http://www.icmb.ed.ac.uk/sokal.html is the Web page for the free phylogeny
program LVB. The Web page has recently been updated and expanded.
LVB is intended for use where there is a very large amount of information
(e.g., hundreds of aligned DNA sequences). The program was written to
investigate use of the heuristic known as simulated annealing in the
search for parsimonious phylogenetic trees.
The manual is available free, in a new electronic version. It documents
LVB for users, and also the internals of the program itself for those
interested in checking or modifying LVB.
The program is free, and is now available for many popular computer
systems: PowerPC or compatible with MacOS; Pentium or compatible with
Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT; Pentium or compatible with Windows
3.1 or Windows 3.11; C source code which may be compiled for Unix. All of
these may be downloaded from the Web page, and used and copied freely. It
is possible to register as a user, but this is optional. Registration is
not required to download the program or receive support.
The Web page answers some frequently asked questions, and has links to
some related biology, evolution and bioinformatics sites.
I am happy to receive questions about LVB. I can give advice on using LVB
efficiently, and am also happy to discuss the algorithms used and their
implementation in LVB. Please let me know about any suggestions for
improvement.
Daniel Barker,
Biocomputing Research Unit,
Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology,
The University of Edinburgh,
King's Buildings,
Mayfield Road,
Edinburgh
EH9 3JR
United Kingdom
