                            RASTOP

                MOLECULAR VISUALIZATION SOFTWARE

Version 2.2, June 2007 


INTRODUCTION

Welcome to RasTop molecular visualization software, Version 2.2.

RasTop is a molecular graphics program intended for the 
visualization of proteins, nucleic acids and small molecules. 
The program is aimed at display, teaching and generation of 
publication quality images. RasTop derives from RasMol
initially developed by Roger Sayle. 

Read the file credit.txt to learn about all contributors and 
associated copyrights; Read the file version.txt to learn about 
previous versions of RasTop and RasMol; read the file notice.txt,
and raslic.txt to learn about RasTop notices and licenses.

NEWS

As of RasTop 2.2, RasTop is now hosted on SourceForge at 
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rastop/. 

LICENSE

RasTop is released under the terms of the Rasmol license (located in 
the file Raslic.txt).

NOTICE ON USING THE SOURCE

RasTop 2.2 is open source, but is not in the public domain. 
Certain conditions apply to users and to developers to ensure 
that RasTop remains open source. If you do not agree with all 
NOTICEs constituted of RasMol 2.7.1.1 Notice, RasMolv2.6. Notice, 
IUCR Policy, CBFLIB Notice, and CIFPARSE Notice, please do not 
use RASTOP. These notices are located in the notice.txt file 
and the license.txt file.

RECOMMENDED HARDWARE

To run RasTop, a Pentium or equivalent processor is recommended, 
as well as 16 MB of RAM. A web browser is required to access 
the help site, at best a version 4 or higher, but no connection 
to the network is required. Many web browsers are available free
of charge.


WHAT DO I NEED, 32-bit or 8-bit VERSION?

As of RasTop 2.2, the 8-bit version is not distributed anymore.


INSTALLING RASTOP

RasTop is available for Windows and Linux platforms. To run
on Linux, you must install wine before (see www.winehq.com).
Windows emulator are available on Mac, but are not free.

Extract the RasTop folder from the rastop.zip file. Install 
the RasTop folder in the directory of your choice. To start 
RasTop, double click on the RasTop icon.

RasTop is a multi-document interface. Several graphic windows, 
each displaying one or several molecular files, can be opened 
at the same time. Graphic windows are independent from each 
other, but communicate using the clipboard to transfer various 
information such as spatial position or current atom selection.

PROBLEM GETTING STARTED
- with rastop version 2.2 for Windows
 If you cannot get started and always receive the warning message 
 "missing mfc42.dll", download and unzip the patch mfc42.zip; 
 install the file mfc42.dll in the folder containing 
 the RasTop.exe file.
 Get the file mfc42.dll on RasTop for windows home page 
 at http://www.geneinfinity.org/rastop/download.htm

PREFERENCES

In RasTop 2.2, Preferences are in the file "rasmolprefs" located
in your user directory ("C:\Documents and settings\yourname"). 
Preferences are automatically generated the first time you 
launch RasTop. The Preferences dialog box is located under
the file>Preferences menu.


USING THE HELP FILE

Open your browser off-line.  Open the page index.htm in the 
RasTop help folder, and navigate or just press F1 from inside 
RasTop.


GETTING STARTED WITH MOLECULES

Read the tutorial in the help.


CONTRIBUTING TO RASTOP PROJECT, COMMENTS and BUG REPORTS

Please direct your bug reports and comments to the authors.
Contributors are welcome, please contact us at the forge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/rastop/. 

Philippe Valadon
San Diego, June 12, 2007.
