VMD-L Mailing List

From: Axel Kohlmeyer (akohlmey_at_cmm.chem.upenn.edu)
Date: Thu Feb 26 2009 - 10:57:30 CST

On Wed, 25 Feb 2009, Lee Amy wrote:

AL> Dear All,
AL>
AL> I'm a newbie at VMD and I encounter a series of problems during the
AL> installation. Actually I feel a little confused about the process.

AL> Mu OS is Cent OS 4.7, the GPU is GeForce 2 MX 400, and I download the

a geforce 2 MX 400 is a _very_ old GPU.
have a look at the bargain bin of your
local electronic/computer hardware store.
they'll probably have a much better GPU
(for linux nvidia is still the best choice)
at a very low price.

AL> package named "vmd-1.8.6.bin.LINUX.opengl.tar.gz", I suppose that it
AL> is the binary package I could use directly without building.
AL>
AL> The first question, what 3D Library should I use? OpenGL or Mesa? I
AL> don't know which one I could use at my OS. And I have installed NVIDIA
AL> official driver for my GPU. Or is it based on hardware?

you want the matching nvidia driver installed.
how to set this up properly, is not really a VMD
question, and it is difficult to explain everything
over e-mail, so i would recommend you find a local
person that knows about this and helps you to set
it up. the vmd binary will work with both, but the
graphics will be much faster with the nvidia driver.

AL>
AL> The second question, I use the default configure options at the
AL> package, the default option is
AL> LINUX OPENGL FLTK TK ACTC IMD SPACEBALL LIBTACHYON VRPN NETCDF TCL
AL> PYTHON PTHREADS NUMPY SILENT
AL> When I run after the configure script, I go to "src" folder and run
AL> make command, I encounter such error messages.
AL> make: *** No rule to make target `OpenGLDisplayDevice.o', needed by
AL> `vmd_LINUX'. Stop.

please have a closer look at the installation instructions.
you have to type: make install
cheers,
   axel.

AL>
AL> So could anyone tell me how to fix that step by step?

AL> Thank you very much.
AL>
AL> Regards,
AL>
AL> Amy
AL> 

-- 
=======================================================================
Axel Kohlmeyer   akohlmey_at_cmm.chem.upenn.edu   http://www.cmm.upenn.edu
   Center for Molecular Modeling   --   University of Pennsylvania
Department of Chemistry, 231 S.34th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6323
tel: 1-215-898-1582,  fax: 1-215-573-6233,  office-tel: 1-215-898-5425
=======================================================================
If you make something idiot-proof, the universe creates a better idiot.