alphaMELTS 1.9
Download alphaMELTS
The current version is 1.9 posted on August 30th, 2018
α alphaMELTS software is available in compiled executable form, for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Supplementary updates of the alphamelts executable, without the ancillary files, are provided for bug-fixes and new features. A lightweight Linux VirtualBox installation of alphaMELTS provides an alternative to activating the 'Windows Subsystem for Linux' or installing the Perl program on Windows. See the list of pros and cons if you are trying to choose between WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) alphaMELTS, VM (virtual machine) alphaMELTS and the native Windows version.
Click the button to download the compressed disk image (requires javascript). The following software is preinstalled in VM alphaMELTS 1.9:The button will download the 32-bit version. An alternative download link is available for the 32-bit version (please log in!), and for the 64-bit version (please log in!). Please see the *README* for a package file list, a list of changes since previous alphaMELTS versions, and checksums for downloads. To reset this page and display the WSL and VM alphaMELTS pros and cons, click the DOWNLOAD tab above.
- Lubuntu 18.04: Bionic Beaver
- alphaMELTS 1.9: package details
- alphaMELTS 2.0 (beta): brief description on forum
- alphaMELTS for MATLAB/Python, with Pyzo: AGU abstract; Pyzo software site
- rhyolite-MELTS GUI: details on the Mac OS X site
- Meltsout-II: program details
- MELTS-PEC-corrector: program details; Kress & Ghiorso (2004)
- VMD: details on Thoretical and Computational Biophysics Group site
- VirtualBox Guest Additions 5.2.34: details on the VirtualBox site
VM alphaMELTS has its own installation process that is not included in the main documentation. Once completed, please read the Welcome to VM alphaMELTS forum post. The Linux and VM alphaMELTS board has topics that may help getting started with VirutalBox and/or Lubuntu.
This will be the last version of VM alphaMELTS posted. If you have previously installed VM alphaMELTS, we recommend you replace the entire virtual machine with the latest VM alphaMELTS version (based on Lubutnu 18.04). Support for alphaMELTS (and rhyolite-MELTS) will be 64-bit only from now on; Linux updates can be applied within the virutal machine (see below).
Before installing VM alphaMELTS for the first time:- If you have not done so before then Download VirtualBox (ideally you should use a version that is at least as recent as the Guest Additions installed in the VM, currrently 5.2.34). For Windows you should be able to simply double-click the installer and choose default settings. Optionally, download and install the Extension Pack for your version of VirtualBox. Reboot your computer after installing VirtualBox.
- On the host operating system (i.e. probably Windows) make a folder to be shared with the VM alphaMELTS guest. It is simplest, but not necessary, for the folder to be called 'Shared' and it can be located anywhere in the user's homespace. Put a file in the folder for testing purposes (see later).
- The 'Host key' is used to switch between different VirtualBox viewing options, such as seamless and fullscreen. On Windows it defaults to one of the Ctrl keys but you probably want to reserve those for copying (Ctrl+C) and pasting (Ctrl+V) between host and guest operating systems. To change the Host key to another one, e.g. Right Alt or a combination of keys, open the VirtualBox Preferences and choose 'Input' ('Virtual Machine').
- Download the alphaMELTS_Lubuntu_32.ova or alphaMELTS_Lubuntu_64.ova archive from above; there is no need to decompress it. In general you should choose the version - 32-bit or 64-bit - that matches your operating system, but if one does not work then try the other.
- As the file is large, it is worth making sure that it downloaded correctly by checking against the hash values in the *README* file. There are built-in checksum tools on Linux (md5sum; shasum) and Mac (md5; shasum). On Windows, open cmd.exe and type 'CertUtil -hashfile FILE HASH' where FILE is the path to the file to check (i.e. alphaMELTS_Lubuntu_32.ova or alphaMELTS_Lubuntu_64.ova) and HASH is either 'MD5' or 'SHA1'.
- Open VirtualBox, select 'Import Appliance' from the 'File' menu. Navigate to the alphaMELTS_Lubuntu_bits.ova file, where bits is either '32' or '64'. Once installation is complete you will be able to delete the alphaMELTS_Lubuntu_bits.ova file.
- The default memory allocation of 512 MB will be good for most modern systems but reduce it to between 256 MB and 384 MB if your machine has less than 1.5 GB RAM in total. Generally, somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 of the total RAM will work well. You can always adjust this quantity later.
- You can increase this number of processors available to the virtual machine, up to the total number of physical cores on the host (not including hyperthreading), but a single virtual processor should be fine in most cases.
- Make sure to check the 'Reinitialize the MAC address of all network cards' box, especially if you are using this software for a class (else you may get network conflicts if anyone else in your department also uses VM alphaMELTS).
- Once VirtualBox has imported and set up the 'alphaMELTS Lubuntu' machine, select it and click the Settings cog. Choose 'Shared Folders', at the bottom, and then select the 'Shared' Machine Folder. You can edit the folder using the middle button or, better, delete and recreate it. Select 'Other' from the 'Folder Path' drop down menu and navigate to the folder on the host system that you created earlier. This may reset the 'Folder Name' so change it back to 'Shared'. Make sure the 'Automount' box is checked and, if available, also check the 'Make Permanent' box, before clicking OK.
- You should now be able to start up the 'alphaMELTS Lubuntu bits' machine. If the virtual machine fails to boot properly: (1) close the window and power down the virtual machine; (2) exit VirtualBox and reboot your computer, i.e. the host machine; (3) try starting the virtual machine again; (4) if it still does not work then download and installing the other version (i.e. 32-bit or 64-bit); (5) delete the non-working virtual machine by right clicking on it, select 'Remove...', and then 'Delete all files'.
- By default you will automatically be logged in as a user called 'VM alphaMELTS', short name 'melts'. No password is required for logging in but it may be needed, for example, if you want to update or install additional software. The password (which is case sensitive) is the former name of alphaMELTS, as seen here or by clicking the HOME tab above. The machine state is now like it would be if you had followed instructions in the 'Installation' section of the documentation (including setting the PATH variable) with '/home/melts/bin' as the links_folder. The installation_folder can be found within '~/MELTS' (where '~' is shorthand for the melts user's home space).
- There is a link to the Shared folder on the Desktop; double click it to make sure you can see the test file. If you cannot see the folder link, then Guest Additions may need updating. See this forum post about troubleshooting Shared folder(s).
- First make sure that your working files are safely backed up! Copy all files to a location outside the virtual hard disk so they can be transferred to the new virtual hard disk when you are done. The easiest way is to put everythin in the Shared folder, described above.
- If you have enough (real) hard disk space, consider keeping a copy of the most recent machine state in case any working files are accidentally overwritten or other problems occur; you might want to rename the old 'alphaMELTS Lubuntu bits' machine by choosing the 'Settings' cog when the machine is powered down. Otherwise delete the old 'alphaMELTS Lubuntu bits' (or 'MELTS Lubuntu bits') machine by right clicking on it, when off, and selecting 'Remove...'. Make sure to choose the 'Delete all files' option or you will get an error in the next step.
- Download the MELTS_Lubuntu_bits.ova archive and follow the installation instructions given above. If you did not rename or remove the old 'alphaMELTS Lubuntu' machine in the previous step then check that the new one has a different name in the Appliance settings.
- To keep Lubuntu up to date with security patches etc. (recommended) use the 'Software Updater' button on the top panel. You may need to enter the password to install updates.
- To update alphaMELTS (including version 2), download the Linux version of the updates. Choose Linux alphaMELTS on the right for instructions. If you use the default locations for the installation and links folders then the desktop alphaMELTS links will automatically point to the new version.
- To update rhyolite-MELTS, download the new Ubuntu file from the Linux Download site. Unzip and use it to replace the file in the MELTS folder your homespace. Make sure the new file is called Melts-rhyolite-public. If the old file had a different name, or if you have renamed the MELTS folder, then open a Terminal and type 'cd bin', followed by 'ln -sf ../MELTS/Melts-rhyolite-public Melts-rhyolite' (replace '../MELTS' with the correct path if necessary). This will ensure that the Desktop link works and that the updated rhyolite-MELTS is available in the user's path.
Consult the documentation (please right-click and choose 'Save As...' or similar) to get the alphaMELTS software running correctly, including the sections on 'Setting up alphaMELTS', 'Bugs and Fixes', and 'What to do if (pH)MELTS misbehaves' (opens in a separate window). Also check the Errata and bug fixes section of the alphaMELTS support page for any temporary problems and workarounds (last updated July 4th, 2020).
Note: the alphaMELTS GitList server contains the very latest versions of the scripts and example files for alphaMELTS. Some of these files may be under development and will not necessarily work correctly with the publicly available alphamelts executable. When minor bug fixes are made to scripts or example files, between alphaMELTS releases, a link to the appropriately dated GitList version of the file(s) will be given on the alphaMELTS support page.
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