VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Tue Apr 21 2009 - 13:49:36 CDT

Jeff,
  If you have a SpaceNavigator, that's a new device that speaks
a different protocol. I have driver code for these in the Linux
and Windows versions of VMD already. For MacOS X, I have a partially
functioning implementation, but I have some bugs to work past before
it will be truly usable. It may or may not be finished for 1.8.7,
we'll see how it goes. To use the SpaceNavigator on MacOS X, you have
to have their drivers installed and running. And in that case you need
not use the old VMDSPACEBALLPORT variables etc since this driver is
auto-detected at VMD startup time.

Cheers,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 02:15:22PM -0400, JT wrote:
> John,
> Ok, I see. The RS232 converter is for converting between USB port and
> serial mouse. This is a USB mouse. In fact, I don't think it is even
> called Spaceball. Maybe the company changed the names of their mouse
> lineup or something? I am using VMD 1.8.7 a62 and I thought it had
> support for the SpaceNavigator. The laptop mouse is supposed to just
> be a smaller version of the Desktop SpaceNavigator mouse.
> Jeff
>
>
>
>
> On Apr 21, 2009, at 1:53 PM, JT wrote:
>
> >John,
> >I could not find a model number anywhere, but it is called the
> >3dConnexion SpaceNavigator for Notebooks:
> >
> >http://www.3dconnexion.com/3dmouse/spacenavigatorfornotebooks.php
> >
> >It's a cool little mouse. But the website does list it as new.
> >Jeff
> >
> >
> >On Apr 21, 2009, at 1:34 PM, John Stone wrote:
> >
> >>
> >>Jeff,
> >>Which model of Spaceball are you trying out? The RS232 spaceball
> >>driver compiled into VMD is something I wrote myself and it only
> >>supports
> >>the older Spaceball 2003/3003 models. If you have a Spaceball
> >>4000FLX or
> >>one of the other newer models it probably won't work in that case.
> >>As for which device node to use for the serial port, that depends
> >>on what
> >>USB/RS232 converter device you're using. I would expect the docs
> >>for the
> >>RS232 converter device to talk about this. If you have one of the
> >>later
> >>model Spaceball 4000xxx USB devices, my RS232 driver probably won't
> >>work.
> >>Let me know if you need more help with this.
> >>
> >>Cheers,
> >>John
> >>
> >>On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 01:30:04PM -0400, JT wrote:
> >>>Hi. I'm trying to hook up a 3DConnexion Spaceball mouse for use
> >>>with
> >>>VMD. The mouse works with other 3D programs, so I'm pretty sure it
> >>>was installed correctly. The VMD Userguide says that the
> >>>VMDSPACEBALLPORT environment variable must set to the Unix device
> >>>name
> >>>of the serial port to which the Spaceball is attached, and that also
> >>>the permissions must be set to allow the VMD user to open the device
> >>>for reading and writing. How do I find out which port the mouse is
> >>>using? I tried /dev/ttys0 (just to see what happens), and set the
> >>>permissions as suggested. Upon startup, VMD recognizes the mouse
> >>>and
> >>>understands which port I set, but it does not work. I see many
> >>>ports
> >>>in /dev, but nothing that sticks out as a 3DConnexion enabled port.
> >>>
> >>>Thanks,
> >>>Jeff
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>--
> >>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