Attention Stereo 3D Users:

If you must obtain a Stereo 3D-capable LCD for use with PyMOL *today*,
then, in our view, the Zalman Trimon ZM-M220W 22" LCD is the display you
should buy:

http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/Product_read.asp?Idx=219

(Google:  http://www.google.com/products?q=ZM-M220W )

Having directly used and evaluated most of the other low-cost options
(under 1,000 USD): iZ3D, Samsung 3D DLP and 120 Hz LCD, it is apparent
that none of these other non-CRT displays are an effective solution for
desktop stereo 3D at this exact moment in time.

But I can personally attest to the fact that the ~$650 USD Zalman
ZM-M220W works great, and that its stereo quality with PyMOL is
excellent under Mac, Windows, and Linux: ghost-free and not too grainy.
It is also a perfectly decent LCD for ordinary 2D use.

So at last!  We have a cost-effective viable alternative to CRTs for
desktop stereo 3D visualization (at least with PyMOL, VMD, and a few
other packages.  Hopefully more to come!), and you don't even need a
Quadro card to use it!

The current PyMOL open-source code "trunk" already supports this display
(compile and launch as: ./pymol -S -t 6), and our PyMOL 1.2b3 incentive
builds (imminent) support it as well.  

Note however that we may shift our desktop stereo-3D recommendation over
to the 120 Hz Samsung 2233RZ LCD if or when nVidia adds support for its
use with Quadro-based cards & OpenGL API under Windows, Mac OS, & Linux
(hopefully!).  Eventually, the Samsung 120 Hz LCD should be the better
display, but right now it is utterly useless due to lack of drivers for
the accompanying USB emitter and glasses.

Furthermore, we expect the Samsung 120 Hz LCD display (and/or the
ViewSonic equivalent) to have the added advantage of being able to work
with existing OpenGL stereo 3D software (without modification).  So if
you do not need a stereo 3D-capable LCD display today, then you might
just wait a couple of months to see how things shake out.  

Cheers,
Warren L. DeLano, Ph.D.
DeLano Scientific LLC

PS. Although PyMOL does also now support iZ3D and 3D HDTV DLP displays,
neither is a practical solution for desktop 3D molecular visualization.
The iZ3D does not achieve complete L/R image separation, and 3D HDTVs
must sacrifice far too many pixels around the edge of the screen when in
stereo 3D mode.