Re: [ccp4bb] Computer hardware and OS "survey"

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CCP4bb <-- 1999 <-- November 1999 <-- 30 November 1999

Previous message:
Subject: Re: Computer hardware and OS "survey"
From: Nicholas M Glykos glykos {- at -} MBG {- dot -} DUTH {- dot -} GR
Date: 2009-05-03

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Subject: Re: Computer hardware and OS "survey"
From: Anastassis Perrakis a {- dot -} perrakis {- at -} NKI {- dot -} NL
Date: 2009-05-03

Subject: Re: Computer hardware and OS "survey"
From: iulek iulek {- at -} INTERPONTA {- dot -} COM {- dot -} BR
Date: 2009-05-03

Â Â Â As this has not been cited, I decided to drop my opinion here.

Â Â Â Since last year I have a system which I consider almost complete to
my needs (good crystallography computing and precise office tools).
With "precise" I mean completely compatible file formats to students
and wherever I go/send a document of mine. Unfortunately I find
OpenOffice not to be very 100 % compatible to MSOffice, eg, formulae,
which is an issue for a physical chemistry lecturer (and evetually
crystallography presentations). I might be outdated yet I am still at
openSuSE 11.0, so no experience with OpenOffice 3.0. Also, to be
questioned about the xml format, so it would be nice to have some
reference here (questionable as well, why not to "force" students and
whoever else to use open format documents?). With crossover, again
problems with formulae. For these cases I use VirtualBridges' win4lin.
It is still a bit slow in my laptop, but I wonder about these 4 GB memo
machines nowadays. It seems to me it has a much easier way to exchange
files between win and lin and use less machine resources than virtual
machines; but I would like to hear from someone who has extensive
experiences with both. Nevertheless, limitatons are that it is
compatible with winXP and below only and I cannot tell about its speed
for development.

Â Â Â It is nice to use the 4 x 3 part of my wide screen to project the
classes under XP, whilst on the remaining screen strand "top" shows me
the severalÂ processes running on the backgrond! Together with
hibernate, yet 20+ days without rebooting the computer (no processes
stopped) and using linux and whatever needed within XP, just whenever
needed.

Â Â Â Other than that, crossover is very nice for "common" documents. For
outlook (I cannot find a free alternative for the calendar with all
functions therein), it is simply fine.

Â Â Â I hope this might be useful for someone else.

Jorge

************************************************************************

Prof. Jorge Iulek, Ph. D.

Protein Purification and 3D Structure Determination Group

Department of Chemistry

State University of Ponta Grossa - PR

Brazil

e-mail: iulek at interponta dot com dot br

Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â iulek at uepg dot br

*****************************************************************

type="cite">

This is the first time I see a discussion about this issue in science. To
Answer to Pete...KDE and Gnome are user friendly and ergonomic windowing
systems and nowadays major Linux Distributions make using these MUCH easier
than some years ago. We have both, OSX and Linux workstations in our lab,
but for computational needs you would have to buy a Mac Pro workstation
that is expensive compared to the PC counterpart. Else on cheaper iMacs you
can not do heavy calculations, the system is not made for this. 

Desktop needs like grant writing are greatly improved now with openOffice
and for Microsoft fans with wine + Microsoft Office. But in the end I
really have to agree with Nicholas. People tend to stigmatize Linux as a
user unfriendly and unusable system for every day tasks. This is completely
wrong and it would be nice if people would give a try to good distributions
like Suse 11.1 or Ubuntu, that are very easy to install and maintain.

Best wishes.

Peter

On Sat, 2 May 2009 11:50:56 +0100, mb1pja <P.Artymiuk@SHEFFIELD.AC.UK>
wrote:

.. but OSX gives you Unix AND you can run Word /Powerpoint without  
rebooting. And you get a user-friendly ergonomic windowing system that  
kicks the **** out of XP/Vista/KDE/Gnome...

best wishes

Pete



On 2 May 2009, at 11:32, Nicholas M Glykos wrote:

Dear All,

We confuse scientific computing with the individual scientists'  
computing
needs: just because a scientist has to write a grant application using
word, does not make windows a platform suitable for scientific  
computing
(or anything else for that matter). Using computing machines for doing
science boils down to actually using computing machines to compute  
things,
and for that you need a proper open-source, production-oriented,  
stable
programming environment, ie. GNU/Linux. What individual scientists  
prefer
for satisfying their desktop needs is interesting, but, at least to my
mind, largely irrelevant.

My twopence,
Nicholas


-- 


         Dr Nicholas M. Glykos, Department of Molecular Biology
    and Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, University Campus,
 Dragana, 68100 Alexandroupolis, Greece, Tel/Fax (office)  
+302551030620,
   Ext.77620, Tel (lab) +302551030615, http://utopia.duth.gr/~glykos/

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CCP4bb <-- 1999 <-- November 1999 <-- 30 November 1999

Previous message:
Subject: Re: Computer hardware and OS "survey"
From: Nicholas M Glykos glykos {- at -} MBG {- dot -} DUTH {- dot -} GR
Date: 2009-05-03

Next message:
Subject: Re: Computer hardware and OS "survey"
From: Anastassis Perrakis a {- dot -} perrakis {- at -} NKI {- dot -} NL
Date: 2009-05-03