Are there any other introductions or help content available for lammps other than the lammps documentation on the Sandia website?
I’m a beginner to both unix and lammps, and I’m having trouble getting started using with the lammps manual only.
Does anyone know where I can find some help material that is at more of a beginner’s level?
Are there any other introductions or help content available for lammps
other than the lammps documentation on the Sandia website?
not much.
I'm a beginner to both unix and lammps, and I'm having trouble getting
started using with the lammps manual only.
as has been stated many times before. the manual is explaining
the syntax and features of specific components of LAMMPS, it is
not _meant_ to teach anybody how to do MD. there are plenty of
examples in the examples folders. in combination with the manual,
these are sufficient for most people that do have some experience
in molecular dynamics simulations.
Does anyone know where I can find some help material that is at more
of a beginner's level?
you have to look at the process differently. instead of trying to
learn how to compile and run software on a unix/linux machine,
learn how to do MD simulations, and learn the syntax of LAMMPS
commands all at the same time, you should do these in steps,
and one at a time. if you try all at once, you'll never be able
to tell whether a specific problem occurs because of your lack
of understanding of unix/linux, MD, or LAMMPS. breaking complex
problems down in pieces and then solving the pieces one by one,
is _the_ key strategy in most scientific disciplines.
there is plenty of unix/linux help around, tons of (big) books
and introductions and tutorials. just have a look.
similarly, there are many text books on molecular dynamics,
several beginner tutorials and it doesn't matter if it is
for a different MD code, the underlying physics is the same.
in fact, way back when i got started in the business, it was
the general understanding that the best way to learn MD would
be to write your own little MD code (for a simple lennard-jones
liquid), hence the book by allen and tildesley on implementing
MD was _the_ reference (and surprisingly still seems to be).
after you are comfortable with both, working on a unix/linux
machine and understanding the principles of MD, it will be
fairly easy to learn using LAMMPS from the examples and the
online documentation.
cheers,
axel.