Absoft Fortran for Linux on PowerPC

 

The Absoft Fortran 95 Compiler for IBM's
Linux on Power™ (and PowerPC™) combines superior performance, solid reliability, reknowned cross-platform portability, and the industry's most complete suite of Fortran development tools and libraries into a single package. There is simply no other Fortran development solution for Linux on Power offering this much for this price. For maximum efficiency at tracking down and eliminating bugs, Absoft includes a copy of the popular Fx2™ Fortran debugger with every Fortran 95 Compiler at no additional charge. Pro Fortran conforms to LSB (Linux Standard Base) and is the only Linux Fortran solution including both ANSI/ISO Fortran 95 and F77 compilers. Absoft Fortran 95 generates 32-bit executable programs for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Compatibility with 'dusty deck' legacy applications and newly developed code is virtually assured.

Single Solution - Linux, Windows and MacOS. Simplify code development for multiple platforms. Absoft provides same look and feel on every platform and allows you to build native applications for Linux, Windows and Mac from a single code base! Absoft's exclusive MaxFlex license manager allows a single license to float across Linux/Windows/Mac, saving you time and money.
 

Key Features & Information:

key Benefits:

• Most complete and easiest to use Fortran solution for Linux PPC systems - Nothing else to buy
• Highly optimized ANSI/ISO f95 and F77 compilers with G3/G4/G5 specific optimizers. LSB compliant, link and debug compatible with gcc. Tools for auto parallelization of serial code, auto vectorization for G4 systems, DMP and cluster debugging available
• Includes Fx2 debugger with full support for Fortran, C and assembler. Powerful and easy to use graphical and command line interface
• Pre-configured BLAS, LAPACK90, ATLAS, HDF, VAX/Unix, 2D/3D graphics libraries included on distribution CD. Optional tools for auto parallelizing and vectorizing code and special function math libraries available
• Source compatible versions available for Macintosh, Windows, Linux, and AMD64. Multi-platform discounts available

Key Features:

• Full Fortran 95 implementation
• Integer *8 and Integer *2 data types
• Array bounds checking
• Stack traceback
• Variable format descriptor
• Exception handling
• PLplot 2D & 3D graphics
• 'Explain' diagnostic messages
• F90/95 intrinsic functions optimized for Velocity Engine™ (AltiVec) execution
• Velocity Engine optimized BLAS and LAPACK90 libraries (included) offer performance increases of up to 2X
• Position independent code
• DWARF II debug info
• Native QUAD REAL*16 support
• VAST-F/Vector - pre-processor which automatically inserts AltiVec instructions in your code. (Low cost bundle option)
• Vast-F/Parallel auto restructures your code for dual processors. Original source is retained. (Low cost bundle option)

Optimizing F90/95 and F77 Compilers

Faster Code:

• ANSI/ISO Fortran 90/95 with most popular workstation extensions
• Array Syntax
• Loop Transformations
• Elemental Intrinsics
• Modules
• Operator Extensions
• Derived Types
• Full ANSI FORTRAN 77 feature set
• Compiles F and elf code
• ELF object file format
• DWARF debugging format
• Big Endian<->Little Endian data conversion
• Absoft F90/95 and F77 are fully link compatible
• gcc link compatibility option
• g77 link compatibility option
• f2c link compatibility option
• Fortran Statement Extensions

Function and Subroutine Extensions:

Functions & Extensions:

• INTEGER*8
• %VAL and %LOC
• COMPLEX*16 functions
• Degree Trig. Functions
• INTEGER*2 Functions
• Natural C Function Interface
• VAX & UNIX Subroutine Libraries
• Complete VAX Intrinsic Functions
• VAX compatible TIME and DATE

Globally Optimizing Code Generator

Optimizations Supported:

• Instruction scheduling
• Common subexpression elimination
• Register coloring
• Loop unrolling
• Constant and copy propagation
• Data flow analysis
• Loop invariant removal
• Strength reduction
• Branch straightening
• Code hoisting

Multi-Processor Capabilities

Absoft has partnered with a number of Universities and Government Laboratories including Argonne National Laboratory, which maintains Absoft-compatible MPICH Libraries for download.

Yellow Dog Linux features a "G4 Macintosh Linux Cluster How To" web page.

Easy to Use:

No need to be concerned about which glibc your Linux distribution is built with, Fortran 95 will install on any popular Linux implementation.

Fortran 95 includes a complete User Guide which include clear examples of editing, compiling, debugging and running. To ensure you are getting maximum performance, suggested options for compatibility and optimizations are clearly defined.

Linking with c is simple and straight forward and the Absoft Fx2 debugger is one of the few debugging tools which can properly debug both Fortran and c code. Pre-built math libraries and graphics are also included for those who require such tools.
 

Graphics Libraries:

Includes a flexible graphics library called PLplot. PLplot can be called from Fortran as well as C/C++ and can create standard x-y plots, semilog plots, log-log plots, contour plots, 3D plots, mesh plots, bar charts and pie charts.

Multiple graphs (of the same or different sizes) may be placed on a single page with multiple lines in each graph. Output can be to your monitor, a file, a printer or in postscript format.

There are almost 2000 characters in the extended character set including four different fonts, the Greek alphabet and a host of mathematical, musical and other symbols. PLplot is included on all versions of Pro Fortran and is source compatible across Linux, Windows and Mac platforms. HDF precompiled libraries are included with every copy of Pro Fortran.

Multi-Platform Capabilities

Absoft manufactures high performance Fortran compiler suites for Windows, Macintosh(Intel & PPC), Intel/AMD Linux and PPC/Linux based systems.

Absoft compiler suites are source compatible across the different platforms which means that in most cases, only a recompile is needed to port code from one environment to another.

What's Included on Distribution CD?

• F77, F90/95 compilers and Graphical Debugger
• Fx2 Debugger
• PLplot Graphics
• Numerous programming examples
• VAX/Unix compatibility libraries
• User Guide, F90/95 & F77 Reference Manuals in indexed PDF format
• HDF (Hierarchical Data Format) precompiled libraries with Fortran entry points
• BLAS - pre-compiled linear algebra routines
• LAPACK95 -pre-compiled linear algebra library
• ATLAS pre-built for G4
• Distribution includes both RPM and TAR formats, compatible with glibc, and any Linux implementation based on kernel 2.0 or later
• Vast Parallel and Vast Vector(AltiVec) are available as an option to Absoft Power Architecture/Linux Fortran 95 users

Full technical support from professional support engineers, will help resolve any problems is included at no additional charge with each new product from Absoft.

To ensure your software continues running at maximum efficiency, all registered Absoft customers can download service packs and quick fixes at no charge. Customers can subscribe to Absoft's free electronic newsletter to receive bulletins and update notices advising of new updates, changes in product releases, new product announcements and other useful information.

Continuing Software Maintenance

Absoft branded products include Premier Technical Support and Initial Software Maintenance at no additional charge from the time of purchase for as long as the purchased version remains the current release version.

Initial Software Maintenance (ISM) includes free electronic downloads of all interim Service Packs and Quick Fixes from Absoft. Version upgrades require separate purchase but at discounted prices.

At the conclusion of the Initial Software Maintenance term (i.e. when a new version of the purchased product is released) customers may either purchase a Product Upgrade or within 30 days of the new product release, purchase Continuing Software Maintenance for an additional 12-month maintenance term.

Continuing Software Maintenance (CSM) includes all elements of Premier Technical support plus all Product Upgrades issued during the 12-month Continuing Software Maintenance term. Annual renewals of Software Maintenance will be made available at low-cost to customers who renew within their unexpired Maintenance term.

For users electing not to renew Continuing Software Maintenance and having expired maintenance terms but later wishing to rejoin CSM, Reinstatement Software Maintenance (RSM) terms may be purchased.

Third party products distributed by Absoft are subject to license terms and policies of their respective manufacturers.

System Requirements

Recommended Minimum:

• PowerPC™ 601 or greater, or IBM Power/3/4
• 64MB RAM
• 50MB HD space
• Linux kernel release 2.2
• Installs without modification on:
  • SuSE 8.1
  • Yellow Dog Linux 2.1 or later

License Options

Flexible Licensing:

• Single User / Single Machine
• Floating Network on Single Platform
• Floating Network for Mixed Platforms
  (Linux, Windows, Mac)
   
• Academic Programs

Compatibility & Companion Products

Absoft uses an extended version of the Cray CF90 front end and adheres to the latest ISO and ANSI Fortran 95 standards. Extensions from all major workstations have been added to make sure your code ports from any environment with minimal effort.

• VAST-F/Parallel Pre-processor that automatically parallelizes source code
   
• VAST-F/Vector Automatically restructures code to take advantage of AltiVec (single precision only)

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