VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Mon Aug 07 2006 - 23:38:02 CDT

Hi,
  Very good points Warren. Microsoft has become increasingly
OpenGL-unfriendly recently and only resolved the problems with
OpenGL and the Windows Vista Aero user interface after the graphics
community went into an uproar. I wanted to post this information
immediately since stereo is important to a lot of people using VMD and other
packages like PyMol, and this basically says that Vista will
useless for people that want stereo whenever it is finally released.
I'm guessing this is going to become an FAQ for most molecular
graphics packages as unsuspecting users are bewildered to discover
that their Vista installs are actually a feature downgrade! :)

  John

On Mon, Aug 07, 2006 at 08:06:10PM -0700, Warren DeLano wrote:
>
> > The suggestion in the powerpoint presentation
> > from the meeting is that people that want stereo support should
> > contact Microsoft.
>
> Or you could simply switch your stereo 3D visualization over to Mac OS
> X.
>
> Seriously folks -- Apple is aggressively wooing the scientific,
> open-standards, and open-source communities whereas Microsoft is holding
> up "the middle finger."
>
> As of today, you can buy a 2.66 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon-based "Mac Pro"
> that'll run Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows XP for just $2499* USD.
>
> *Note however that for stereo 3D, you must add $1,650 for a
> stereo-capable Quadro FX 4500, since there is no "low end" stereo 3D
> option on the Mac yet.
>
> Cheers,
> Warren
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-vmd-l_at_ks.uiuc.edu [mailto:owner-vmd-l_at_ks.uiuc.edu] On Behalf
> Of John Stone
> Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 11:19 AM
> To: vmd-l_at_ks.uiuc.edu; vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> Subject: vmd-l: No stereo display support in Windows Vista...
>
>
> Hi,
> An important upshot of the OpenGL birds of feather meeting
> at Siggraph 2006 last week is that Windows Vista will
> apparently NOT support stereoscopic display when it is
> initially released. The suggestion in the powerpoint presentation
> from the meeting is that people that want stereo support should
> contact Microft. See the commentary in the 'Two things to watch out
> for'
> section of the "NVIDIA: OpenGL on Vista" presentation posted here:
> http://www.khronos.org/developers/library/siggraph2006/OpenGL_BOF/
>
> Please pass this along to all of your friends that want stereo support
> on
> future versions of Microsoft Windows.
>
> John Stone
> vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
>
> --
> 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