Download and Install CAVE and EDEX

Release 18.1.1-5, February 6, 2019

Linux

awips_install.sh --cave

For CentOS/Red Hat 6 and 7. Installs to /awips2/cave and writes files to ~/caveData.

chmod 755 awips_install.sh
sudo ./aiwps_install.sh --cave

Run CAVE from the Linux Desktop menu Applications > Internet > AWIPS CAVE, or from the command line as simply cave.

System Requirements

  • x86_64 CentOS/RHEL 6 or 7
  • OpenGL 2.0 capable device
  • 4GB RAM
  • Latest NVIDIA driver
  • approx. 2GB disk space for data caching (~/caveData)

You can reset CAVE at any time by removing the ~/caveData directory (on macOS ~/Library/caveData) and reconnecting to an EDEX server.

macOS

Download and install both
awips-cave.dmg
awips-python.pkg

Supported Graphics Devices for macOS

  • Intel HD Graphics
  • Intel Iris
  • NVIDIA GeForce

    • Unsupported Graphics Devices for macOS

  • AMD Radeon R9
  • AMD Radeon Pro
  • AMD FirePro D300

    • Writes and syncs files to ~/Library/caveData.

    awips-python.pkg is not a prerequisite, and CAVE will still run and display data without it, but to use any derived parameter functions such as wind barbs/arrows and grid parameters on various vertical coordinates, jep must be installed in some way (it is assumed in /Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/jep/)

    Windows

    awips-cave.msi

    Writes files to ~/caveData (in your user home directory)

    Requires Python 3, Numpy, and Jep be installed

    Requires PYTHONHOME be defined

    In addition to the application directory, the MSI installer will attempt to copy the gridslice shared library to $PYTHONHOME/Dlls. If the $PYTHONHOME environmental variable is not defined, gridslice will not be installed. You can always rerun the installer after defining $PYTHONHOME and then check that the file gridslice.pyd is installed in $PYTHONHOME/Dlls.

    CAVE will still run without gridslice, but certain bundles which use derived parameters, such as isentropic analyses, will not load.

    Windows-Specific Instructions

    1) Download and install Miniconda Python 3.7 for Windows

    • Allow Miniconda3 to set PATH and other environment variables.

    • Ensure that PYTHONHOME is set to the Miniconda3 location.

      If PYTHONHOME is not set, the gridslice Python module will not be installed or available.

    2) Install dependent Python packages

    • pip install numpy==1.15.1 jep==3.8.2

    3) Run awips-cave.msi

    AWIPS Data in the Cloud

    Unidata and XSEDE Jetstream have partnered to offer a EDEX data server in the cloud, open to the Unidata university community. Select the server in the Connectivity Preferences dialog, or enter edex-cloud.unidata.ucar.edu (without http:// before, or :9581/services after).

    EDEX in the cloud

    caveData Directory

    After connecting to an EDEX server, you will have a local directory named caveData which contains files synced from EDEX as well as a client-side cache for data and map resources.

    You can reset CAVE by removing the caveData directory and reconnecting to an EDEX server. Your local files have been removed, but if you are re-connecting to an EDEX server you have used before, the remote files will sync again to your local ~/caveData (bundles, colormaps, etc.).

    • Linux: /home/<user>/caveData
    • macOS: /Users/<user>/Library/caveData
    • Windows: C:\Users\<user>\caveData