[ale] Stress, via RH8 and confusion

[tfreeman at intel.digichem.net]

Thanks for the links and the pointers. I'm not sure whether or not I was 
fuming out loud, or actually getting into a question (and I'm still not 
sure!), but some awful nice people have provided some neat links and 
pointers.

On Mon, 24 Mar 2003, Dow Hurst wrote:

> I'll help you out on the chemistry software.  The most interesting to me 
> right now to check out is http://www.molsoft.com
>  and the demo for linux.  Haven't tried it yet.  Xdrawchem and Xykron 
> are cool programs that came with SuSE 8.1.  Rasmol is very popular for 
> viewing Protein Data Bank files.  There aren't too many fullblown 
> programs with pretty GUIs and most are expensive that I am aware of.  
> EMBOSS is a nice set of tools for bioinformatics that is free.  It 
> depends on what you want to do as to what is available for you.  Chime 
> will let you look at PDB files thru a browser.  Maybe VMD and NAMD would 
> be the most powerful for you without cost.  They will work together, 
> however, I am not sure if you can create structures but only manipulate 
> precreated structures.  Just google VMD and/or NAMD to get to the 
> Theoretical Biophysics group's homepage where you can get the software.  
> NAMD and Gromacs are the fastest calculation software for molecular 
> dynamics on clusters right now.
> Dow
> 
> tfreeman at intel.digichem.net wrote:
> 
> >Please be warned: this rambles. I appologise for the relative waste 
> >of you bandwidth. Delete without reading
> >
> >OK. You made it this far, I guess that you aren't interested in free 
> >advice. 8-)
> >
> >By way of some background, I've been using Red Hat since sometime around 
> >RH3.?, because they were the first to successfully configure my printer. 
> >In the years since, I've gotten pretty used to the RH way, although I've 
> >looked at SuSe, Debian, Slackware, Yellow Dog, and Mandrake along the way 
> >with variable degrees of success.
> >
> >I picked up a new machine to serve as an experimental machine & 
> >compile toy (this is the first one I've owned to break 1GHz processor 
> >speed). I started out trying RH7.3 on this machine, but the video refused 
> >to configure past 800x600 or so. I broke down, obtained RH8.0, installed, 
> >and got the same results. I had a Radion 7000 which I had tried in another 
> >machine without great joy, so I plugged that in and got the resolution 
> >1024x768 (or whatever) I want. 
> >
> >Fix one challenge, two more want to show up. I will agree with Red Hat that 
> >the Bluecurve desktop is attractive in many respects, but I don't like it 
> >and don't much want to keep it. Additionally, the menus have gone from 
> >long to _much_lloonnggeerr_, which I also dislike. I also note that 
> >two/three applications I rather liked in the past have fallen off the 
> >distribution. These issues can eventually be dealt with obviously - this 
> >is Linux, and RH hasn't made it significantly harder to work from that 
> >reality.
> >
> >This may be my opportunity to at least try Gentoo, and before I fix this 
> >machine up I may choose to do so. I haven't guessed/decided on that yet.
> >
> >What I appear to want to do is utilize a base distribution (RH by bias), 
> >and rip out the annoyances so as to replace them with "good" stuff. When/if 
> >things stabilize on the experimental box, then migrate the "good" stuff 
> >out to the other boxen. I realize that apt-get has many adherents, and 
> >may fit slightly better with my needs, but isn't too horridly shabby at 
> >this point either. In my hands, and at this time, rpm _does_ grossly 
> >interfere with the ripping out/replacing/modifying step in the middle, 
> >where recompiling almost everything makes a fair amount of sense.
> >
> >I've got a horrid feeling that what I want is a Gentoo/Red Hat hybrid 
> >distribution with most of the rough edges filed off so I don't leave as 
> >many finger tips behind after cutting self in the process. Plus, some way 
> >of at least semi-automating the updates process for security headaches, 
> >not that a personal playground should have as many security issues as the 
> >professional environment. (I think I can trust me with respect to security 
> >breaches 8-))
> >
> >If I'm asking a question here, I cann't tell what it is. I might be just 
> >venting frustration with being lazy, and wanting to go in a direction I 
> >don't see a commercial carrier to take me there. 
> >
> >What are the "I wants"?
> >  I want to look at Gnome2.2(?) natively
> >  I want to look at the latest KDE natively
> >  I want to try openMosix as a cluster environment for desktop use
> >  I want to upgrade a card/subsystem, and not upgrade the whole system 
> >         software package
> >  I want a girl friend who understands how to guard my back in the dark 
> >         alleys of life (ok, not linux)
> >  I want some training on chemical structure software where I can _afford_ 
> >         the cost of the software. (Chemistry is my background, although 
> >         for a number of reasons I've been reduced more to hobby 
> >         interest and involvement.) I somehow doubt that the vendors 
> >         are going to help me out here!
> >
> >I could be silly and keep going, but I've imposed on the good graces of 
> >the list enough here. Especially since I _still_ don't know the question I 
> >should be asking
> >
> >Thanks for listening, and allowing me the bandwidth.
> >
> >  
> >
> 
> 

-- 
=============================================
If you think Education is expensive
Try Ignorance
                   Author Unknown
============================================

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