PyMOL was developed as an open source molecular graphics program by Warren DeLano. He introduced the software to the structural biology community in 2000. Unfortunately, he died already in 2009 at the age of 37. PyMOL is now maintained by the company Schrödinger, who develop professional software for molecular modelling and computational chemistry. The full featured version of PyMOL requires a paid software license. However, the unlicensed version of Schrödinger PyMOL is also useful for many applications. In addition, a completely free open source version of PyMOL exists, which is developed by independent authors and also supported by Schrödinger. Compilation of PyMOL may be complicated. Under linux, this open source PyMOL version can be installed easily from repositories.
The name "Py" in PyMOL is derived from Python, the underlying programming language, which is used to call functions usually written in C.
These webpages have been generated for an introductory PyMOL workshop for scientists of the collaborative research center CRC1423 "Structural dynamics of GPCR activation and signaling". As a result, the tutorials deal mostly with GPCRs. In addition, the exercises are used for training Bachelor and Master students of the module "Structural Biochemistry".
When I need help on PyMOL I usually resort to google via "Pymol my_request", where my_request is the command or option, for which I need help or some info on what I want to do. This will usually directly generate links to relevant pages on the following web resources.
| https://pymolwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page | This wiki is probably the most useful resource to look for information on PyMOL use. |
| https://sourceforge.net/projects/pymol/lists/pymol-users | The PyMOL users list. You may subscribe to this, but the list is not terribly active considerign the widespread use of PyMOL. I guess most people find help in the wiki or in older issues discussed at the bulletin board. |
| https://bcrf.biochem.wisc.edu/2019/06/20/pymol-tutorial-books-released/ | Very elaborated tutorials as pdf books (Jean-Yves Sgro). |
These pages have been generated by Norbert Sträter and Renato Weiße.
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