I’ve been using calculix via PrePoMax for a bit now. However I want to install it separately now with version 2.20. I have seen a few threads on it but they tend to lack a complete guide on how to install it on Windows. There are usually multiple other software packages that also need to be installed in order for it to work, sometimes installing those packages requires hunting down another guide on installing that dependency and so on…
Is there any way we can put this information in one spot or page on a github repo with version 2.20 so everyone who wants to can install it without hunting down a bunch of software packages and deciphering how to install them.
the easy way if you’re a prepomax user or in general in my opinion is to add the solver folder under prepomax installation path (e. g.: C:\PrePoMax v1.3.5.1\Solver) to your user path, then just call it from the command line: ccx_static -i jobname (you can rename ccx_static.exe to ccx.exe or whatever yu deem appropriate).
Create a directory for it, e.g. C:\calculix\, and copy cgx.exe, ccx.exe and netgen.exe to that directory.
Edit the environment variable PATH and add C:\calculix\ to it.
You should now be able to use calculix.
Note that it you have an existing CalculiX directory which is already in your PATH, you could just replace the existing executables in there with the new ones.