1 Installation¶
Covers Linux and Windows. The tab matching your system is selected automatically — switch freely if you're setting up a different machine.
macOS
Not supported yet; it's on the roadmap. Until then Eddy runs on Linux under UTM or Parallels, or on any machine you can reach over SSH. Email info@iterasim.in to be told when the first build ships.
1.1 System requirements¶
- A 64-bit Linux distribution (Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 39+, Debian 12+, or equivalent).
- glibc 2.35 or newer.
- At least 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended for meshing).
- OpenFOAM v2312 or later installed (native or via
apt install openfoam). Eddy detects it automatically at startup. - Internet connection for the AI copilot. The solver itself runs fully offline.
- Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
- WSL2 — the Windows Subsystem for Linux. If you don't have it, the first-run wizard installs it for you (needs admin rights and one restart).
- At least 8 GB RAM. WSL and the solver share your memory.
- Roughly 10 GB free disk for Ubuntu, OpenFOAM and the Python engine.
- You do not install OpenFOAM yourself. The wizard provisions it inside
WSL from
dl.openfoam.com. - Internet connection for the AI copilot and for first-run provisioning.
1.2 Download¶
Both builds are on the releases page, or straight from the website.
Download the AppImage · 173 MB
A fully self-contained AppImage. No apt install, no root, no dependencies to unpack — it runs on any modern Linux distribution straight out of the file.
Download the installer · 113 MB
A single NSIS installer. It installs per-user, so the install itself needs no admin rights — only the WSL step later does.
Verify your download against the checksum published on the release page:
1.3 Install and launch¶
Move the AppImage somewhere permanent first — ~/Applications/ is a good
choice. Then, in a terminal in that folder:
mkdir -p ~/Applications
mv iteraSim-Eddy-1.0.0.AppImage ~/Applications/
chmod +x ~/Applications/iteraSim-Eddy-1.0.0.AppImage
~/Applications/iteraSim-Eddy-1.0.0.AppImage
That is the entire installation. The main window opens directly. There is no separate installer step — the AppImage is the app.
Automatic system-menu integration¶
On its first launch, Eddy registers itself with your desktop environment:
it writes a .desktop entry into ~/.local/share/applications/ and copies
the logo into ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/. From then on iteraSim Eddy
appears in your Activities / Applications menu with its icon — pin it to
the dock and launch it like any other program. No terminal after the first run.
Tip
If you move the AppImage to a different folder later, launch it once from the new location. Eddy detects the move and updates the menu entry automatically.
Uninstall¶
Nothing was installed system-wide, so uninstalling is three deletions:
Run iteraSim-Eddy-Setup-1.0.0.exe. It installs into your local app folder
— per-user, no admin prompt for this step.
On first launch a setup wizard opens and walks through three steps. This happens once; afterwards the app goes straight to the UI.
Step 1 — WSL & Ubuntu. If WSL isn't present, click Install WSL &
Ubuntu. This runs wsl --install -d Ubuntu, which needs admin rights and
a restart. Reboot, then reopen IteraSim and the wizard resumes.
Step 2 — Python engine & OpenFOAM. Click Install Python & OpenFOAM.
Inside Ubuntu this installs the apt packages, creates a Python virtual
environment at ~/.iterasim/venv with the backend dependencies, and fetches
OpenFOAM from dl.openfoam.com. It takes several minutes and downloads a
few GB — leave it running.
Step 3 — Launch. The backend starts inside WSL and the app opens.
Where your files live
Cases are stored at C:\Users\<you>\IteraSim, which is the same folder
as /mnt/c/Users/<you>/IteraSim inside WSL. You can open them from
Windows Explorer and from Linux tools interchangeably.
How it fits together
The app runs natively on Windows; OpenFOAM and the Python backend run in
WSL. They talk over http://127.0.0.1:8000 — WSL2 forwards localhost, so
this is invisible in normal use. If the status bar ever reads Offline,
it means that backend isn't running: see section 6.
If you need to re-run the wizard¶
Delete setupComplete from settings.json in %APPDATA%\IteraSim, then
restart the app. Set up later in the wizard opens the app without finishing.
Using a different WSL distribution¶
The wizard targets Ubuntu. To use another, set ITERASIM_WSL_DISTRO to its
name before launching.
Uninstall¶
Remove IteraSim through Settings → Apps → Installed apps. That leaves WSL,
Ubuntu and OpenFOAM in place — remove those separately with
wsl --unregister Ubuntu if you want the disk space back.
1.4 OpenFOAM detection¶
At first launch Eddy scans for an OpenFOAM installation and shows the version it picked in the bottom-right status bar. Eddy ranks installations by what is actually compiled, not by what the folder is called — so a source checkout sitting next to a real install won't fool it.
If you see OpenFOAM: not found, install it and relaunch:
If it's installed but still undetected, your OpenFOAM isn't on the login-shell
PATH — source its etc/bashrc from your ~/.bashrc. Eddy detects any version
whose bashrc is sourced.
OpenFOAM lives inside WSL and the wizard installs it for you, so this should just work.
If the status bar reads OpenFOAM: not found, the Step 2 provisioning didn't finish. Re-run the wizard (above), or install it inside Ubuntu by hand:
The provisioning script tries openfoam2412-default first and falls back to
older ESI metapackages.