Announcing PyMOL v0.56 (+ Windows Installer)

PyMOL v0.56 has been released http://pymol.sourceforge.net .
 An illustrated manual is available on the web page, and the program is
 now considered late beta-test quality.
 PyMOL is a full-featured molecular graphics and animation program, and
 will eventually support building and molecular modeling. PyMOL lays the
 groundwork for a completely free and open-source replacement for
 packages such as Grasp, Molscript/Raster3D, O, Midas, Insight II,
 Cerius2, Sybyl, and Quanta. Why pay MSI or Tripos for expensive tools if
 you can accomplish the same task with free software?  Plus, you can
 deploy PyMOL on every machine in your lab or company for no cost other
 than hardware (approx. $100/PC for an nVidia Gefore2/MX video card).
 PyMOL has most of the visualization features you would expect for maps
 and molecules, with the exception of cartoon ribbons, which require
 Molscript for generation of the 3D geometries as Raster3D input files. I
 am still looking for donation of unrestricted source-code for a
 high-quality ribbon-rendering algorithm (any volunteers?).
 PyMOL is an optimal solution for generating PowerPoint figures on your
 Windows desktop (PNG files directly import into PowerPoint) and can also
 be used for live 3D molecular graphics on an LCD projector if you have a
 Dell or Toshiba laptop that contains an nVidia GeForceGo chip. I have
 confirmed that a DELL Inspiron 8000 will significantly outperform an SGI
 Octane/MXE for molecular graphics.
 Although there are other similar efforts underway (Birdwash, CCP4-3d,
 MolKit, etc.), PyMOL is currently ahead of the other efforts in terms of
 visualization capabilities and accessibility to non-developers under
 Windows. Right now, PyMOL is the most powerful molecular graphics
 program based entirely on free and unrestricted source-code (No GPL!).
 Unlike RasMOL, PyMOL is targeted towards the needs of professionals, not
 undergraduates, and supports features such as robust molecular editing,
 animations, scripting, ray-tracing, and programmable extensibility.
 Python lovers will be happy to learn that PyMOL uses an embedded Python
 interpreter as its native API, and maps it to an expandable,
 hyper-efficient command language.  Pure Python-based interfaces to
 programs such as Amber, CNS, CCP4, GAMESS, or your own projects can
 easily be developed as needs arise (for example, in graduate student
 projects!)
 A Windows installer can be found at:
 http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/pymol/pymol-0_56-bin-win32-py152.zip
 and requires Python 152
 http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/pymol/py152.exe
 Source code for unix can be obtained and compiled through the publicly
 accessible CVS repository.  Linux RPMs will be released by the end of
 the summer.
 Please see the web site for additional information:
 http://pymol.sourceforge.net
 http://www.pymol.org
 Enjoy!
 Warren
 --
 mailto:warren (- at -) sunesis.com
 Warren L. DeLano, Ph.D.