10 June 2014

580. Python script: Interpolate between structures in a multi-xyz file

I'm doing a lot of NEB (nudged elastic band) calculations using nwchem at the moment, and while getting 'neb convergence' is simple enough, I often get an error along the lines of
3965547 @neb NEB calculation converged
3965548 @neb However NEB Gmax not converged...Try increasing the number of beads.

While that sounds simple enough it's nicer if you don't have to go back to the beginning and e.g. run a more fine-grained PES job to generate a reasonable trajectory (straight linear interpolation often doesn't work), then keep on running neb iterations. One way to cut down on time (presumably) is to simply pad the neb path xyz with intermediate structures, and that is what this python (2.7) script does.

Oh, and I really wish blogspot would support code inclusion better...

How to use:
python nebinterpolate.py -i neb_A_F.neb_final.xyz  -o test.xyz

Example:
Say we have the structure of methanol, and methanol in which the oxygen-carbon distance is 3.0 Ångström:

Here's the corresponding xyz file, which we'll call first.xyz:
6 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 0.83960 0.81877 0.83960 H 1.38912 0.20156 1.38912 6 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 1.76087 1.75017 1.76087 H 2.31039 1.13296 2.31039

Run nebinterpolate -i first.xyz -o second.xyz and you'll get a new xyz file with three structures -- the first one plus an intermediate structure:

Here's the new file, second.xyz:
6 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 0.83960 0.81877 0.83960 H 1.38912 0.20156 1.38912 6 structure 2 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 1.30024 1.28447 1.30024 H 1.84976 0.66726 1.84976 6 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 1.76087 1.75017 1.76087 H 2.31039 1.13296 2.31039

 Run it again, nebinterpolate -i second.xyz -o third.xyz, and you'll get:

Here's the new file, third.xyz:
6 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 0.83960 0.81877 0.83960 H 1.38912 0.20156 1.38912 6 structure 2 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 1.06992 1.05162 1.06992 H 1.61944 0.43441 1.61944 6 structure 2 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 1.30024 1.28447 1.30024 H 1.84976 0.66726 1.84976 6 structure 4 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 1.53056 1.51732 1.53056 H 2.08007 0.90011 2.08007 6 C 0.03517 0.00549 0.03517 H -0.61778 -0.63407 0.66798 H 0.66798 -0.63407 -0.61778 H -0.60514 0.64647 -0.60514 O 1.76087 1.75017 1.76087 H 2.31039 1.13296 2.31039

Now, the real use for this is when you've been optimising a string of structures using NEB and want to increase the number of images because you're not getting gmax convergence, or if you want to do a quick and rough optimisation and then get a prettier looking set of coordinates.

You can load the multi-xyz file in nwchem by using

NEB
   ...
  XYZ_PATH path.xyz
END


nebinterpolate.py 

#!/usr/bin/python

import sys

def getvars(arguments):
 switches={}

 version='0.1'
 
 try:
  if "-i" in arguments:
   switches['in_one']=arguments[arguments.index('-i')+1]
   print 'Input: %s '% (switches['in_one'])
  else:
   arguments="--help";
 except:
  arguments="--help";
  
 try:
  if "-o" in arguments:
   switches['o']=arguments[arguments.index('-o')+1].lower()
   print 'Output: %s'% switches['o']
  else:
   arguments="--help";
 except:
  arguments="--help";

 try:
  if "-w" in arguments:
   switches['w']=float(arguments[arguments.index('-w')+1])
   print 'Weighting: %i'% switches['w']
  else:
   print 'Assuming no weighting'
   switches['w']=1.0;
 except:
  switches['w']=1.0;

 doexit=0
 try:
  if ("-h" in arguments) or ("--help" in arguments):
   print '\t\t bytes2words version %s' % version
   print 'Creates interpolated structures'
   print 'from an multixyz file'
   print '--input \t-i\t multi-xyz file to morph'
   print '--output\t-o\t output file'
   print '--weight\t-w\t weight first structure vs second one (1=average; 0=start; 2=end)'
   print 'Exiting'
   doexit=1
 except:
  a=0 # do nothing
 if doexit==1:
  sys.exit(0)

 return switches

def getcmpds(switches):
 
 cmpds={}
 
 g=open(switches['in_one'],'r') 
 n=0
 xyz=[]
 atoms=[]
 structure_id=1

 for line in g:

  try:
   if len(xyz)==cmpds['atoms_'+str(structure_id)]:
    cmpds['coords_'+str(structure_id)]=xyz
    cmpds['elements_'+str(structure_id)]=atoms   
    structure_id+=2
    n=0
    atoms=[]
    xyz=[]
  except:
   pass

  n+=1
  line=line.rstrip('\n')
   
  if n==1:
   cmpds['atoms_'+str(structure_id)]=int(line)
  elif n==2:
   cmpds['title_'+str(structure_id)]=line
  else:
   line=line.split(' ')
   line=filter(None,line)
   xyz+=[[float(line[1]),float(line[2]),float(line[3])]]
   atoms+=[line[0].capitalize()]
 g.close

 cmpds['coords_'+str(structure_id)]=xyz
 cmpds['elements_'+str(structure_id)]=atoms   
 cmpds['w']=switches['w']
 cmpds['structures']=(structure_id)
 
 return cmpds

def morph(cmpds,structure_id):
 coords_one=cmpds['coords_'+str(structure_id)]
 coords_two=cmpds['coords_'+str(structure_id+2)]
 
 coords_morph=[]
 coords_diff=[]
 for n in range(0,cmpds['atoms_'+str(structure_id)]):
  morph_x=coords_one[n][0]+cmpds['w']*(coords_two[n][0]-coords_one[n][0])/2.0
  morph_y=coords_one[n][1]+cmpds['w']*(coords_two[n][1]-coords_one[n][1])/2.0
  morph_z=coords_one[n][2]+cmpds['w']*(coords_two[n][2]-coords_one[n][2])/2.0
  diff_x=coords_two[n][0]-coords_one[n][0]
  diff_y=coords_two[n][1]-coords_one[n][1]
  diff_z=coords_two[n][2]-coords_one[n][2]
  coords_morph+=[[morph_x,morph_y,morph_z]]
  coords_diff+=[[diff_x,diff_y,diff_z]]

 cmpds['atoms_'+str(structure_id+1)]=cmpds['atoms_'+str(structure_id)]
 cmpds['elements_'+str(structure_id+1)]=cmpds['elements_'+str(structure_id)]
 cmpds['title_'+str(structure_id+1)]='structure '+str(structure_id+1)
 cmpds['coords_'+str(structure_id+1)]=coords_morph

 return cmpds

def genxyzstring(coords,element):
 x_str='%10.5f'% coords[0]
 y_str='%10.5f'% coords[1]
 z_str='%10.5f'% coords[2]
 
 xyz_string=element+(3-len(element))*' '+10*' '+\
 (8-len(x_str))*' '+x_str+10*' '+(8-len(y_str))*' '+y_str+10*' '+(8-len(z_str))*' '+z_str+'\n'
 
 return xyz_string

def writemorph(cmpds,outfile):
 g=open(outfile,'w') 

 for m in range(1,cmpds['structures']+1):
  g.write(str(cmpds['atoms_'+str(m)])+'\n')
  g.write(str(cmpds['title_'+str(m)])+'\n')
  for n in range(0,cmpds['atoms_'+str(m)]):
   coords=cmpds['coords_'+str(m)][n]
   g.write(genxyzstring(coords, cmpds['elements_'+str(m)][n]))
 g.close

 return 0

if __name__=="__main__":
 arguments=sys.argv[1:len(sys.argv)]
 switches=getvars(arguments)
 cmpds=getcmpds(switches)

#check that the structures are compatible
 for n in range(1,cmpds['structures'],2):

  if cmpds['atoms_'+str(n)]!=cmpds['atoms_'+str(n+2)]:
   print 'The number of atoms differ. Exiting'
   sys.exit(1)
  elif cmpds['elements_'+str(n)]!=cmpds['elements_'+str(n+2)]:
   print 'The types of atoms differ. Exiting'
   sys.exit(1)
  cmpds=morph(cmpds,n)
 success=writemorph(cmpds,switches['o'])
 if success==0:
  print 'Conversion seems successful'

29 May 2014

579. TEMPerHum (0c45:7402 ) on debian linux wheezy

Yet another little usb device from PC sensors (I seem to have been giving them a fair amount of money recently ).

This is the device in question: http://pcsensor.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=178 (note that I buy my devices via ebay where the prices are apparently always the campaign ones -- I paid AUD25 , not USD80)

It didn't come in a box so I have no scans or shots to show.

[See here for the regular TEMPer USB device (0c45:7401), and here for the TEMPer 1K4  (0c45:7403) USB thermocouple reader. Note that since the temper-usb code is in  a lot of flux you can't use the line numbers in those posts directly -- you'll have to read and understand the code before pasting it in. Luckily, it's quite simple -- even I managed to sort it out!]

I couldn't get temper-usb to work even when making (what I consider) the necessary edits, but instead got lots of errors (including " usb.USBError: could not detach kernel driver from interface 1: No data available"). So I finally gave up.

Instead, web searching led me to http://edorfaus.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/new-library-examples-and-features/ -- one of the replies by eg1l spelled out the solution -- I'll grant myself the liberty to repost it here, but please remember where it originally came from and link to the original article (exclusively or in addition).

mkdir ~/tmp
cd ~/tmp/
sudo apt-get install libudev-dev libusb-1.0.0-dev libfox-1.6-dev autoconf cmake

git clone git://github.com/signal11/hidapi.git
cd hidapi/
./bootstrap
./configure
cd libusb/
make
sudo make install

cd ../../

git clone git://github.com/edorfaus/TEMPered.git
cd TEMPered/
mkdir build
cd build/
cmake ..
make
cd utils/
sudo ./tempered 
cd ../
sudo make install

sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtempered.so.0 /usr/local/lib/libtempered.so.0
sudo ln -s /usr/local/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtempered-util.so.0 /usr/local/lib/libtempered-util.so.0
sudo ldconfig

sudo tempered
0006:000e:01 0: temperature 21.75 °C, relative humidity 49.1%, dew point 10.6 °C

Create an 80-temper.rules file in /etc/udev/rules.d:
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0c45", ATTRS{idProduct}=="7401", GROUP="users", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0c45", ATTRS{idProduct}=="7402", GROUP="users", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0c45", ATTRS{idProduct}=="7403", GROUP="users", MODE="0666"

Then do
sudo usermod -a -G users $USER

And
sudo service udev restart

Unplug and re-plug your device, then open a new terminal and you're set (type group to make sure that users show up).

me@boron:~$ tempered
0006:000f:01 0: temperature 23.34 °C, relative humidity 46.8%, dew point 11.3 °C

20 May 2014

578. More Gnome issues -- semi-rant

I was able to get on with work in spite of transitioning to gnome 3 -- but only thanks to the frippery extensions:
http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/debian-testing-64-bit-gnome-3gnome.html 
http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/402-very-briefly-what-i-forgot-about.html

And then gnome-screenshot got crippled, but I managed to cope with that by patching it:
http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/fixing-gnome-screenshot-341-in-debian.html

I'm using debian testing (jessie) on my laptop and since I normally don't do much on it other than occasionally log into work to check on jobs I have been able to ignore the issues that are so apparent in gnome 3.12, two of which are:

*  gnome-terminal doesn't have a transparent background option since ersion 3.8 -- instead of being able to read what's underneath (e.g. a blog post with a how-to), and thus making good use of the screen real estate, my laptop screen is now feeling very, very small.

[And the developer seems to have the usual gnome attitude issue: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=698544 ]

gnome-terminal 3.12
 There's basically nothing that has forced me to stay with gnome-terminal, so switching terminals was a simple matter of installing xfce4-terminal instead, which looks pretty much like gnome-terminal used to. Besides, I use guake more of the time anyway.

xfce4-terminal

 * you can't resize 'native' gnome programs, such as nautilus, that are in full-screen mode. Well, you can -- by holiding super (i.e. windows button) + down arrow. But the icons in the top right corner are no longer, and I find that incredibly annoying.
Nautilus. Nautilus shows when dropbox is synced -- thunar doesn't.

Thunar -- like nautilus of days gone by
 There are two things that I need from nautilus (other than working as a filemanager, of course, and allowing me to open terminals where I want which is something thunar supports 'out of the box') -- the ability to batch resize images, and dropbox. Now, dropbox has nothing to do with nautilus and the dropbox server will run happily in the background whether you're using a file manager or not. It would be nice if thunar would show whether the dropbox folder is synced or not, but it's hardly crucial.

Image resizing is a different matter since we maintain our own little website with personal photos for overseas members of our families. Ergo, it's crucial.

Luckily, this is pretty easy:
sudo apt-get install simple-image-reducer

Go to Edit/Configure custom actions... and set command to simple-image-reducer %F, and scope to apply to images, as shown in the screenshots.





I'm sure there are lots of other small issues in gnome 3.12 that I either keep missing or wilfully ignore in the interest of maintaining a low blood pressure. The whole idea of removing features that are actually useful with no way of re-enabling them smacks of 'we know better than you', and that irks me.

15 May 2014

577. Skype and webcam on debian wheezy: black screen

This is another shameless re-posting of a solution published by others. See e.g. 
http://community.skype.com/t5/Linux/Webcam-is-not-working-on-skype-with-Ubuntu-12-04/td-p/858418
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=95388
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=966882

Why am I doing this? Mostly because this blog doubles as a notebook where I can write down solutions that worked for me so that I don't find myself scouring the internet over and over again for the same solution.

I hope that I'm adding a bit of value by providing step-by-step solutions and snazzy screenshots though.

The issue:
even though the camera is working fine there's only a completely black picture in skype (not underexposed -- just plain black):






The solution:
Use LD_PRELOAD to load the 32 bit V4L library (which you need to have installed -- use apt-file to find out what package). You can either start skype from the command line, or make changes to the launcher, either via main menu  as shown in the screenshot or by editing ~/.local/share/applications/skype.desktop i.e. run skype with 
env LD_PRELOAD="/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so" skype


 At this point starting skype + webcam should be a happy marriage:
(aside from exposure, white balance etc. etc.)

13 May 2014

576. Shortening the bash prompt in debian

This is yet another post in which I'm (almost) simply reposting a solution that someone else has already posted online.

Let's say that my contribution is to put it in context of debian.

Either way, here's the problem that needed solving: the debian prompt by default lists all directories, which sometimes means that the prompt itself breaks across two lines.

Luckily, it's not difficult to chop the prompt down to a more manageable, yet still informative, length. The solution is here (we do like a descriptive URL): http://superuser.com/questions/387673/how-can-i-limit-the-number-of-directories-in-my-prompt

That particular solution also allows you to change the permissible length of the path that will be shown -- change the 50 in the argument to droppath to set the number of chars.

Edit your ~/.bashrc and add the bits in red:
# drops first portion of a path $1 if length is greater than $2 function __droppath { if [[ ${#1} -gt $2 ]]; then p=$1 while [ ${#p} -gt $2 ]; do p="/"$(echo "$p"|cut -d"/" -f3-) done echo "..."$p else echo $1 fi } if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[01;32m\]\u@\h\[\033[00m\]:\[\033[01;34m\]$(_droppath "\w" 50)\[\033[00m\]\$ ' else PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\u@\h: $(__droppath "\w" 50)\$ ' fi

and here's an example using a length of 25 chars (which is a bit short).

Unmodified:
me@niobium: /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages$\

Modified:
me@niobium: .../python2.7/site-packages$

You can always use pwd to figure out what the full path is if necessary:
me@niobium: .../python2.7/site-packages$ pwd
/usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages

12 May 2014

575. Gaussview: CConnetctionGFCHK::Parse_GFCHK() Missing or bad data: Alpha Orbital Energies Line Number XXXX

I've been getting a fair number of errors when trying to open .fchk files with gaussview 4.x that I've generated using g09. In particular, I've been getting this:



Thinking that it might have something to do with the version of gaussview being too old, I tried gaussview 5.x, which throws the same error. Gaussview (4.x), by the way, runs fine in wine 1.7.

Turns out it's a poorly written piece of software -- gaussview can't properly parse output generated by gaussian. Great...neither piece of software is cheap. Better yet, gabedit does not have any issue reading the unmodified fchk file.

If you do need to use gview though, the solution is outlined here: http://www.ccl.net/cgi-bin/ccl/message-new?2012+07+18+005

Briefly, edit your fchk file and change the "Number of basis functions" to the same number as is shown for the "Number of independent functions" i.e. change
1 alpha 2 FOpt RB3PW91 Gen 3 Number of atoms I 101 4 Info1-9 I N= 9 5 89 86 0 0 0 100 6 2 18 -602 7 Charge I 7 8 Multiplicity I 1 9 Number of electrons I 530 10 Number of alpha electrons I 265 11 Number of beta electrons I 265 12 Number of basis functions I 2015 13 Number of independent functions I 2005 14 Number of point charges in /Mol/ I 0 15 Number of translation vectors I 0
to
1 alpha 2 FOpt RB3PW91 Gen 3 Number of atoms I 101 4 Info1-9 I N= 9 5 89 86 0 0 0 100 6 2 18 -602 7 Charge I 7 8 Multiplicity I 1 9 Number of electrons I 530 10 Number of alpha electrons I 265 11 Number of beta electrons I 265 12 Number of basis functions I 2005 13 Number of independent functions I 2005 14 Number of point charges in /Mol/ I 0 15 Number of translation vectors I 0
And that's it.

09 May 2014

574. Texmaker and texlive on windows xp

There are two ways of dealing with latex on windows -- either using native packages or via cygwin. Here's the  native approach, which I tested in a virtual machine with Windows XP SP2

 
1. Install texlive

Go to http://www.tug.org/texlive/acquire-netinstall.html and download http://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl.exe

Run the file. You'll now be taken through the installation of texlive. Note that the full installation is ca 3.7 Gb and it will take a few hours to download and install. On the other hand, space is cheap and most people (in academia) don't pay for bandwidth, so it's not a bad idea to do the full install.

Anyway, here are a few screenshots of the installation process:



It's a good idea to change the mirror to speed up the download



Uncheck TexWorks since we'll be installing TexMaker


This step can take many hours


Finally done.


2. Install texmaker

Go to http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/download.html and download http://www.xm1math.net/texmaker/texmakerwin32_install.exe

The same file will work on XP, Vista and 8 (and presumably 7, which is more or less a patched version of Vista) and it will work on both 32 and 64 bit systems.

Install texmaker.


3. Configure  texmaker
Start texmaker

Go to Options/Configure Texmaker.

Under Commands you can select to use an external pdf viewer. Note that you will need to make sure that the path is correct -- in my case it was pointing to adobe reader 11, whereas I had adobe reader 9 installed. Easy enough to change, but you need to do it manually. The embedded/internal pdf viewer works ok, but distorts the text and figures somewhat (everything got a bit squashed)
Choose internal or external pdf viewer. Make sure the path is correct
Under Quick Build you can tick Latex+Bib(la)tex+Latex(x2)+dvips+ps2pdf+View pdf. NOTE: if you do this you won't be able to compile any file which hasn't got a \cite command and a mathing .bib file.

Alternatively, pick latex + dvips + ps2pdf + View pdf.

Quick Build -- pick the one with bibtex in it
Under Editor you can disable code completion (which can get annoying at times):

You can now load a tex file and hit F1 to compile it:


Quick test example

0. Create a folder called e.g. testtex
 
1. Download UCSD.eps from here: http://vectorlogotypes.net/logo/68332_UCSD.htm

Put it in the testtex folder.


2. Create the following anothertest.bib file in either texmaker or notepad:
@Article{2014:example,
  AUTHOR = {Placeholder, A},
  TITLE = {Comprehensive title},
  YEAR = 2014,
  JOURNAL = {J. Comp. Chem.},
  VOLUME ={45},
  PAGES = {100-101}
}
Put it in the testtex folder.

3. Create a new tex file in texmaker:


Make sure to tick graphicx

Basic tex file
Save to your testtex folder.

4. Edit your tex file as shown below::
\documentclass[10pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\usepackage{url}
\title{This is a test}

\begin{document}

\section{The test}
This is a simple test which consists of inserting a figure and adding a reference via bibtex. You can download the logo from \url{http://vectorlogotypes.net/logo/68332_UCSD.htm}. Put the UCSD.eps file in the same directory as your .tex file.
\begin{figure}
 \includegraphics{UCSD.eps}
 \caption{UC San Diego logo.}
 \label{fig:test}
\end{figure}

Here's a citation.\cite{2014:example}

\bibliography{anothertest}
\bibliographystyle{ChemEurJ}
\end{document}
5. Compile.
If you set up your F1 as shown above (i.e. with bibtex support), then all you need to do is hit F1. Otherwise, if you used the alternative setup, do F2 (latex), F11 (bibtex), F2 (latex), F11 (bibtex), F1 (compile and view).

20 April 2014

573. PCSensors K-type USB thermocouple adapter TEMPer1K4 (0c45:7403) on debian

UPDATE 1 May 2014:
I've rewritten the code now to properly deal with the presence of both a 0c45:7401 and a 0c45:7403 simultaneously. Note that I'm not convince about the accuracy of the temperature readings (accuracy as in whether there's any systematic bias to the output. The reproducibility seems to be excellent though).

Original post:
I just received this usb thermocouple reader (TEMPer1k4): http://www.pcsensor.com/index.php?_a=product&product_id=104

About the product:
lsusb shows 0c45:7403 (Microdia Foot Switch)

dmesg shows
[13448.536120] usb 6-1: new low-speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd [13448.709126] usb 6-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0c45, idProduct=7403 [13448.709139] usb 6-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 [13448.709146] usb 6-1: Product: TH1000isoV1.5 [13448.709152] usb 6-1: Manufacturer: RDing


Getting it to work:
You can use the same program as in this post: http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/532-temper-temperature-monitoring-usb.html with some minor modifications. Before running
sudo python setup.py install

make some changes in temperusb/temper.py.

Firstly, you need to allow for the detection of devices with the 0c45:7403 ID
 
15 VIDPIDs = [(0x0c45L,0x7401L),(0x0c45L,0x7403L)]
Secondly, you need to make sure that the program knows which device is which and treats them differently. Finally, you need to collect the right data-- the TEMPer1k4 returns a data_s with a length of 8 (caveat -- I haven't checked what the output from 0c45:7401 looks like. Maybe it too yields 8 fields), and the [2:4] data block contains the internal temperature of the USB device, while the [4:6] data block holds the thermocouple junction temperature. Of a sort -- you get a number which you need to translate into a temperature. See the bottom of this post for how I worked it all out. Please note that you should calibrate the thermocouple -- the uncorrected output seems to be at least 2-3 degrees too high.
temper.py
 
 15 VIDPIDs = [(0x0c45L,0x7401L),(0x0c45L,0x7403L)]

 63     def getid(self):
 64         return self._device.idProduct

125             if self._device.idProduct==29697:
126                 temp_c = 125.0/32000.0*(struct.unpack('>h', data_s[2:4])[0])+0.0025
127                 if format == 'celsius':
128                     temp_c = temp_c * self._scale + self._offset
129                     return temp_c
130                 elif format == 'fahrenheit':
131                     return temp_c*1.8+32.0
132                 elif format == 'millicelsius':
133                     return int(temp_c*1000)
134                 else:
135                     raise ValueError("Unknown format")
136             elif self._device.idProduct==29699:
137                 temp_c = (struct.unpack('>h', data_s[4:6])[0])*0.25-2.00
138                 temp_internal=(125.0/32000.0*(struct.unpack('>h', data_s[2:4])[0]))+0.0025
139                 if format == 'celsius':
140                     temp_c = temp_c * self._scale + self._offset
141                     return temp_c
142                 elif format == 'fahrenheit':
143                     if self._device.idProduct==29697: #0x7401
144                         return temp_c*1.8+32.0
145                     elif self._device.idProduct==29699: #0x7403
146                         return temp_internal
147 

cli.py
 
 31     for i, dev in enumerate(devs):
 32         readings.append({'device': i,
 33                          'id':dev.getid(),
 34                          'temperature_c': dev.get_temperature(),
 35                          'temperature_f':
 36                          dev.get_temperature(format="fahrenheit"),
 37                          'ports': dev.get_ports(),
 38                          'bus': dev.get_bus()
 39                          })
 40 
 41     for reading in readings:
 42         if disp_ports:
 43             portinfo = " (bus %s - port %s)" % (reading['bus'],
 44                                                 reading['ports'])
 45         else:
 46             portinfo = ""
 47         if reading['id']==29697:
 48             print('Device #%i%s: %0.1f°C %0.1f°F'
 49                   % (reading['device'],
 50                      portinfo,
 51                      reading['temperature_c'],
 52                      reading['temperature_f']))
 53         elif reading['id']==29699:
 54             print('Device #%i%s: %0.1f°C %0.1f°C'
 55                   % (reading['device'],
 56                      portinfo,
 57                      reading['temperature_c'],
 58                      reading['temperature_f']))

Beyond this, follow the instructions in http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/532-temper-temperature-monitoring-usb.html and make sure to set up a rules file with the correct USB ID for this device.

Done!

If you're curious about the details, have a look below.

Analysing USB traffic:
Since I wasn't quite sure where to start I figured the easiest approach would be to sniff the traffic between the usb device and the offically supported programme from PC Sensors. So I installed it Win XP in virtualbox, read a couple of temperatures and compared them with the captured data.

To capture data I did:
sudo apt-get install tshark
sudo modprobe usbmon
lsusb
Bus 008 Device 003: ID 17ef:4815 Lenovo Integrated Webcam [R5U877] Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 004 Device 043: ID 0c45:7403 Microdia Foot Switch Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
sudo tshark -D
1. eth0 2. wlan0 3. nflog 4. nfqueue 5. usbmon1 6. usbmon2 7. usbmon3 8. usbmon4 9. usbmon5 10. usbmon6 11. usbmon7 12. usbmon8 13. any 14. lo (Loopback)
touch 1.pcap chmod ugo+w 1.pcap sudo tshark -i usbmon4 -w $HOME/1.pcap

I opened the 1.pcap file in wireshark and looked for fields called leftover data.

Here are two examples of such 'leftover data' fields:
Host to USB: 01 80 00 00 00 00 00 00
USB to Host: 80 06 17 f0 00 5c 0f ff

Subjecting the system to different temperatures helped me figure out what fields where changing -- I've marked them in bold above (blue for the thermocouple, red for the internal temperature). Interestingly, I got overflow when freezing the thermocouple between two ice cubes, which indicated that there was a fairly high lower limit (1.5 degrees)
The following are some of the data I harvested. The temperature is in the first column, the hex code is in the second one and the decimal value is in the third one:
Internal:
23.63 17a 378
23.69 17b 379
23.94 17f 383
23.75 17c 380
21.88 15e 350
22.31 165 357
22.88 16e 366

Thermocouple: 23.75 05f 95 23.50 05e 9 38.25 099 153 24.00 066 102 87.50 15e 350 79.50 13e 318
In other words, T(thermo)=output(thermo)*0.25+1.50 and T(int.)=(output(int.)-0.0025)/0.0625. Because the internal data is in fields 2:4 it's seen as e.g. 17b0 instead of 17b, so the decimal version needs to be divided by 16 (line 126 above).

I also set up an /etc/temper.conf file and did chown $USER /etc/temper.conf in order to be able to read it (must be a better way). I tried to calibrate the thermocouple in my kitchen with iced water and boiling water. The boiling water gave a reading of 102 degrees, while the iced water gave me 7.5 degrees Celsius even after what should've been long enough to achieve equilibrium. I'll calibrate it in the lab later. So for now a simple offset might be enough to give a working temperature.
temper-poll -p
Device #0 (bus 2 - port 2)
so temper.conf became
2-2: scale = 1.00, offset = -4.0


The temper-usb code is changing too quickly!. You'll thus need to read and understand the code rather than just pasting it in. Here are the full, edited cli.py an temper.py files.

cli.py
# encoding: utf-8
from __future__ import print_function
from temper import TemperHandler


def main():
    th = TemperHandler()
    devs = th.get_devices()
    readings = []
    print("Found %i devices" % len(devs))

    for i, dev in enumerate(devs):
        readings.append({'device': i,
                         'id':dev.getid(),
                         'temperature_c': dev.get_temperature(),
                         'temperature_f':
                         dev.get_temperature(format="fahrenheit")
                         })

    for reading in readings:
  if reading['id']==29697:
   print('Device #%i: %0.1f°C %0.1f°F' % (reading['device'],
                                               reading['temperature_c'],
                                               reading['temperature_f']))
  elif reading['id']==29699:
   print('Device #%i: %0.1f°C %0.1f°C' % (reading['device'],
                                               reading['temperature_c'],
                                               reading['temperature_f']))

temper.py
# encoding: utf-8
#
# Handles devices reporting themselves as USB VID/PID 0C45:7401 (mine also says RDing TEMPerV1.2).
#
# Copyright 2012, 2013 Philipp Adelt 
#
# This code is licensed under the GNU public license (GPL). See LICENSE.md for details.

import usb
import sys
import struct

VIDPIDs = [(0x0c45L,0x7401L),(0x0c45L,0x7402L),(0x0c45L,0x7403L)]
REQ_INT_LEN = 8
REQ_BULK_LEN = 8
TIMEOUT = 2000

class TemperDevice():
    def __init__(self, device):
        self._device = device
        self._handle = None

    def get_temperature(self, format='celsius'):
        try:
            if not self._handle:
                self._handle = self._device.open()
                try:
                    self._handle.detachKernelDriver(0)
                except usb.USBError:
                    pass
                try:
                    self._handle.detachKernelDriver(1)
                except usb.USBError:
                    pass
                self._handle.setConfiguration(1)
                self._handle.claimInterface(0)
                self._handle.claimInterface(1)
                self._handle.controlMsg(requestType=0x21, request=0x09, value=0x0201, index=0x00, buffer="\x01\x01", timeout=TIMEOUT) # ini_control_transfer

            self._control_transfer(self._handle, "\x01\x80\x33\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00") # uTemperatura
            self._interrupt_read(self._handle)
            self._control_transfer(self._handle, "\x01\x82\x77\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00") # uIni1
            self._interrupt_read(self._handle)
            self._control_transfer(self._handle, "\x01\x86\xff\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00") # uIni2
            self._interrupt_read(self._handle)
            self._interrupt_read(self._handle)
            self._control_transfer(self._handle, "\x01\x80\x33\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00") # uTemperatura
            data = self._interrupt_read(self._handle)
            data_s = "".join([chr(byte) for byte in data])

            if self._device.idProduct==29697: 
    temp_c = 125.0/32000.0*(struct.unpack('>h', data_s[2:4])[0])+0.0025
    if format == 'celsius':
     return temp_c
    elif format == 'fahrenheit':
     return temp_c*1.8+32.0
    elif format == 'millicelsius':
     return int(temp_c*1000)
    else:
     raise ValueError("Unknown format")
            elif self._device.idProduct==29699: 
    temp_c = (struct.unpack('>h', data_s[4:6])[0])*0.25-4.00
    temp_internal=(125.0/32000.0*(struct.unpack('>h', data_s[2:4])[0]))+0.0025
    if format == 'celsius':
     return temp_c
    elif format == 'fahrenheit':
     if self._device.idProduct==29697: #0x7401
      return temp_c*1.8+32.0
     elif self._device.idProduct==29699: #0x7403
      return temp_internal
    elif format == 'millicelsius':
     return int(temp_c*1000)
    else:
     raise ValueError("Unknown format")
        except usb.USBError, e:
            self.close()
            if "not permitted" in str(e):
                raise Exception("Permission problem accessing USB. Maybe I need to run as root?")
            else:
                raise
    
    def getid(self):
        #print self._device.idProduct
        return self._device.idProduct

    def close(self):
        if self._handle:
            try:
                self._handle.releaseInterface()
            except ValueError:
                pass
            self._handle = None

    def _control_transfer(self, handle, data):
        handle.controlMsg(requestType=0x21, request=0x09, value=0x0200, index=0x01, buffer=data, timeout=TIMEOUT)

    def _interrupt_read(self, handle):
        return handle.interruptRead(0x82, REQ_INT_LEN)

        
class TemperHandler():
    def __init__(self):
        busses = usb.busses()
        self._devices = []
        for bus in busses:
            self._devices.extend([TemperDevice(x) for x in bus.devices if (x.idVendor,x.idProduct) in VIDPIDs])

    def get_devices(self):
        return self._devices

16 April 2014

572. autorotate/superimpose python script

If you want to calculate reaction coordinates between two structures you need to make sure that the structures haven't been rotated or translated, something which easily happens if you allow symmetry in gaussian and (it seems) z-matrix in nwchem.

I've written a script that lets you take two structures and align and superimpose them so that only the atoms that take part in the reaction move.

It works by you defining a minimum of four atoms that aren't supposed to move /relative to each other/ (i.e. they can be translated/rotated --- just not relative to each other) between the two structures. Four atoms far from each other are ideal. You need to make sure that they also don't lie in the same plane, but form a three-dimensional space.

I've tried this on real molecules too and it works better than I'd ever dared to hope for. The more 'stationary' atoms that you can use to make up the transformation matrix, the better.


Example:
In this example atom F is in a different location in structures a and b. The structures have also been rotated relative to each other.

a.xyz
6 A A 0.00000 0.00000 1.00000 B 0.00000 1.00000 0.00000 C 1.00000 0.00000 0.00000 D -1.00000 0.00000 0.00000 E 0.00000 0.00000 -1.00000 F 0.00000 0.500000 0.00000
b.xyz
6 B A 1 0 0 B 0 1 0 C 0 0 -1 D 0 0 1 E -1 0 0 F 0 -1 0

./autorotate.py a.xyz b.xyz '1,2,3,4'
Selected atoms in molecules 1 and 2 ['A', 0.0, 0.0, 1.0] ['A', 1.0, 0.0, 0.0] ['B', 0.0, 1.0, 0.0] ['B', 0.0, 1.0, 0.0] ['C', 1.0, 0.0, 0.0] ['C', 0.0, 0.0, -1.0] ['D', -1.0, 0.0, 0.0] ['D', 0.0, 0.0, 1.0] Transformation max error: 3.33066907388e-16 Writing to a.rot.xyz

a.rot.xyz
6 A A 1.00000 0.00000 0.00000 B -0.00000 1.00000 -0.00000 C -0.00000 0.00000 -1.00000 D -0.00000 0.00000 1.00000 E -1.00000 -0.00000 -0.00000 F -0.00000 0.50000 -0.00000
This is how it looks (note that the axis aren't aligned with (1,0,0; 0,1,0; 0,0,1) but seem to go through the centre of the molecule):
a.xyz
a.rot.xyz


b.xyz





Code:
#!/usr/bin/python
import sys
import numpy as np

#autorotate input_1.xyz input_2.xyz '1,2,3,4'
# need to pick at least four atoms that are not in the same plane
# input_1.xyz will be rotated to align with input_2.xyz
# you pick at least four atoms that should have the same positions
# relative to one another (i.e. distance and relative geometry). These 
# are then used to calculate an affine transform matrix which is used 
# to rotate and translate structure input_1.xyz to overlap with 
# structure 2

def formatinput(argument):
 infile1=sys.argv[1]
 atoms=sys.argv[3]
 atoms=atoms.split(',')
 coord_sys=[]

 for n in atoms:
  coord_sys+=[int(n)-1]
 try:
  infile2=sys.argv[2]
 except:
  infile2=''
 infile=[infile1,infile2]
 return infile,coord_sys
 
def getrawdata(infile):
 f=open(infile,'r')
 
 n=0
 preamble=[]
 
 struct=[]
 
 for line in f:
  if n<2: data-blogger-escaped-if="" data-blogger-escaped-line.rstrip="" data-blogger-escaped-n="" data-blogger-escaped-preamble="">1:
   line=line.rstrip()
   struct+=[line]
  n+=1
 xyz=[struct]
 
 return xyz, preamble

def getcoords(rawdata,preamble,atoms):
 
 n=0
 cartesian=[]
 
 for structure in rawdata:
  n=n+1
  num="%03d" % (n,)
  for item in structure:
   
   coordx=filter(None,item.split(' '))
   coordy=filter(None,item.split('\t'))
   if len(coordx)>len(coordy):
    coords=coordx
   else:
    coords=coordy
      
   coordinates=[float(coords[1]),float(coords[2]),float(coords[3])]
   element=coords[0]
   cartesian+=[[element,float(coords[1]),float(coords[2]),float(coords[3])]]
     
 return cartesian

def getstructures(rawdata,preamble):
 
 n=0
 cartesian=[]
 
 for structure in rawdata:
  n=n+1
  num="%03d" % (n,)
  for item in structure:
   
   coordx=filter(None,item.split(' '))
   coordy=filter(None,item.split('\t'))
   if len(coordx)>len(coordy):
    coords=coordx
   else:
    coords=coordy
      
   coordinates=[float(coords[1]),float(coords[2]),float(coords[3])]
   element=coords[0]
   cartesian+=[coordinates]
     
 return cartesian

def affine_transform(atoms,structures):
# from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20546182/how-to-perform-coordinates-affine-transformation-using-python-part-2
 primaryatomcoords=[]
 for n in atoms:
  primaryatomcoords+=[structures[0][n]]

 secondaryatomcoords=[]
 for n in atoms:
  secondaryatomcoords+=[structures[1][n]]

 primary = np.array(primaryatomcoords)
 secondary = np.array(secondaryatomcoords)
 primaryfull = np.array(structures[0])

 # Pad the data with ones, so that our transformation can do translations too
 n = primary.shape[0]
 pad = lambda x: np.hstack([x, np.ones((x.shape[0], 1))])
 unpad = lambda x: x[:,:-1]
 X = pad(primary)
 Y = pad(secondary)
 Xp= pad(primaryfull)

 # Solve the least squares problem X * A = Y
 # to find our transformation matrix A
 A, res, rank, s = np.linalg.lstsq(X, Y)

 transform = lambda x: unpad(np.dot(pad(x), A))

# print "Max error should be as small as possible if the rotation is successful"
# print "If max error is large you may have selected a bad set of atoms"
 print "Transformation max error:", np.abs(secondary - transform(primary)).max()
 secondaryfull=transform(primaryfull)
 return secondaryfull

def transform_xyz(tmatrix,newxyz):
 final_xyz=[]
 for n in newxyz:
  coord=np.mat(str(n[0])+';'+str(n[1])+';'+str(n[2]))
  newcoord=np.dot(tmatrix,coord)
  newcoord=np.matrix.tolist(newcoord)
  final_xyz+=[[ newcoord[0][0],newcoord[1][0],newcoord[2][0]]]
 return final_xyz

def genxyzstring(coords,elementnumber):
 x_str='%10.5f'% coords[0]
 y_str='%10.5f'% coords[1]
 z_str='%10.5f'% coords[2]
 element=elementnumber
 xyz_string=element+(3-len(element))*' '+10*' '+\
 (8-len(x_str))*' '+x_str+10*' '+(8-len(y_str))*' '+y_str+10*' '+(8-len(z_str))*' '+z_str+'\n'
 
 return xyz_string

def write_aligned(aligned_structure,atom_coords,preamble,outfile):
 outfile=outfile.replace('.xyz','.rot.xyz')
 print "Writing to ",outfile
 g=open(outfile,'w')
 g.write(str(preamble[0])+'\n'+str(preamble[1])+'\n')
 
 for n in range(0,len(aligned_structure)):
  xyzstring=genxyzstring(aligned_structure[n],atom_coords[n][0])
  g.write(xyzstring)
 g.close()
 return 0
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
 infile,atoms=formatinput(sys.argv)
 
 xyz=['','']
 preamble=['','']
 
 #get raw data
 xyz[0],preamble[0]=getrawdata(infile[0])
 xyz[1],preamble[1]=getrawdata(infile[1])

 atom_coords=[getcoords(xyz[0],preamble[0],atoms)]
 atom_coords+=[getcoords(xyz[1],preamble[1],atoms)]
 
 #collect structures from raw data
 structures=[getstructures(xyz[0],preamble[0])]
 structures+=[getstructures(xyz[1],preamble[1])]
 
 print "Selected atoms in molecules 1 and 2"
 for n in atoms:
  print atom_coords[0][n],atom_coords[1][n]
  
 #transform structure
 aligned_structure=affine_transform(atoms,structures)
 
 write_aligned(aligned_structure,atom_coords[0],preamble[0],str(infile[0]))
 

09 April 2014

571. Briefly: Dodgy/underpowered UPS?

I've built quite a few computers in the past, and in general I haven't had any issues beyond the odd dodgy RAM stick.

However, a while back I became careless and built a box ('Oxygen') where the motherboard didn't officially support the CPU. Swapping CPUs with another box seemed to solve the issues I had.

See e.g.
http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/520-new-node-amd-fx-835032-gb-ram990-fx.html
http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/523-random-reboots-troubleshooting-in.html

In the past couple of weeks I've begun to see some worrying signs that all isn't right. In particular I noticed the following in the dmesg output:
[693166.514897] [Hardware Error]: MC2 Error: VB Data ECC or parity error. [693166.514926] [Hardware Error]: Error Status: Corrected error, no action required. [693166.514934] [Hardware Error]: CPU:6 (15:1:2) MC2_STATUS[-|CE|MiscV|-|-|-|-|CECC]: 0x98414000010c0176 [693166.514955] [Hardware Error]: cache level: L2, tx: DATA, mem-tx: EV

A few days after that, the computer turned itself off without returning any additional error messages. It did cause me to look at the sensor output though (I've been logging it every two minutes for months), and I compared it with another computer ('Neon') which is completely stable. Note that both computers have been running the same types of jobs recently (large memory frequency jobs).

Hardware specs:
Oxygen: AMD FX8150, 32 gb ram, Corsair GS700, asrock 990 fx extreme3
Neon: AMD FX8350, 32 gb ram, Corsair GS800, gigabyte 990 fxa

Anyway, this is what I found:
On Neon the power output is very stable, while on Oxygen it jumps up and down between ca 45 W and 130 W.

Has it been a crappy UPS that has been causing the issues all along? Or do these plot mean nothing?

570. Briefly: restarting a g09 frequency job with SGE, using same queue

I've had g09 frequency jobs die on me, and in g09 analytical frequency jobs can only be restarted using the .rwf. Because the .rwf files are 160 gb, I don't want to be copying them back and forth between nodes. It's easier then to simply make sure that the restarted job is run on the same node as the original job.

A good resource for SGE related stuff is http://rous.mit.edu/index.php/SGE_Instructions_and_Tips#Submitting_jobs_to_specific_queues

Either way, first figure out what node the job ran on. Assuming that the job number was 445:
qacct -j 445|grep hostname
hostname compute-0-6.local

Next figure out the PID, as this is used to name the Gau-[PID].rwf file:
grep PID g03.g03out
Entering Link 1 = /share/apps/gaussian/g09/l1.exe PID= 24286.

You can now craft your restart file, g09_freq.restart -- you'll need to make sure that the paths are appropriate for your system:
%nprocshared=8 %Mem=900000000 %rwf=/scratch/Gau-24286.rwf %Chk=/home/me/jobs/testing/delta_631gplusstar-freq/delta_631gplusstar-freq.chk #P restart
(having empty lines at the end of the file is important) and a qsub file, g09_freq.qsub:
#$ -S /bin/sh #$ -cwd #$ -l h_rt=999:30:00 #$ -l h_vmem=8G #$ -j y #$ -pe orte 8 export GAUSS_SCRDIR=/tmp export GAUSS_EXEDIR=/share/apps/gaussian/g09/bsd:/share/apps/gaussian/g09/local:/share/apps/gaussian/g09/extras:/share/apps/gaussian/g09 /share/apps/gaussian/g09/g09 g09_freq.restart > g09_freq.out
Then submit it to the correct queue by doing
qsub -q all.q@compute-0-6.local g09_freq.qsub

The output goes to g09_freq.log. You know if the restart worked properly if it says
Skip MakeAB in pass 1 during restart.
and
Resume CPHF with iteration 214.

Note that restarting analytical frequency jobs in g09 can be a hit and miss affair. Jobs that run out of time are easy to restart, and some jobs that die silently have also been restarted successfully. On the other hand, a job that died because my resource allocations ran out couldn't be restarted i.e. restart started the freq job from scratch. The same happened with one a node of mine that has what seems like a dodgy PSU. Finally, I also couldn't restart jobs that died silently due to allocation all the RAM to g09 without leaving any to the OS (or at least that's the current best theory). It may thus be a good idea to back up the rwf file every now and again, in spite of the unwieldy size.

03 April 2014

569. Briefly: Dual monitor set-up on Debian Wheezy with Gnome and a single nvidia graphics card

This is very easy, but I might as well document it here anyway.

This morning another group threw out two functioning monitors and I grabbed both. While I haven't yet decided on what to do with the second one I decided to use one to make a dual monitor set-up for my work station.

My desktop has both onboard nvidia graphics and a separate pci-e nvidia (GT 430) graphics card. Using lspci only the external graphics card shows up, probably because the bios prioritises the external card and disables the onboard graphics.

The nvidia GT 430 card has three output ports: vga, hdmi and dvi. My main monitor (Dell P2411H, 1920x1080) has both vga and dvi, and my 'new' monitor (HP S1932, 1366x768) only has vga.

The first step was to physically connect both monitors to my computer. I originally thought I had to use one card per monitor, which would've necessitated me to reboot, change the bios and probably hand-craft an xorg.conf. I don't like rebooting, so I looked at the alternatives.

Apparently you can simply connect both monitors to the same card by using the different ports, so I hooked up the small screen to the vga port and the big one to the hdmi port.

After that it was a simple matter of opening 'displays' in the gnome 3 systems settings, setting both monitors to 'on', and arranging them side by side correctly by dragging them with the mouse:



I also had a look at it in nvidia-settings:

The only issue that remained was guake -- it was showing up in the 'wrong' screen (i.e. the left-most, smaller one).  This post showed how to edit: http://haifzhan.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/guake-dual-monitor-setup.html

This is how to do it on the version currently in wheezy, 0.4.3:
sudo vim `which guake`
814 def get_final_window_rect(self): 815 """Gets the final size of the main window of guake. The height 816 is the window_height property, width is window_width and the 817 horizontal alignment is given by window_alignment. 818 """ 819 screen = self.window.get_screen() 820 height = self.client.get_int(KEY('/general/window_height')) 821 width = 100 822 halignment = self.client.get_int(KEY('/general/window_halignment')) 823 824 # get the rectangle just from the first/default monitor in the 825 # future we might create a field to select which monitor you 826 # wanna use 827 828 #monitor = 0 # use the left most monitor 829 monitor = screen.get_n_monitors() - 1 # use the rightmost monitor 830 831 monitor_rect = screen.get_monitor_geometry(monitor) 832 window_rect = monitor_rect.copy() 833 total_width = window_rect.width 834 window_rect.height = window_rect.height * height / 100 835 window_rect.width = window_rect.width * width / 100 836 837 if width < monitor_rect.width: 838 if halignment == ALIGN_CENTER: 839 window_rect.x = monitor_rect.x+(monitor_rect.width - window_rect.width) / 2 840 elif halignment == ALIGN_LEFT: 841 window_rect.x = monitor_rect.x 842 elif halignment == ALIGN_RIGHT: 843 window_rect.x = monitor_rect.x+monitor_rect.width-window_rect.width 844 window_rect.y = monitor_rect.y 845 return window_rect 846

Note that the edited version will be overwritten when you upgrade guake.