Help for a Beginner Needed! Installation on Win 8 Computer

[Anonymous]

Hi- Being very new to this, I’ve only had a chance to skim through the forums. I did have a few questions, though. As I’m new to using python and RC, I want to thank whomever for answering for their patience in helping me understand this.

1) Is Rosetta Commons different from BOINC?
2) I have installed Python on my device, and when following the compilation/build/installation instructions, tried to open the main/source/scons.py file, but the python window opens briefly and then closes before I can even see what’s in the window. I’m not sure what this means, and I’m pretty sure that it’s not a good sign when trying to start the compilation.
3) If I’m understanding this correctly, when I can get scons.py open correctly, I should be changing the number of processors for libraries and executables? Is this something that needs to be opened through the python application? If so, how do I change and redirect a directory within Python?

Thanks in advance for everyone’s help and patience. I will most likely have more questions to follow.

[Anonymous]

Yay ‘unexpected errors’! (If you get an unexpected error, you can edit your post – I have notified the forum admin to fix this)

Hi wushufury,

You need some sort of command-line to get it to install properly. In addition, most of Rosetta is run via cmd-line as well (https://www.rosettacommons.org/docs/latest/Rosetta-Basics.html). Guis do exist however:
https://www.rosettacommons.org/docs/latest/graphics-and-guis.html

I’ve never tried to compile Rosetta on Win8, so I couldn’t help you there. However, if you install something like cygwin, and follow this: https://www.rosettacommons.org/docs/latest/Build-Documentation.html it should be possible.

You will need to install a compatable compiler as well – either GCC or Clang.

You could also try PyRosetta, which is more of a scripting environment. Binaries for these are available for windows via http://www.pyrosetta.org. Note that PyRosetta is more scripting oriented while Rosetta is more application-oriented, though you can do some scripting in RosettaScripts:
https://www.rosettacommons.org/docs/latest/PyRosetta.html
https://www.rosettacommons.org/docs/latest/RosettaScripts.html

[Anonymous]

1) “Boinc” is a framework for distributed computing, and is independent from Rosetta. However, there is a Boinc-enabled version of Rosetta called Rosetta@Home, which you may be referring to. The code that’s run on Rosetta@Home is the same code that’s available through the rosettacommons.org website. (In fact, it’s just the “minirosetta” application in the regular Rosetta application, although specially compiled to support the Boinc infrastructure – the scientific component is identical, though.)

2) Scons.py isn’t used to run Rosetta itself – it’s simply used to compile/build the Rosetta executables. Once built, Rosetta functions like other commandline programs, and doesn’t really use Python. (If you’re interested in using Rosetta through Python, there’s PyRosetta, which has the same scientific core as Rosetta (and Rosetta@Home and FoldIt), but wrapped in a Python interface, rather than a commanline one.

To compile and use Rosetta, you’ll really want to be using it from within a commandline environment (a terminal). Moreso, for plain Rosetta you need a Unix-like commandline environment (something like Linux or Mac). Windows won’t work well. Which means that you would either need to get access to a Mac or Linux machine, dual boot into Linux, or use Virtual Machine software to host a Linux OS under your Windows environment.

Once you’re in a Unix-like commandline environment, changing the commandline parameters and redirecting output, etc. is straightforward.

If you want to stay within Windows, PyRosetta does have a Windows version you could install. (See http://www.pyrosetta.org/). This can do almost everything that regular Rosetta can do, but it’s set up to allow you to construct your own protocols, so it does take more programming effort. If all you’re interested in is running the standard published protocols, you may want to stick to regular Rosetta.

Please feel free to ask any questions as they come up – and note that there’s a PyRosetta specific sub-section of this forum if you want to go that route.

[Anonymous]

We’re currently having a problem with the forum. Just click on the “edit” button for your blank posts in order to make your post. (It’s annoying for us, too.)

[Author]

Posts