From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Fri Nov 11 2011 - 16:13:14 CST

An alpha will come soonest, but a beta shortly thereafter, as soon
I think I've got things stable with the newest GPU-accelerated
surface calculation feature...

Cheers,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 11:01:17AM -0800, Gianluca Interlandi wrote:
> Is next week's test release going to be alpha or beta?
>
> Gianluca
>
> On Fri, 11 Nov 2011, John Stone wrote:
>
> >
> >The test versions are available either from the main page (once it
> >becomes a "beta") or by following the instructions on the
> >VMD pre-release test page, and getting the most recent "alpha" version
> >from the biocore server:
> > http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/alpha/
> >
> >Cheers,
> > John Stone
> > vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >
> >On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 10:30:08AM -0800, Gianluca Interlandi wrote:
> >>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.
> >>-----------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >--
> >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.
> -----------------------------------------------------

-- 
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