/~perlman/stat/introman.html
Copyright info:Ask permission

The Visualization Toolkit Routines to help to 3d
graphics & image processing in C++
Web Link: http://public.kitware.com/VTK
Download: http://public.kitware.com/VTK/get-software.php
Look at "what to download" on home page. I don't know how useful this is without a
textbook though.

Documentation: Must buy a textbook
Copyright info:http://public.kitware.com/VTK/copyright.php
Reproduce as long as copyright is included.

Geomview is an interactive 3D viewing program for Unix
Web Link: http://www.geomview.org/
Download: http://www.geomview.org/download/

Red hat linux:
geomview-1.8.1-4.i386.rpm
lesstif-0.93.15-4.i586.rpm (to install geomview)
also download the source code here: http://ftp1.sourceforge.net/geomview/geomview-1.8.1.tar.gz
includes documentation in the first two files.

Documentation: http://www.geomview.org/docs/
Copyright info: Reproduce as long as copyright is included.

Keduca Exam Making Software
Web Link: http://keduca.sourceforge.net/
Download: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=8615
linux: keduca-0.4.tar.gz

Documentation: ?
Copyright info: GNU

Ptolemy - Embedded Systems Design
Web Link: http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/
Download: http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/download/main.htm
Documentation: Which version do we want?
Copyright info: Email ??

GAP System Abstract algebra, discrete math, group theory, etc.
Web Link: http://www.gap-system.org/
Download: http://www.gap-system.org/Info4/distrib.html
Directions for each OS are clear on download page.
Documentation: http://www.gap-system.org/Info4/manual.html
Copyright info: http://www.gap-system.org/Info/copyright.html
Free for all!

Octave - MATLAB like programming environment
Web Link: http://www.octave.org/
Download: http://www.octave.org/download.html

Win: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=5882&release_id=110138
Linux: octave-2.0.17.tar.gz at ftp://ftp.octave.org/pub/octave/

Documentation: in program
Copyright info: GNU!
Free for all!

EULER Numerical analysis environment
Web Link: http://mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/MGF/homes/grothmann/euler/
Download: http://mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/MGF/homes/grothmann/euler/
win: ftp://mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/pub/grothmann/euler95i.exe
Linux: http://euler.sourceforge.net/
source code: ftp://mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/pub/grothmann/eulersrc.zip
Documentation: http://mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/MGF/homes/grothmann/euler/eulerdoc.html
Copyright info: GNU!
Free for all!

MUPAD - Mathematica like system
Web Link: http://www.mupad.de/index_uni.shtml
Download: http://www.mupad.de/download.shtml
Documentation: http://mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/MGF/homes/grothmann/euler/eulerdoc.html
Copyright info:http://www.mupad.de/personal.shtml
Must ask; only unix version is free

Graph Thing - Mathematical Graph Theory
Web Link: http://members.optushome.com.au/davidsymonds/gt/
Download: http://members.optushome.com.au/davidsymonds/gt/ (bottom of page)
linux: ChangeLog , graphthing-0.7.tar.gz

Documentation: ???
Copyright info: GNU!

BLAS Linear Algebra Subroutines
http://www.netlib.org/blas/index.html

LAPACK -- Linear Algebra PACKage
Web Link: http://www.netlib.org/lapack/
Download: http://www.netlib.org/lapack/lawn41/index.html uhh..this looks complicated
Documentation: http://www.netlib.org/lapack/lug/index.html
Copyright info: ?? email

TISEAN Nonlinear dynamics and chaos
Web Link: http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/
Download: http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/TISEAN_2.1/index.html

Win:http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/TISEAN_2.1-windows.zip docs & src:http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/TISEAN_2.1.zip
Linux:http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/TISEAN_2.1-linux.tar.gz docs & src:http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/TISEAN_2.1.tar.gz

Documentation: http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/TISEAN_2.1/index.html
Copyright info:http://www.mpipks-dresden.mpg.de/~tisean/TISEAN_2.1/index.html
Free

PariGP - Number Theory
Web Link: http://www.parigp-home.de/
Download: http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari/00index.html
Win: http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari-2.1/windows/gp-2-1-3.exe.gz
Linux:http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari-2.1/pari-2.1.4.tar.gz
Mac:http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari-2.0/mac/gp-2.0.14.sit.bin

For all OS also get:
docs: http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari-2.1/manuals/users.ps.gz
linux also needs: http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari-2.1/manuals/INSTALL.ps.gz
Tutorial: http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari-2.1/manuals/refcard.ps.gz
Reference card: http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari-2.1/manuals/refcard.pdf

Documentation: http://www.gn-50uma.de/ftp/pari/00index.html#man
Copyright info: ?? email

Programmer's Playground -- Distributed Computing Resources
Web Link: http://www.cs.wustl.edu/cs/playground/
Download: http://www.cs.wustl.edu/cs/playground/release/v3.10.1/

Win: Documentation: docs.zip
     Developer Edition: sources.zip
     User Edition:      Windows NT4.0 + SP4 (VC6.0 + SP3) .zip
                        Windows NT4.0 + SP4 (VC6.0 + SP3) Part 1 .zip
                        Windows NT4.0 + SP4 (VC6.0 + SP3) Part 2 .zip
Linux: Documentation: docs.tar.gz
     Developer Edition: sources.tar.gz
     User Edition: Intel Linux (Redhat 6.0 2.2.5-15) .tar.gz

Documentation: http://www.cs.wustl.edu/cs/playground/release/v3.10.1/
Copyright info: http://www.cs.wustl.edu/cs/playground/release/v3.10.1/install/license.html
we should still email them

Starlink -- Astronomical Analysis
Web Link: http://star-www.rl.ac.uk/
Download: Sent through the mail
Documentation: http://star-www.rl.ac.uk/Documentation/documentation.htm
Copyright info: http://www.starlink.rl.ac.uk/store/conditions.html
still email them

IRAF Astronomy and Image processing
Web Link: http://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/web/iraf-homepage.html
Download: ftp://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/v212/
Linux:ib.lnux.x86.gz , nb.lnux.x86.gz, pciraf.ps.gz, unixsmg.ps.gz
Mac: ib.macx.x86.gz , nb.macx.x86.gz, pciraf.ps.gz, unixsmg.ps.gz
Note there is a GUI but it's too big to bother installing (54 MB)
Documentation: http://iraf.noao.edu/iraf/web/docs/docmain.html
Copyright info: Says free on main page but let's email
ISOTOPIC PATTERN CALCULATOR (Mass Spectroscopy)
Web Link: http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/MathNat/pc1-AK_Weinkauf/ipc/ipc_d.html
Download: http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/MathNat/pc1-AK_Weinkauf/ipc/ipc-1.1.tar.gz
use link above. Linux only but can work in windows with cygwin
Documentation: hopefully wiht file
Copyright info: ?? email

Python programming language
Web Link: http://www.python.org/
Download: http://www.python.org/download/
Windows: Python-2.2.2.exe, html-2.2.2.zip (At http://www.python.org/ftp/python/doc/2.2.2/)
Linux: Python-2.2.2.tgz, html-2.2.2.tgz (At http://www.python.org/ftp/python/doc/2.2.2/)
Mac: Python-2.2.2.tgz, html-2.2.2.tgz (At http://www.python.org/ftp/python/doc/2.2.2/)
Documentation: http://www.python.org/doc/
Copyright info: GNU!

Numerical Python Module
Web Link: http://www.pfdubois.com/numpy/
Download: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=1369
Win: numarray-0.3.6.win32-py2.2.exe, numarray-0.3.6.zip, Numeric-22.0.win32-py2.2.exe, Numeric-22.0.zip, NumTut.tgz
Linux & Mac: numarray-0.3.6-html.tar.gz, Numeric-22.0.tar.gz, NumTut.tgz
Documentation: http://www.pfdubois.com/numpy/html2/numpy.html
Copyright info: I think GNU but we should email

Scientific Python - Libraries for science in Python
Web Link: http://www.scipy.org/
Download: http://www.scipy.org/site_content/download_list
Win: SciPy-0.2.0_alpha_145.4398.win32-py2.1.exe, http://www.scipy.org/site_content/tutorials/tutorial.tgz
Linux: SciPy-0.2.0_alpha_144.4350_src.tar.gz, SciPy-0.2.0_alpha_105.3699.linux2_py2.1.tar.gz, http://www.scipy.org/site_content/tutorials/tutorial.tgz
Documentation: http://www.scipy.org/site_content/tutorials
Copyright info: GNU!

Stony Brook Algorithm Repository
http://www.cs.sunysb.edu/~algorith/index.html

LaTex Typesetting program
Web Link: http://www.latex-project.org/
Download: ftp://ctan.tug.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/
Documentation: http://www.latex-project.org/guides.html
Copyright info: GNU!

Lyx - Graphical Front-End for LaTex
Web Link: http://www.lyx.org/
Download: http://www.lyx.org/download/
Documentation: ??
Copyright info: GNU!

We need cygwin and other accessories