February 5th, 2020: alphaMELTS 2, and alphaMELTS for MATLAB/Python latest news

[Paula]

alphaMELTS 2 has a brand new Windows version! The recommended way to run alphaMELTS 2 on Windows 10 is still to use the Linux version in the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). But if you already have the native Windows version of alphaMELTS 1.9 and would like the same workflow, or if you are not able to use the WSL, you can now access a fully-featured native Windows version of alphaMELTS 2.

alphaMELTS 2 and alphaMELTS for MATLAB/Python have moved slightly, and can now both be found in the alphaMELTS GitLab group. If you are interested in either, please sign up for GitLab and send me your username, so you can be added to the group. If you previously accessed either alphaMELTS 2 or alphaMELTS for MATLAB/Python, you should find that the old links redirect to the new ones. You may need to sign up for notifications of updates again - see the READMEs for details.

Want to learn more about the new alphaMELTS interfaces? Please join us for a two-day workshop at Goldschmidt 2020, June 20-21, in Hawaii. We will focus on alphaMELTS 2 and alphaMELTS for MATLAB/Python. This workshop will differ from previous (alpha)MELTS workshops in that it will be structured so that participants can attend either or both days, depending on their needs and previous experience. For more details and links see the forum workshop announcement. Hope to see you in Hawaii!

While you are at Goldschmidt 2020... our session 05e should be relevant to anyone using (alpha)MELTS, or other models or techniques, to study magmatic processes like partial melting, reactive transport, melt migration, and crystallization. We invite you to submit an abstract and join us on the day. The abstract submission deadline is February 14th, 23:59 HST (GMT-10). For more details and links see the forum session announcement.

Windows 10 will be the only version of Windows supported for alphaMELTS 2, now that Microsoft has stopped supporting Windows 7. In other Windows-related news, the next generation Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2) is scheduled to go public in the first half of 2020. WSL 2 promises significantly better performance than the original WSL, but may interfere with VirtualBox or other virtualization software.

Windows 7's end of life also means that there will not be updates to alphaMELTS 1.9. We are in the process of transferring more features from alphaMELTS 1.9 to alphaMELTS 2. Currently working on melt aggregation and AFC, with trace elements to follow before the Goldschmidt workshop. Let us know if there are other features you would like prioritized - we can't make promises, but will try to accommodate any requests!

VM alphaMELTS will have a new version posted soon, this time based on Lubuntu 18.04. Note that, as VirtualBox will be removing support for 32-bit host machines in July, we will also be removing all 32-bit support by then. If you are actively using the 32-bit version, please let us know and we will continue to provide 32-bit VM alphaMELTS updates for the next few months.

Thank you for your continued interest in alphaMELTS!

Best wishes,
Paula and Paul