hi folks... i'm working on SALOME: http://www.salome-platform.org a fantastic project, who doesn't know here some features: SALOME is a free software that provides a generic platform for Pre and Post-Processing for numerical simulation. It is based on an open and flexible architecture made of reusable components available as free software. It is open-source (LGPL), and you can download both the sourcecode and the executables from this site. Salome Platform: * Supports interoperability between CAD modeling and computation software (CAD-CAE link) * Makes easier the integration of new components on heterogeneous systems for numerical computation * Sets the priority to multi-physics coupling between computation software * Provides a generic user interface, user-friendly and efficient, which helps to reduce the costs and delays of carrying out the studies * Reduces training time to the specific time for learning the software solution which has been based on this platform * All functionalities are accessible through the programmatic integrated Python console * Create/modify, import/export (IGES, STEP), repair/clean CAD models * Mesh CAD elements, check mesh quality, import/export mesh (MED, UNV, ASCII) * Handle physical properties and quantities attached to geometrical items * Perform computation using one or more external solvers (coupling) * Display computation results (scalar, vectorial) * Manage studies (creation, save, reload) well we are working to provide you rpms in our repository, because right now it is still a work in progress all progess are available here: OBS:Education:Salome:Factory repositories links: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Education:/Salome:/Factory/ i'm founding several problems building it, so i wrote also to salome developers: http://www.salome-platform.org/forum/?groupid=10&forumid=9&thread=2337&message_id=2338 any help from your side is really appreciate. Andrea And best wishes for that holidays!