How do I get conda to install into a different directory (eg not my $HOME dir)?
Use the -p|--prefix flag instead of the -n|--name flag:
% conda create --prefix /soft/ciao/ -c https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/conda/ciao \ -c conda-forge ciao pyciao sherpa marx ds9 ciao-contrib caldb_main ... # To activate this environment, use # # $ conda activate /soft/ciao ...
Note: To activate the environment you then specify the path rather than an environment name.