VMD Linux XFree 4.0 Installation Notes:

  • The XFree86 docs cover various info on checking your installation to make sure that the OpenGL/DRI support is working correctly. See their docs (www.xfree86.org) for more info.
  • In order to run VMD, you may have to have the Mesa 3.2 or 3.3 RPM installed on your system. This is needed in order to get the GLU libraries on your system, which are needed by VMD. For Mesa, go to: www.mesa3d.org
  • In order to achieve hardware accelerated 3-D rendering, your video board must have an XFree 4.0 "DRI" type video driver. Once you have an appropriate driver, you may need to set the board it to a particular video mode in order to enable the hardware acceleration features. The instructions that come with the video driver should mention what modes are fully accelerated.
  • Some vendors such as NVidia have docs for getting hardware OpenGL working with XFree 4.0. NVidia's FAQ is here
  • For lots more information about getting hardware accelerated 3-D on linux, visit linux3d.org

OpenGL hardware tested with VMD and Linux with XFree86 4.x

Stereoscopic rendering on Linux