Hi Netters,
Because of the traffic lately about Molecular Modelling Software for the PC
and in general, I'll pass this on: Perhaps some of you have seen the very
splashy, colorful, and somewhat bizarre ads for an Autodesk product
called HyperChem. I bit and ordered the demo and despite some infantile intro
screens, it is an intriguing bit of work. In a word, it's sort of an
Insight/Discover (very) Lite. But!
1) It's Windows based and therefore linkable to spreadsheets, and other
Windows programs (and in fact you can [supposedly] write macros in Excel to
execute HyperChem functions). It also looks very easy to use.
2) It required a _BIG_ PC. While the brochure says you can runit on a 386
with 4 MB, I couldn't see running it on anything less than a fast 486 with
8MB and a Windows Accelerator for any useful work.
3) Besides the display stuff, it [thinks it] can do minimizations and
energy calculations, displaying the interim structures as it does so. It was
a canned demo, so I don't think that the calculations that it displayed were
actually being done - if they were, it would be acceptable speed (on a 25MHz
386/387).
4) And this is the the good news - I just got off the phone to Autodesk
for the pricing and for 90 days the intro price for academics is $600, not
cheap, but not bad considering the real price will be $3500.
All in all, for those who want to play with or need to display molecules,
have a big PC and don't want to pay for an Indigo and Insight/Discover
(academic combos would probably start at about $12,000), it's worth a look at
the demo and certainly try to play with a working version. The number is 1
800 424 9737 for info.
I called Autodesk and the demo is uploadable if people are interested.
Std disclaimers apply.
Harry Mangalam Vox:(619) 453-4100, x250
Dept of Biocomputing Fax:(619) 552-1546
The Salk Institute mangalam at salk-sc2.sdsc.edu
10010 N Torrey Pines Rd mangalam at salk-sgi.sdsc.edu
La Jolla CA 92037 mangalam at salk.bitnet
