Installation

Windows

System Requirements

• Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000k, or ME. NOTE: stability problems have been observed under NT up through version 0.52.
• 3D OpenGL compatible graphics accelerator card (ideally, a GeForce2 GTS from nVidia or better).
• Python installed (version 1.5.2 or 2.1)
• At least 128 MB RAM (the more the better).

Example Installation

1. Download the Python 1.5.2 installer "py152.exe".
2. Run the above and perform a full installation, including Tcl/Tk.
3. Download the latest PyMOL installer "pymol-x_xx-bin-win32-py152.zip"
4. Extract the zip file into a directory.
5. Run "Setup.exe" from that directory to perform the installation.

You're done! You can now launch PyMOL from the "Start" menu.

Recently, a precompiled binary version which works with Python 2.1 has also become available. Be sure to obtain the proper binary for the version of Python you wish to use. For example:

   pymol-0_58-bin-win32-py152.zip  

All other things equal, I recommend using the Python 2.1 version.

Unix

NOTE: The windows installation of PyMOL is much easier than the Unix installation, and so I recommend that people try the program out using Windows before proceeding with Unix in order to determine for themselves whether PyMOL is worth the trouble.

System Requirements

• C Compiler
• Accelerated OpenGL graphics.

Software Requirements

(NOTE: all of these can be found in the external source distribution "ext-src..." from the PyMOL download page.)

• Python, Python Megawidgets (Pmw), and Numeric Python
• GLUT 3.7
• libz and libPNG
• Tcl8.x and Tk8.x
• Optional: wxPython/wxWindows/wxGTK/gtk+/glib

Installation

Because the installation process is often subject to change, please see the INSTALL file from the current distribution for detailed instructions. In summary,

1. Download, extract, configure, and compile the external dependencies.
2. Download and extract the current PyMOL source distribution.
3. Create a symbolic link from the external dependencies to "ext" in the PyMOL directory.
4. Configure PyMOL by copying and modifying a "Rules.make" specific to your system.
5. Run "make" to build pymol.
6. Create a pymol.com specific to your installation location.

You should be able to launch PyMOL by running pymol.com. I usually symbolic link this file into my "bin" directory as "pymol".

Copyright © 2001 DeLano Scientific. All rights reserved.