VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Wed Feb 08 2006 - 18:04:21 CST

Hi,
  If you've got anything but the most recent ATI cards (which I actually
haven't had a chance to test yet) you will not be able to use the GLSL
features in VMD. The older ATI cards didn't support many of the features
of GLSL that VMD uses, so they either fail to compile the shaders, or they
(in some cases) will end up emulating the missing features in software which
is too slow to be usable. I have tested on a Radeon 9800, and even that
generation of cards is somewhat challenged by the GLSL shaders in VMD.
I'm not familiar with the FireGL "T2" Mobility graphics chipset you're
using, but presumably it's got limitations that prevent it from running
the shaders as well, or else the driver you're using does. Your best bet
is to first make sure that you're using the most recent ATI driver,
and if that's the case, there's not much more you can really do. At present
there aren't many laptop chipsets that can really do full GLSL shading.
Let me know if you need more help with this.

  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Fri, Feb 03, 2006 at 11:39:37PM -0300, griadi_at_utalca.cl wrote:
> Hi VMD, John Stone and everybody:
>
> When trying to render a molecule with GLSL nothing happens but a message in
> the DOS window saying:
>
> Warning) OpenGL Programmable Shading not available.
>
> How could I make it available? Is it possible?
> I have an "ATI MOBILITY Fire GL T2" Video Card with OpenGL. Not sure if this
> additional info helps: I also installed DirectX9 and apparently I have the
> libraries for OpenGL. I run WindowsXP in my IBM T41p notebook with a 1.7GHz
> PentiumM and 1GB RAM.
> In the lab there's also an Athlon 64bits with a "NVidia Quadro" Video Card
> with the very same problem. John Stone kingly replied the only question I
> found about GLSL in April-2005, saying that NVidia drivers have problems with
> GLSL. How about ATI?
>
> I've seen molecules rendered with GLSL and they look a lot better. I'm using
> white background, which enhances the normal render imperfections.
>
> Thanks a lot guys,
> Gonzalo.
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> Este mensaje fue enviado por: http://webmail.utalca.cl 

-- 
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