Most commonly-used chemistry programs are built for PCs running Windows and then modified to work on Macs running some version of OSX. I ran into this problem for the first time when I switched to a Mac a few weeks ago and realized that I had three options: (a) shell out a tidy sum to purchase a new license for programs like Chemdraw and GaussView, (b) use open-source OSX-compatible alternatives (freeware and/or commercial), (c) make my existing Windows programs work in OSX using 3rd-party tools like Windows emulators.
Being the poor graduate student that I am, I ended up doing a combination of options (b) and (c). In this ongoing series, I'll describe how to make chemistry work on a Mac. First things first: there is a fantastic resource already out there, compiled by people who have tread this path before - MacsinChem. Unfortunately, the latest version of OSX (Lion) does not come with PowerPC support, which is necessary for many of the programs listed on MacsinChem. So I was a bit disappointed that being on the bleeding-edge of technology meant that I was unable to install many of the programs that I thought might be good alternatives by reading their descriptions on Macsinchem. Hopefully, this will serve as an update to that existing resource, for people who are running OSX (Lion).
The main chemistry-related programs on my Windows machine were:
1. Chemdraw (obviously...)
2. GaussView (for setting up computations in Gaussian)
3. Avogadro (visualizing calculated structures, surfaces, spectra, vibrations from Gaussian)
4. Mercury (pretty much the standard program for viewing crystal structures and compiling cifs for publication)
5. POV-Ray (for high-quality graphics needed for posters and presentations)
In a nut-shell, here's what I'm using now with OSX (Mavericks):
1. Chemdraw -> ChemDoodle (commercial OSX alternative) -> Back to ChemDraw now since the university has purchased a site license and the latest version of the program is available for Mac
2. GaussView -> GaussView (using option (c) from intro)
3. Avogadro -> Avogadro (free OSX version available)
4. Mercury -> Mercury (free OSX version available but needs additional installation steps)
5. POV-Ray -> POV-Ray (again, using option (c) from intro)
The Office suite of programs by Microsoft have counterparts for Macs but they tend to have little annoyances. For instance, inserting a symbol in MSWord on Mac is an unnecessarily lengthy step, which means I end up copy pasting symbols from different parts of the document rather than going through the menus, opening a new symbols window and adding one in.
That's all for now.
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Post 1. Concerning the graduate student Don Quixote de la Victoria and the origins of this blog.
Well my name isn't really Don Quixote. But I am indeed a graduate student in the department of chemistry at the University of Victoria on beautiful Vancouver Island.
I moved to Victoria six months ago and transferred to the Ph.D program last week. I've been meaning to create an online presence of this sort for some time and now that I'm done with my last ever academic course (!!!), I've suddenly got a bit more time on my hands. So now really feels like a good time to start because not having weekly assignments or quizzes and not having to T.A. makes this whole graduate school experience a whole lot real-er.
Let's begin with some biographical details that might explain my perspectives in future posts. I am a synthetic inorganic chemist, working mainly within the p-block. My current research involves synthesis of rare and highly reactive bonds between heavy pnictogens. This is research meant to contribute to our fundamental understanding of synthetic and structural inorganic chemistry. I also have a keen interest in what I can only describe, while being fully aware of the risk of sounding pretentious, as the craft of inorganic synthesis and the handling of sensitive compounds.
Here's to posts of respectable frequency and quality!
cheers,
Saurabh
I moved to Victoria six months ago and transferred to the Ph.D program last week. I've been meaning to create an online presence of this sort for some time and now that I'm done with my last ever academic course (!!!), I've suddenly got a bit more time on my hands. So now really feels like a good time to start because not having weekly assignments or quizzes and not having to T.A. makes this whole graduate school experience a whole lot real-er.
Let's begin with some biographical details that might explain my perspectives in future posts. I am a synthetic inorganic chemist, working mainly within the p-block. My current research involves synthesis of rare and highly reactive bonds between heavy pnictogens. This is research meant to contribute to our fundamental understanding of synthetic and structural inorganic chemistry. I also have a keen interest in what I can only describe, while being fully aware of the risk of sounding pretentious, as the craft of inorganic synthesis and the handling of sensitive compounds.
But I don't want to circumscribe too narrowly the scope of my posts. After all, the lab-work is only one aspect of a graduate student's research life. I expect that in addition to the more cerebral posts about the nitty-gritty of chemical research, there will be posts about chemistry software, dealing with common peeves around the lab/departmental-office, and of course a hearty serving of opinion pieces (à la Orac) about chemistry in the news and other media.
Here's to posts of respectable frequency and quality!
cheers,
Saurabh
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