From: Gianluca Interlandi (gianluca_at_u.washington.edu)
Date: Fri Nov 11 2011 - 12:30:08 CST

Hi John,

> I should have a new VMD test version posted early next week.

Is this going to be a 1.9.1 release from the usual VMD download page or do
I need to get it from the SVN?

Gianluca

> Cheers,
> John Stone
> vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
>
> On Thu, Nov 03, 2011 at 01:56:37PM -0700, Andrew Jewett wrote:
>> On Mon, Oct 31, 2011 at 8:12 AM, John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi,
>>>  I'm soliciting feedback from any VMD users that are running
>>> on Linux systems using the ATI GPUs or graphics chipsets, to
>>> find out how stable the current crop of ATI drivers are.
>>> For a period of a few years, there were stability problems
>>> with the ATI drivers on Linux, but things have slowly improved
>>> and if possible, I would like to turn off some VMD safety code
>>> that prevents the old buggy ATI drivers from crashing, since
>>> this code costs a significant amount of performance in cases
>>> where the drivers are working fine.  In order for me to make
>>> this change safely, I would like to hear from people that
>>> are using the ATI/AMD commercial graphics drivers with VMD
>>> on Linux, in particular in the case where they have disabled
>>> the safety code using the VMDDISABLEATILINUXWORKAROUND
>>> environment variable.  It would be nice if we could turn off
>>> this code for VMD 1.9.1 by default, but only if the current
>>> crop of ATI/AMD graphics drivers are stable enough.
>>
>> I have only run VMD a few times and I have not noticed any problems so far.
>>
>> I have not made any modifications to my VMD configuration, and I am
>> not using a .vmdrc file. (I suppose this means the
>> VMDDISABLEATILINUXWORKAROUND bit still has the default value, as of
>> 2011-03-14.) If you want me to try disabling it, please email me back
>> how to do this.
>>
>> I am using:
>>
>> Version of VMD: 1.9 (2011-03-14), downloaded from top of page:
>> http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Development/Download/download.cgi?PackageName=VMD
>>
>> OS: Ubuntu 11.10 (fresh install)
>> Graphics card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870
>> Driver: ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver
>>
>> (I am NOT using the "post-release updates". The newer updated driver
>> was so unstable I could not even run unity with it.)
>>
>> Cheers!
>> Andrew
>>
>> -- more probably useless details --
>> I have appended a list of other system details from apport-collect:
>>
>>
>> AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
>> AplayDevices: aplay: device_list:240: no soundcards found...
>> ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
>> Architecture: amd64
>> ArecordDevices: arecord: device_list:240: no soundcards found...
>> AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/snd/by-path',
>> '/dev/snd/controlC1', '/dev/snd/hwC1D0', '/dev/snd/pcmC1D3p',
>> '/dev/snd/controlC0', '/dev/snd/hwC0D0', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c',
>> '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer'] failed with
>> exit code 1:
>> CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
>> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
>> EcryptfsInUse: Yes
>> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release amd64 (20111012)
>> MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. G73Jh
>> NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
>> Package: linux (not installed)
>> ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic
>> root=UUID=96d3ceac-0984-4d2e-8467-9bd7a6eeaa4b ro quiet splash
>> vt.handoff=7
>> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
>> RelatedPackageVersions:
>> linux-restricted-modules-3.0.0-12-generic N/A
>> linux-backports-modules-3.0.0-12-generic N/A
>> linux-firmware 1.60
>> RfKill:
>> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
>> Soft blocked: no
>> Hard blocked: no
>> StagingDrivers: mei
>> Tags: oneiric running-unity staging
>> Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
>> UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>> UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
>> dmi.bios.date: 01/26/2010
>> dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
>> dmi.bios.version: G73Jh.205
>> dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
>> dmi.board.name: G73Jh
>> dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
>> dmi.board.version: 1.0
>> dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
>> dmi.chassis.type: 10
>> dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
>> dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
>> dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrG73Jh.205:bd01/26/2010:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnG73Jh:p
>
> --
> NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Phone: 217-244-3349
> http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/ Fax: 217-244-6078
>

-----------------------------------------------------
Gianluca Interlandi, PhD gianluca_at_u.washington.edu
                     +1 (206) 685 4435
                     http://artemide.bioeng.washington.edu/

Postdoc at the Department of Bioengineering
at the University of Washington, Seattle WA U.S.A.
-----------------------------------------------------