Getting & Installing RasMol

Thanks to Roger Sayle, author of RasMol 2.6, for giving RasMol free to the world!

This page provides local copies of the RasMol program. The original source of RasMol is via ftp from the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Download the RasMol 2.6 Beta-2a Program for which extensive documentation is available here.

In case you have problems downloading files with your web browser, all files on our web site in microbio/rasmol/distrib are also available by anonymous ftp from marlin.bio.umass.edu in /pub/shareware/rasmol/distrib.

Download the RasMol 2.7 Program

RasMol 2.7, spearheaded by Herbert Bernstein, was released in 1999. Bernstein's site contains

RasMol 2.7 and its full documentation.
Please note that while there are no restrictions on the use of RasMol 2.6 or its source code which was placed in the public domain by its author, Roger Sayle, the conditions for use of RasMol 2.7 and its source code are slightly different.

The present site maintained by yours truly, Eric Martz, at the University of Massachusetts does not document the changes in RasMol 2.7. For two and a half years (November 1995 through April 1998) I actively developed the RasMol branch of my website. However, the documentation at my site will remain largely frozen at RasMol 2.6-beta-2a. This is because my efforts are now focused largely on Chime, notably the Protein Explorer, an alternative to RasMol which is easier to use and more powerful (though, unlike RasMol, limited to Windows and Macintosh PPC users since Chime is not supported on unix/linux).


RasMol Reference Manual

The Reference Manual is best consulted after you have done one or more of the
introductory tutorials for RasMol, and checked out the frequently asked questions (FAQ).

To the best of our knowledge, the only version of Roger Sayle's original RasMol Reference Manual which is reasonably up to date with RasMol version 2.6 beta 2 is the available from our site. It has the large advantage that you can search it with the Find capability of your web browser, because it is all in one file. The disadvantage is that the file is somewhat large and slow to load.

Another advantage of the all-in-one-file version linked above is that it can be printed with your web browser, should you wish a paper copy.

If you prefer the faster loading of smaller files, section by section, (thereby sacrificing the web-browser find capability for the entire document, and the ability to print the entire document), see the frames version of the 2.6 beta 2 reference manual provided by Will McClure, Carnegie-Mellon U. This is also available without frames.

Here is an enhanced version of the RasMol Quick Reference Card (originally by Roger Sayle, enhanced by Duane Sears, UCSB). This card is also available in Adobe Acrobat format from Will McClure.

The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) provides supplemental information. If you have specific questions be sure to check RasMol's built-in help, both from the Help menu, and from the command-line (help command in the command-line window). (Note that RasMol's built-in help is up to date only with version 2.5.) If your questions remain unanswered, search past messages on the history of the RasMol email discussion, and if you still can't find the answer, subscribe to the email discussion and ask by email. Tutorials on how to use RasMol and guides to creating "movie" scripts for RasMol and Chime are also available.


Version Chronology of RasMol; problems re: Stereo

The version of RasMol most thoroughly tested and most widely in use is
Version 2.6 beta-2a. Version 2.7 has been made available recently and is especially recommended for experienced users and those who need its enhancements.

In 2.6-beta-2a, the the implementation of stereo is a partial one. When stereo is turned on, the image is not properly recentered. (This can be done with a translate x - command or with the mouse.) Stereo is not supported in vector PostScript output files, is not saved by the write script command, and in general is not yet properly interfaced with several other features of the program.

Version chronology of RasMol since November 1994:

See the Reference Manual for details of changes in each version.

Download RasWin 2.6 beta-2a for PC/Windows

Windows 95, Windows NT

Get 32-bit RasWin (some bugs were fixed November 20, 1996) for Windows 95 or Windows NT.

Installation in Windows 95. Right-click on Start and select Open. From the Start Menu window, double click to open the Programs window (or wherever you want RasMol to be). Now, use Windows Explorer to find the RasWin program file you downloaded (RW32B2A.EXE). Click the right mouse button on the RasWin program file, and select Create Shortcut. A new file will appear. Drag it into the Programs window (or wherever you want it). Close all windows. Now, the Start, Programs menu will have RasWin on its list.

Windows 3.1

There are three versions of RasWin for Windows 3.1x.

(If for any reason you want them, the following obsolete versions are still here: 32-bit RasWin 2.6-beta-2, 32-bit RasWin 2.6-beta-1, 16-bit RasWin 2.6-beta-2, 16-bit RasWin 2.6-beta-1.)

Installation. RasWin (either 16- or 32-bit) is installed as follows under Windows 3.1x. Create a new directory (for example, C:\RASWIN) and put the file you downloaded (RASWINSX.EXE, RW16B2A.EXE, or RW32B2A.EXE) there along with the two essential help files rasmol.hlp and raswin.hlp. (Get rashelp.exe, run it under DOS in your raswin directory, and it will self-unpack into these two files. These on-line help files are only up to date with version 2.5.)

Now, in Windows, select File, New (Program Item), Browse, and select C:\RASWIN\RASWIN.EXE (or RASWIN32.EXE), OK. In the Description field, put RasWin followed by the version you are installing (for example RasWin32 2.6 Beta2). In the Working Directory field, put C:\RASWIN or wherever you plan to keep your scripts and PDB (atomic coordinate) data files.

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Download RasMac for Macintosh

Get rmc26b2a.sit.hqx, which had some Mac-specific bugs fixed on September 25, 1996. The fixed version was first made available from here (RasMol Classic Main Page) on October 10, 1996. (RasMac 2.6 beta 2 was released June 6, 1996; stereo works).

To unpack the file rasmac.sit.hqx, start up the application "StuffIt Expander" and select the option "Expand" from the "File" menu. This should create the folder "RasMol2". You can then delete the files "rasmac.sit.hqx" and "rasmac.sit" by dragging their file icon and dropping them on the "trash".

Should anyone still want it, RasMac 2.6 beta 1 is still available.

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Download RasMol for NextStep

RasMol.app 2.6 for NEXTSTEP computers is provided by Andreas Windemuth at Columbia University, New York NY US. The file RasMol.NIHS.bs.tar.gz contains the programs (binaries) both for 16-bit graphics and for 2-bit graphics as well as the source code (in which modifications were kept to a minimum).

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Download RasMol for Acorn RISC OS

RasMol for Acorn 32-bit RISC OS computers is kindly provided by
Martin Wuerthner and Stefan Wuerthner. It was updated to RasMol version 2.6-beta-2 on August 28, 1996.

Sources are:

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Download Compilable Source Code for RasMol for Unix

Obtain the file RasMol26b2.tar.gz. Installation instructions are included.

RasMol26.tar.gz (beta-1) is also still available.

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Download RasMol for VAX/VMS

Instructions are in the installation instruction file INSTALL26 which accompanies RasMol. (Use your browser's FIND to search for the VMS part of this document.) If you cannot unpack the tar.gz file, you can get the unpacked source code files by ftp.

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This page is maintained by emartz@microbio.umass.edu