Marek Tchorzewski wrote:
>> Dear Netters,
>> First of all, Happy New Year 1997 to all of you !!!
>> On the other hand, I need advice concerning programs
> for DNA and protein analysis.
> I am going to buy such program however I am not
> fully determined which program I should purchase.
>> So far, I have seen DNAsis and DNAstar, however
> I am not sufficiently confident that these programs
> are reliable, and can provide me with the best options.
>> So, could you advice me, which programs is actually
> the best on the market.
>> Marek Tchorzewski PhD
> Univ. of Maria Curie-Sklodowska
> Dept. of Molecular Biology
> Lublin, Poland
It sounds to me that you are working with a personal computer with access
to some kind of network that connects you to the Internet. I've been
working with GCG for a number of years and I think it is generally good.
I used to run GCG in a VAX minicomputer through the institute network and
it wasn't too bad. It is certainly not like Mac or Windows, and commands
are not too obviously(no pull down menu). These days I am running GCG in
a UNIX environment, and UNIX is a pain for people like me(The author of
"UNIX for Dummy" did say that she used to hate it and love it now after
she learnt it). Some of the programs for multiple sequence alignments
and comparisons, such as GAP, PILEUP and PRETTY, in GCG are really
powerful. I am not aware of other programs that would match it. If your
school has GCG in the network, that would be great. If your school does
not, you need to talk to other schools that provide such programs.
Hopefully, they'll give you an account so that you can use their
computer. In addition, you have to install a software in your computer
to connect to computers in other schools. TELNET is commonly used for
Windows and Versaterm is common for Mac.
On the other hand, if you spend most of your time constructing plasmid,
looking of cut sites, and generate plasmid graphic on computer,
Generunner is pretty good for Windows platform. If you have a Mac, try
Gene Construction Kit or MacVector. All of those programs are relatively
user friendly. I rarely have to use the the manual to figure out how to
get things done in these programs, unlike GCG. Of course, you can buy as
many programs as you like. Hope it helps.
Chong
----
Chong K. Jue
Dept of Biological Sciences
Hunter College
New York, NY 10021
Email: jue at genectr.hunter.cuny.edu
