VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 30 2003 - 15:22:14 CST

Cesar,
  Aha! You have a new model Spaceball 5000, which has never been tested
with my libsball driver code. Interesting. How is it attached to your
computer? Is it USB?

I've tested the 2003, 3003, and 4000 series Spaceballs, but you're the
first person to use a Spaceball 5000.

If you can't get it to work with Linux, it should work perfectly with
Windows, since the Windows version of VMD uses the 3DConnexion driver
on that platform.

In order to get it working with VMD on Linux, I'll have to debug
what the problem is with the spaceball data you're getting back
from the device. An alternate solution would be for me to add
the window event handling code in VMD to capture the events that
the xdriver sends instead of the built-in driver, in theory that
would also work for your model.

Thanks,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Thu, Oct 30, 2003 at 09:17:22PM +0000, Cesar Delgado wrote:
> I'm sorry if I sounded a bit pushy in my last email but every computer I
> touch today seems to break or die in some horific way so I'm kinda mad at
> myself right now...
>
> Everything worksup to step 5 in the instructions you sent me. I try to use
> Button 1 or 2 and they both send the molecule to the back of the 3D space
> and then the molecule disapears. The ball doesn't do anything no matter in
> what direction I try to move it.
>
> I am using a Spaceball 5000, and when I start the xdriver to run the demos
> stuff, I hear a double beep followed by a little delay and then another
> double beep. With VMD I just hear one double beep when it starts, with the
> xdriver not running. Could this be a sighn of something going wrong?
>
> -Cesar Delgado
> ---------------------------------------------
> Research Computing Facility @ UNL
> http://rcf.unl.edu
> cdelgad2_at_bigred.unl.edu, beettlle_at_hotmail.com
>
>
>
>
> >From: John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu>
> >To: Cesar Delgado <beettlle_at_hotmail.com>
> >CC: vmd-l_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >Subject: Re: vmd-l: VMD and Chromium
> >Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 13:51:51 -0600
> >
> >
> >Cesar,
> > Trust me, I wrote the code :-)
> >If you run the xdriver, it will fight with VMD over who gets to control
> >the spaceball. The low-level Unix serial driver will let them both talk
> >to the ball, and each one will get some of the I/O's from the spaceball,
> >which is why you're getting corrupted spaceball packets, causing the
> >erratic behavior.
> >So, to fix your problem:
> > 1) Turn off the xdriver first.
> > 2) Once the xdriver is definitely off, you'll need to power-cycle the
> > spaceball to reset any crazy values that have been programmed into it
> > by the xdriver. If its an older model, the easiest way to do that is
> > to unplug the cable from the back of the spaceball. If its a newer
> > 3003 FLX or 4000 FLX model, you can just unplug it from the computer
> > for a moment.
> > 3) Make sure no VMD instances are running, and close any other spaceball
> > aware programs just in case...
> > 4) Plug the spaceball back in.
> > 5) Start VMD. The Spaceball should beep when VMD starts, indicating
> > that VMD successfully sent it the reset and initialization sequence.
> > 6) Press the "1" button on the ball, this should reset the VMD view.
> > Pressing "2" cycles through the various Spaceball modes in VMD.
> >
> >Once you've done those steps, you should see that by applying torque
> >to the Spaceball, you can rotate the VMD axes etc.. If you still have
> >problems after following these steps, let me know and I'll help you
> >get it sorted out.
> >
> >Which Spaceball model are you using by the way?
> >
> >Thanks,
> > John Stone
> > vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >
> >
> >
> >On Thu, Oct 30, 2003 at 07:37:15PM +0000, Cesar Delgado wrote:
> >> The problem is that if I don't start xdriver then the ball, on the
> >> spaceball, doesn't do anything. The button do work, but all of them just
> >> send the molecule back to infinity, or at least that is what it seems.
> >When
> >>
> >> I start VMD the spaceball beeps just like it does when I start the
> >xdriver.
> >>
> >> I don't know if that is good or bad.
> >>
> >> -Cesar Delgado
> >> ---------------------------------------------
> >> Research Computing Facility @ UNL
> >> http://rcf.unl.edu
> >> cdelgad2_at_bigred.unl.edu, beettlle_at_hotmail.com
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> >From: John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu>
> >> >To: Cesar Delgado <beettlle_at_hotmail.com>
> >> >CC: vmd-l_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >> >Subject: Re: vmd-l: VMD and Chromium
> >> >Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2003 13:28:30 -0600
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >Cesar,
> >> > Disable the 'xdriver' program, it is interfereing with VMD.
> >> >You can re-enable the xdriver when you're not using VMD if you need
> >> >to use the Spaceball with other programs.
> >> >
> >> >VMD contains its own spaceball driver and doesn't need to use
> >> >the xdriver. It directly communicates with the Spaceball over
> >> >the serial port.
> >> >
> >> >Thanks,
> >> > John Stone
> >> > vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >On Thu, Oct 30, 2003 at 06:03:45PM +0000, Cesar Delgado wrote:
> >> >> We just received a Spaceball to work with. I have it connected to my
> >> >> development machine for the moment to try the spcaball out. It's a
> >> >> 3DConnexion spaceball and it came with a driver (xdriver 4.5). I've
> >> >tried
> >> >> to run VMD with the driver running and it behaves eraticaly. When I
> >> >move
> >> >> the ball around, not pressing any of the buttons, I get these strange
> >> >> messages in mthe vmd console:
> >> >>
> >> >> Info) VMD for LINUX, version 1.8.1 (June 15, 2003)
> >> >> Info) http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/
> >> >> Info) Email questions and bug reports to vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >> >> Info) Please include this reference in published work using VMD:
> >> >> Info) Humphrey, W., Dalke, A. and Schulten, K., `VMD - Visual
> >> >> Info) Molecular Dynamics', J. Molec. Graphics 1996, 14.1, 33-38.
> >> >> Info) -------------------------------------------------------------
> >> >> Info) Multithreading available, 1 CPU detected.
> >> >> Info) OpenGL renderer: Quadro4 900 XGL/AGP/SSE2
> >> >> Info) Features: STENCIL MSAA(4) RN MDE CVA MTX TCM PP
> >> >> Info) Textures: 2-D (4096x4096), 3-D (512x512x512), Multitexture
> >(4)
> >> >> Info) Opening Spaceball on port: /dev/ttyS0
> >> >> vmd > Info) Spaceball set to dominant axis rotation/translation mode
> >> >> Info) Spaceball reset view orientation
> >> >> Info) Spaceball set to scaling mode
> >> >> Info) Spaceball set to rotation/translation mode
> >> >> Info) Spaceball set to dominant axis rotation/translation mode
> >> >> Info) Spaceball reset view orientation
> >> >>
> >> >> I have also tried to run it without the "xdriver" running and letting
> >> >VMD
> >> >> take care of talking to the space ball but then the ball doesn't
> >work.
> >> >Some
> >> >>
> >> >> of the buttons do stuff, but that is it.
> >> >>
> >> >> Thanks for the help,
> >> >>
> >> >> -Cesar Delgado
> >> >> ---------------------------------------------
> >> >> Research Computing Facility @ UNL
> >> >> http://rcf.unl.edu
> >> >> cdelgad2_at_bigred.unl.edu, beettlle_at_hotmail.com
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> >From: John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu>
> >> >> >To: Cesar Delgado <beettlle_at_hotmail.com>
> >> >> >CC: vmd-l_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >> >> >Subject: Re: vmd-l: VMD and Chromium
> >> >> >Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2003 02:32:50 -0500
> >> >> >
> >> >> >Cesar,
> >> >> > Interesting, I had forgotten that Chromium still didn't do
> >anything
> >> >> >with the X mouse cursors etc. An alternative to using the mouse,
> >which
> >> >> >would
> >> >> >still be less expensive than a full-up haptic device would be to use
> >> >> >something
> >> >> >like a Spaceball or a Magellan, via VRPN. Let me know if you've got
> >> >one
> >> >> >in your lab and I can give you further suggestions along those
> >lines.
> >> >> >Otherwise, I'm not sure that I have any great ideas in the
> >short-term,
> >> >> >as I'm already swamped debugging various small items before release
> >of
> >> >> >VMD 1.8.2. Let me know if you've got a Spaceball or a Magellan
> >> >around..
> >> >> >
> >> >> > John
> >> >> >
> >> >> >On Wed, Oct 22, 2003 at 06:13:57PM -0500, Cesar Delgado wrote:
> >> >> >> I have been using VMD with Chromium with no problems. Now I want
> >to
> >> >do
> >> >> >> some IMD on the tiled wall. The problem is that the mouse does
> >not
> >> >> >> render on the tiled display wall so I don't know where I am
> >pointing
> >> >> >> which makes it impossible to grab anything.
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> Has anyone ever tried this and found a solution?
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >> -Cesar Delgado
> >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------
> >> >> >> Research Computing Facility @ UNL
> >> >> >> <http://rcf.unl.edu> http://rcf.unl.edu
> >> >> >> <mailto:cdelgad2_at_bigred.unl.edu> cdelgad2_at_bigred.unl.edu,
> >> >> >> <mailto:beettlle_at_hotmail.com> beettlle_at_hotmail.com
> >> >> >>
> >> >> >
> >> >> >--
> >> >> >NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> >> >> >Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> >> >> >University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> >> >> >Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> >> >> > WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Fax: 217-244-6078
> >> >>
> >> >> _________________________________________________________________
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> >> >--
> >> >NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> >> >Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> >> >University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> >> >Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> >> > WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Fax: 217-244-6078
> >>
> >> _________________________________________________________________
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> >--
> >NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> >Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> >University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> >Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> > WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Fax: 217-244-6078
>
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-- 
NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu                 Phone: 217-244-3349              
  WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/      Fax: 217-244-6078