Existing users, 
 WU BLAST - 2.0Fast, flexible biological sequence similarity search software |
|
||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Feedback Summary:
| Version 2.0: | |||||
| Overall Rating: |  (5.0) |
Features: | (5.0) |
Support: |  (4.0) |
| Ease of Use: | (4.0) |
Quality / Stability: | (5.0) |
Price: | (5.0) |
Key to Types of Feedback:
Reviews 
Troubleshooting 
Usage Tips 
Developer Notes 
Commentary 
Featured Reviews
Can't even start it - Version: 2005-05-10c, 8/12/2005 07:10AM PST
iayork
The README file includes a lot of advanced help, but in my case I can't even get it running ... the cryptic instructions for using the command line simply don't work, even copying and pasting the 'examples'. Command line doesn't recognize that the program exists -- double-clicking on the executables yields only an error message ("FATAL: Invalid program name: ..."), because apparently they are supposed to be run from command line, which does nothing. Followed installation instructions carefully. I've been trying to use this software for a couple of years with no success. I've used NCBI blast for nearly 20 years, have a fair bit of experience with command line tools and scripts, but am completely baffled by this software. Very frustrating. I won't give rating to the functionality of the program, since I haven't been able to test it.
Most Recent Replies: View All 2 Replies
- Can't even start it (1 replies)
yep its the best by far - Version: 2.0, 1/15/2004 11:19PM PST
warbus
Always has been the fastest we have tested.. He optimizes it for every platform too. The guy rocks! Maps the human genome and does this too! Two of the best mac programers are in the same city working in St. Louis for free! Well he gets some money but Mike is all free at www.bombich.com lol Xserve ships with his products.
WU-Blast works very well, is immensely configurable, and is fast and accurate. It's not aimed at beginners, either with computers or with genetics in general. Although it's MacOSX native it's a UNIX program, purely command-line. The documentation is extensive but technical -- you're expected to have a general grasp of the concepts before you start.
I'm giving it four stars overall, because five stars implies that it couldn't be improved. I think documentation could be made more accessible, and installation and running could in principle be simplified. However, for the audience this is aimed at these are not really flaws. Technically WU BLAST does exactly what it should do, and does so very well.