This document has the following sections: INSTALLATION OF RASWIN SCRIPT OPERATION OF SCRIPT SCRIPT SPEED/PACING/TIMING - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - INSTALLATION OF RASWIN SCRIPT Each script consists of a top level script plus many subscripts and some PDB files. It is therefore advisable to install each script in a separate subdirectory. For example, assuming you have installed the RasWin program files in C:\RASWIN, the script MHC1 could be installed in C:\RASWIN\MHC1. To do this, copy the packed file MHC1ZIP.EXE into the desired subdirectory, and then run it as a DOS program at the DOS prompt (which will unpack it). Now run Windows. In Windows, with the RasWin icon selected, select File, Preferences, and change the Working Directory to the one containing the unpacked script files. (If you want access to RasWin's built-in help, you must also copy RASWIN.HLP into the working directory.) If you have several scripts, you may wish to create a separate RasWin icon for each. This would enable you to change scripts smoothly during a lecture, without changing the working directory. With the RasWin icon highlighted, select File, Copy. Now use File, Properties to change the working directory to the one for the script, and the Description (which will appear under the icon) to the script name. Thus you will end up with a script-name-labeled RasWin icon for each script. If you wish, you can even configure the Properties to run the script automatically when the icon is double-clicked. To do this, put '-script mhc1.top' after RASWIN.EXE in the Command Line slot of the Properties box. [WARNING: there is a bug in RasWin beta 2.6 which hangs scripts started in this way at the first pause. Therefore, scripts will have to be run manually, with a 'script mhc1.top' command in the command window, until this is fixed.] OPERATION OF SCRIPT MHC1.TOP is the top-level script. Start it by typing 'script mhc1.top' in the RasWin command line window, then pressing Enter. This script is designed for NO MANUAL ROTATION during the script. It pauses frequently, waiting for the lecturer (or student) to press the space bar to proceed. The very last image in the script (after the RASMOL> prompt returns) benefits from manual rotation with the mouse. When the VSV peptide first appears, the molecule will be too high (due to a bug in RasMol 2.6 beta). Center it manually (right mouse button for translation) before proceeding. SCRIPT SPEED/PACING/TIMING RasWin32 beta 2.6 (the 32 bit program) is several times faster than RasWin 2.6 (the 16 bit program). To run RASWIN32 you may need a Windows accessory package which is provided free by MicroSoft. For details see: http://www.umass.edu/microbio/rasmol/getras.htm Script execution speed is affected by the speed of your computer, the speed of your graphics card, the screen resolution, and the size of the RasWin graphics window. Starting with a full-screen graphics window, you can speed up execution by reducing the resolution from 1024 x 768 to 800 x 600 to 640 x 480 pixels. This is usually done with a SetRes (or related) icon in the Windows Control Panel. Further increases in speed can be obtained by reducing the size of the graphics window (to less than full-screen). Quick previewing of scripts can be done very quickly in a tiny graphics window. -Eric Martz emartz@microbio.umass.edu