Subject: RE: Drivers to support Stereo Viewing in VMD etc using Standard GeForce Cards
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 09:48:53 -0700
From: "DeLano, Warren"

I see nothing wrong with the ethics of this so long as you are not
pirating driver code (unclear in this situation). There are some
definite benefits to be had from voiding warranties through overclocking
and (hardware or software) disassembly. Sometimes you may destroy what
you own, but there's nothing unethical about that.

However, as for being a robust widely deployable PC stereo solution --
this is NOT it. How long do you think it will take for nVidia to close
this loophole? My hope and expectation is that the gaming market will
eventually drive down the cost of quad-buffered stereo hardware so that
the majority of us will be able to afford stereo on our PCs. $500 for a
stereo graphics card? Now that's ridiculous!

Nevertheless, if anyone gets this working with PyMOL, I'd still love to
know. An updated glut32.ddl with QB support may be required.

- Warren


> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Konerding
> Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 8:31 AM
> To: Ross Walker
> Cc: amber@heimdal.compchem.ucsf.edu
> Subject: Re: Drivers to support Stereo Viewing in VMD etc
> using Standard
> GeForce Cards
>
>
> "Ross Walker" writes:
> >Dear Everyone,
> >
> >I thought this might interest some people reading this list who use
> >programs such as VMD to visualise molecules. Up until now stereo
> >support has been restricted to SGI's and expensive
> professional graphics
> >cards like the NVIDIA Quadro series.
>
> This procedure voids your warranty (just like overclocking)
> and is also
> just plain ethically wrong. Is it really worth it? If you really
> think stereo viewing is useful, then include a section in your next
> grant proposal for stereo viewing hardware (IE a card that supports
> stereo). They aren't that much more expensive and those
> cards' drivers
> have better performance anyway. Now, whether it is ethical
> for nVidia to
> sell you a card which is capable of stereo viewing and
> antialiased line
> drawing in hardware and then disabling it in software since you
> paid $100 instead of $500; that's another issue entirely :-)
>