VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Thu Dec 20 2001 - 14:16:33 CST

Steve (and VMD-L),
  I forgot to add the URL for Cypress Technology, for the Spaceballs:
    http://www.cypress-tech.com/

  If you're not familiar with Spaceballs, you may wish to have a look
  at this web site:
    http://www.3dconnexion.com/

Enjoy,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Thu, Dec 20, 2001 at 02:09:12PM -0600, John Stone wrote:
>
> Dear Steve,
> Yes, it is possible to equip a classroom with PC's for 3-D
> molecular visualization. VMD runs on both Windows and Linux, both of which
> are good candidates for such a PC lab environment. The hardware side of
> things is also fairly easy to deal with. If you have PC's with AGP
> graphics slots in them, you can equip them with good NVidia GeForce 2 or
> GeForce 3 graphics accelerators for right around $100 per machine.
> Similarly, you can buy the Eye3D premium wired PC stereo glasses for
> $119 or so. If you really want to go the full distance, you can probably
> buy used Spaceball six-degree-of-freedom input devices for somewhere around
> $100 as well. ($460 new if I recall correctly..) This is exactly the sort
> of setup we use locally on the desks of about 50% of our researchers.
> So, if you can afford between $100 to $300 per seat to upgrade your
> existing PCs, or as a budget to go with a set of newly purchased
> machines, you can have a great lab setup.
>
> You can get the NVidia cards from quite a few vendors, we've had good
> luck with the Leadtek, VisionTek, and few other varieties of the NVidia
> GeForce boards. If you would like to know who we order from, I could
> get that information from our system administrator. I think even
> the models that sell at Best Buy can be had for somewhere near $100.
>
> We bought our Eye3D stereo glasses from these guys, we are using
> the "Eye3D premium wired" model on researchers' desks, which runs
> about $119:
> http://www.demensional.com/eye3d_premium.htm
>
> If you're interested in picking up some used Spaceballs, we bought ours
> from Cypress Technology, ours are the "HP A4360A" variety. They are a
> really great way to manipulate the view in 3-D. We bought about 22 of them
> for around $100 each if I recall correctly.
>
> Let us know if you have more questions.
>
> Thanks,
> John Stone
> vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
>
> On Thu, Dec 20, 2001 at 02:39:17PM -0500, Stephen Koch wrote:
> > I am interested in using protein visualization software like VMD in the
> > undergraduate and graduate class room situation.
> > I would like to equip our undergraduate computer center with inexpensive 3D
> > visualization. Is this possible with commonly available
> > PC windows Computer hardware and inexpensive 3D glasses.
> > Thanks
> > Steve Koch
> > Stephen A. Koch 631-632-7944 (7931) Koch_at_sbchem.sunysb.edu Fax 631-632-7960
> > Department of Chemistry, SUNY,Stony Brook, NY 11794-3400
> > WWW: notes.cc.sunysb.edu/CAS/chemistry.nsf/pages/SKoch
>
> --
> NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Fax: 217-244-6078 

-- 
NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu                 Phone: 217-244-3349              
  WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/      Fax: 217-244-6078