HPC Newsletter - 2026/03

Welcome to the March 2026 HPC newsletter. This month we've got a lot of new software packages to announce, and some changes to the HPC website and some new wiki articles for you.

Unfortunately this month we also had a few system problems - ongoing connectivity issues to RDW, file transfer speeds to Lustre and some resilience issues with login nodes and filestore.

New software

• FSL
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:fsl
• CNVKit
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:cnvkit
• DEXSeq
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:bioapps
• Gaussian & Gaussview
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:gaussian
• Stata/MP
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:statamp
• Amber & Ambertools
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:ambermd
• OpenGeoSys
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:ogs
• PGAP
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:pgap
• Ice Sheet & Sea Level System Model
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:issm
• CCP-EM, Doppio, Relion, CCP4, Modeller, Model Angelo, MotionCore, Topaz and more
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:ccpemsuite
• rclone
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:rclone

Changed software

• netcdf-fortran - A bug was fixed which restored the missing shared library folder in this module

• Bioapps container - R and DEXSeq were added to the existing Bioapps container image

• New Apptainer container build examples
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:samplecontainers
• FAQ for extending R-Studio library path
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=faq:038
• Citation statement for referencing Comet HPC in your publications
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=policies:statements
• MuSpAn - An installation guide was published for user-install of this Python module
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=advanced:software:muspan
• HPC Driving Test updated to not require scroll-back after submitting an answer
• New public reports section for HPC utilisation information and metrics
  • https://hpc.researchcomputing.ncl.ac.uk/reports/

We are currently investigating Nextflow (https://www.nextflow.io/) and Globus (https://www.globus.org/globus-connect-personal) as two new software packages to bring to Comet. Expect to see and hear more about these next month.

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