Hi Ravi, I will answer your questions below:
(1) I am running this program on macpro computer with i7 processor and 4 Gb run. When the program is running in GUI mode, it slows down the computer. is it normal or is there a way to make it faster without slowing down the computer?
A full model-free analysis - i.e. execution of the full protocol and not simply running the basic model-free models - can require a long time to calculate. This is explained in a few places in the relax manual, for example: http://www.nmr-relax.com/manual/d_Auvergne_protocol_script_mode_execution.html and: http://www.nmr-relax.com/manual/new_protocol_in_GUI.html Essentially this is a long calculation which can take up to a couple of weeks to complete, depending on the system, and you can use Gary Thompson's multi-processor code to speed things up if you need (http://www.nmr-relax.com/manual/multi_processor_framework.html). Depending on your operating system, you can use priorities to allow your computer to run at a reasonable speed during an intensive number-crunching calculation. You can renice processes using, for example, 'top' in GNU/Linux and Mac OS X systems. In MS Windows you can use the task manager to reset the priorities.
(2) My protein is 152 amino acid long. it seems the program is running for last few days and many more models to complete. Usually how long does it take to complete a full automated run?
As it says in the manual, this is not possible to predict but it can take up to a couple of weeks. If you are lucky, then only a few days are required. This really depends on what types of internal dynamics you have as well as the quality of the R1, R2, and NOE relaxation data. You can check the quality of the data using the Sebastien Morin's consistency testing analysis in relax (http://www.nmr-relax.com/manual/Consistency_testing.html). It might be worth running the relaxation curve-fitting and NOE calculation through relax as well to be sure of the error estimates: http://www.nmr-relax.com/manual/Relaxation_curve_fitting.html http://www.nmr-relax.com/manual/Calculating_NOE.html These are simply links to the relevant chapters of the relax user manual. What software did you use to calculate your R1, R2, and NOE data? My paper: d'Auvergne, E. J. and Gooley, P. R. (2008). Optimisation of NMR dynamic models II. A new methodology for the dual optimisation of the model-free parameters and the Brownian rotational diffusion tensor. J. Biomol. NMR, 40(2), 121-133. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10858-007-9213-3). talks about this as well. See figure 2 for an idea of how long global convergence of the combined model-free optimisation and model-free model selection problem can take.
(3) what are differences between local_tm models and model-free models? What i could see is that local-tm models have tm with it whereas model-free models dont!
This is again described in the manual: http://www.nmr-relax.com/manual/model_free_models.html However a much better description is given in some of my published papers: d'Auvergne E. J., Gooley P. R. (2007). Set theory formulation of the model-free problem and the diffusion seeded model-free paradigm. Mol. Biosyst., 3(7), 483-494. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b702202f). and: d'Auvergne, E. J. and Gooley, P. R. (2008). Optimisation of NMR dynamic models II. A new methodology for the dual optimisation of the model-free parameters and the Brownian rotational diffusion tensor. J. Biomol. NMR, 40(2), 121-133. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10858-007-9213-3). Note that these papers also describe the protocol that you are using. The Lipari-Szabo model-free theory is only part of the problem. On top of this is the bigger problem of the internal bond motions verses external global tumbling. A number of protocols have been developed over time to solve this problem (see the manual and the above papers for a list of these protocols), and in relax via the GUI you are using the new model-free protocol that I developed in the group of Prof. Paul Gooley. You can click on the 'About' button in the GUI for more information.
(4) I want to see the results of local_tm run which seems to be over with aic and tm0-tm9 folders created having results.bz2 in it? How to check the results, for example, i want to see the overall correlation time of my protein, how to see the results.bz2 file and which folder to check? How to look for other parameters?
You will have to wait until the analysis is finished. To understand what is possible, you will need to minimally read the two references given above. But to properly understand the complexity of the analysis you are performing, you should really read all the relevant references listed in the citations chapter of the user manual (http://www.nmr-relax.com/manual/Citations.html, though the citations here are not properly built so you should see the PDF version of the manual http://download.gna.org/relax/manual/relax.pdf). After reading these, you will note that there is no overall correlation time for the local tm models - and this is the power of these models and the key to the start of the protocol I developed. You will also see that you need to wait until the protocol has completed to obtain the information that you are after. Until then relax will not be responsive and you will not be able to do anything. I would also recommend looking at Figure 1 of my 2008b paper.
Since, i am trying use relax for 1st time, these questions might be naive of its kind. Sorry for any inconvenience and looking forward to hear from your side.
This isn't a problem. If you have any other questions or need pointers to the right documentation, user manual section or reference, don't hesitate to ask. Regards, Edward