HyperChem for Linux is a subset of HyperChem 8.0 for Windows. While the new product is rich in functionality and is a faithful version of core HyperChem, it obviously does not have the 20+ years of development of the Microsoft Windows product. Partially this comes from the fact that it is truly native to the Linux environment rather than is some "Windows Product" that can magically run in the Linux envionment. Using it, one knows that HyperChem for Linux is part of the Linux world.
The current Release 1.0 of HyperChem for Linux has a few limitations that one might expect to disaappear in subsequent, free maintenance releases. However, major additions to the current functionality cannot be counted upon without an upgrade fee. This is consistent with its basic lower cost compared to the Windows and Mac versions.
The Linux product is basically a subset as follows:
(1) None of the external modules available on the Windows product are available for Linux. These modules are not part of core HyperChem and were a separate product, ChemPlus, at one time. In the Windows product they are called transparently from the core HyperChem and appear as if they are an integral part of HyperChem. These modules have not yet been ported to Linux. The expectation is that they will eventually be ported but with an uncertain time frame. The Mac product has a similar limitation. The modules include:
- NMR (prevously HyperNMR)
- Database (previously HyperData)
- Conformational Search
- RMS fitting
- Raytracing
- Script Editor
- Crystal Builder
- Polysaccharide Builder
- Polymer Builder
- QSAR Properties
Apart from these modules most of the remaining core of HyperChem is available. The differences, however, are:
(1) Tcl (tool command language) scripts scripts are not available. That is, at this moment , the scripting capability is limited to Hcl (HyperChem command language) and, hence, "straight-line" scripts.
(2) The Linux version has no annotations.
(3) No video tutorials are available for the Linux product.
(4) No specific hard-copy Linux manuals are available. On-line manuals similar to those for the Mac are available. These use the xchm third-party software to display the content.
(5)No capability is available for creating web content.
(6) Printing only via screen capture.
(7) No Undo capability.
(8) Only HIN and PDB files supported.
(9) No clipboard operations such as Cut and Paste of molecules.
(10) No specific Z-clipping to cut out exterior of large molecules.
(11) No capability to compile and use new types or parameters.
(12) No selection within a sphere.
(13) No MM/QM capabilities.
(14) No overlaying or RMS fitting operations.
(15) Limited capability to modify degree of transparency and isosurface or grid parameters.
(16) No mutation or homology replacement operations.
(17) No external applied electric or magnetic fields.
(18) No interactive editing of force field parameters.
(19) Molecular dynamics but not Langevin dynamics.
(20) No Monte Carlo calculations.
Other than these explicit differences, the core of the two products are essentially identical in capability. Hypercube is actively extending the Linux product with the intent of full compatibility.
While the above list may seem long, it is fundamentally a representtion of the large number of things that the Windows product is capable of doing rather than incompleteness of HyperChem for Linux as a basic molecular modeling program.