I don't know for what use it'll be posting this to the LAMMPS mailing
list, but if anyone wants to know how to install the latest (as of the
24Jan10 release) LAMMPS on Ubuntu (9.10 and presumably later
versions), I have posted it to the forums there.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8724037#post8724037
I know Ubuntu is my Linux flavor of choice when it comes to overall
ease. True, I agree with you, I'm boggled that they removed a csh
shell from the standard installation.
Also, I showed the instructions using MPICH2, though I know some
people swear by other distributions. I figure for people who care
about those details, they'll know how to substitute steps from my
guide, while my guide appeals to someone who just installed Ubuntu.
Honestly though, the only Ubuntu-specific step was the first one of
enabling the universe repository.
The makefiles I attach in that forum post are ~1 year old. But for
the apt-get installations I outline, the relevant MPI and FFTW
libraries are found/used automagically even with today's Ubuntu
configuration. I realize now, that I didn't leave any convenient
space for people to link to the libraries in lammps/lib folders, etc.