I haven't used stereo since the last millenium - I don't miss it. You don't really need it and it's not worth the expense/hassle to set up. In my opinion it's just something to impress visitors!
Dave
-------------------------------
Dr. David M. Lawson
Biological Chemistry Dept.,
John Innes Centre,
Norwich,
NR4 7UH, UK.
Tel: +44-(0)1603-450725
Fax: +44-(0)1603-450018
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.jic.bbsrc.ac.uk/staff/david-lawson/index.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Roger Rowlett
Sent: 20 June 2007 20:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Popularity of Stereo graphics in crystallography
I've found that many of my undergraduates like the stereo capability, although I personally rarely use it. So I guess it's worth the pain of getting the stereo hardware to play nice with the OS and specialized applications. We put the cheapest stereo-ready cards available at the time(Quadro 980XGL) in our Linux workstations, along with NuVision 60GX glasses, and none of the workstations cost more than $2000 to build. If you don't need stereo, clearly almost any reasonable PC will do. Even the lowliest of Nvidia or ATI graphics cards are more than ample for running O, Coot, Pymol, etc.
Cheers,
___________________________________________
Roger S. Rowlett
Professor
Department of Chemistry
Colgate University
13 Oak Drive
Hamilton, NY 13346
tel: (315)-228-7245
ofc: (315)-228-7395
fax: (315)-228-7935
email: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: CCP4 bulletin board [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Santarsiero, Bernard D.
Sent: Wednesday, June 20, 2007 1:24 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Popularity of Stereo graphics in crystallography
I agree with Kevin. We have stereo on about half of our workstations, and no one has used them in about three years. We typically use "O".
Also, we have three large servers which are relatively fast. So the main purpose of a workstation is building, not computing here. That way you can easily work on multiple structures on a workstation at the same time, while you're refining and building them. We have a few people that use PC's and Coot as well.
Bernie
On Wed, June 20, 2007 11:45 am, P Hubbard wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Thanks for the e-mail. The current results of the survey would
> certainly put you in the minority! Stereo graphics are not dead after
> all.
>
> I have used systems with and without stereo graphics. I personally
> prefer them, and think they are great for helping newbies refine, and
> for non-structural biologists and students to look at molecular
> architecture. It seems a lot of other people, for whatever reason,
> like them too.
>
> Paul
>
>
>>From: Kevin Cowtan <[log in to unmask]>
>>Reply-To: Kevin Cowtan <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: Re: [ccp4bb] Survey on computer usage in crystallography
>>Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 17:27:04 +0100
>>
>>More likely the issue is that some of us do not find stereo to be
>>necessary of beneficial for crystallographic model building.
>>
>>In which case, given the power of modern PCs and graphics cards, a
>>basic off-the-shelf PC costing $1000/£500 is completely adaquate for
>>typical structure solution and model building problems.
>>
>>I use coot a lot and I haven't even bothered installing the graphics
>>drivers for my graphics card. All the 3D stuff gets gone in software,
>>and most of the graphics hardware sits around doing nothing. If I
>>needed the performance, it would be a 5 minute job to install the
>>drivers, but I haven't needed it.
>>
>>Kevin
>>
>>P Hubbard wrote:
>>>I am sorry you are unhappy with the questions, David.
>>>
>>>As I am sure you know, I half-decent system with stereo graphics
>>>doesn't come cheap, and if you price things together to make
>>>something that performs well I doubt you'll get much change out of
>>>$2000.
>>>
>>>I am aware of other 3D systems (such as those listed on
>>>www.stereo3d.com). However, the price of peripherals like a 3D LCD
>>>monitor are prohibitively expensive (and the quality of the images
>>>is supposed to be poor). Do you know of a relatively inexpensive way
>>>of displaying 3D images on PCs?
>>>
>>>Any other comments would be greatly appreciated.
>>>
>>>Paul
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get a preview of Live Earth, the hottest event this summer - only on
> MSN http://liveearth.msn.com?source=msntaglineliveearthhm
>
|