Chime     (Top)

You will need Chime or another molecular graphics renderer (e.g., RasMol) to view and manipulate the 3D structures contained in the *.pdb files. It, too, is free, and easy to download and install. After installing, it starts automatically in your browser when you click on a PDB file. After Chime launches, your browser screen may be black for a minute or two while the image downloads. When viewing the image, you can right-click in the browser screen to select various viewing options (e.g., wireframe vs. spacefill), and rotate the structure by "grabbing" it: Place the mouse cursor on the structure and drag the mouse while holding down the left button. Resize the image by holding down both the shift key and left mouse button; drag the mouse back and forth horizontally (vertically with some images) to make the image larger and smaller.

RasMol     (Top)

RasMol is another molecular graphics viewer. If you are using the Internet Explorer browser, you can run RasMol directly from this site. Save the file for the structure you want to view by right-clicking on the link and saving to disk, then click on one of the RasMol links in the page. Choose to "run this program from its present location", then dismiss any security warnings that might come up (this program is safe), then open the saved file in RasMol. If you are using the Netscape browser, you may be able to set up RasMol as a plug-in, like Chime. Visit the RasMol Home Page for information about this, and to find tutorials, software updates, and links to databases.

Chromas     (Top)

Chromas is a free PC program to view and edit the chromatogram-type DNA sequence files in our database. After downloading the EXE file to disk from the Chromas website, double-click on it and click OK to allow it to self-extract to the C:\Chromas directory (which it will create automatically if you don't already have that directory). Then you can run Chromas.exe from that directory or create a shortcut to it. To work with a chromatogram file, download it to disk, then open it in Chromas.

VectorNTI Viewer     (Top)

The VectorNTI Viewer is a free PC program to view the *.gb sequence/map files in our database. Save the zip file to disk, expand it, then start the viewer by running the file VNTIVW.EXE. (Need WinZip to expand the zip file?)

QuickTime, Windows Media Player, and RealPlayer     (Top)

QuickTime will play the .mov and some other types of files. Windows Media Player 9 will play .mpeg and some others, so you may not need RealPlayer. RealPlayer makes it hard to find the free basic player, but it's there.

For best playback always download the files to your computer (help) before playing.

PowerPoint web slideshows and PDFs     (Top)

You will need a Windows computer with Internet Explorer 4.0 or later (IE 5.01 SP2 recommended) to properly view these slideshows. Once the first slide appears, click on the icon in the lower right corner to change the view to full screen, then click on the slides to advance them and slide out the bullet points. Press the Esc key to revert to the normal browser view. If you are viewing the slideshow in full-screen mode and a movie link plays a movie in full-screen mode, you can return to the slide by pressing alt-backarrow.

You will need Acrobat Reader for the printable versions, which are PDFs with six slides per page.

Downloading Files to Your Hard Drive     (Top)

Internet Explorer 4 or later, or the AOL browser:
    1. Right-click the link to the file, then choose Save Target As from the pop-up menu.
    2. In the Save As dialog box, select a location on your hard drive, then click Save.

Netscape Navigator:
    You can save it through the link, or by saving it when it's open:

       To download a file from a link:
            1. Right-click the link to the file, then choose Save Link As from the pop-up menu.
            2. In the Save As dialog box, select a location on your hard drive, then click Save.

        To download an open file:
            1. Choose File > Save As.
            2. In the Save As dialog box, select a location on your hard drive, then click Save.