Re: Octave & Mac OSX

[Michael W. Martin]

On Tuesday, February 12, 2002, at 08:57 AM, Pierre Vaudrey wrote:
> octave:10> plot (t,x)
> Everything works (I can print t & x ) except " plot (t,x) "
> Can you help me to solve this issue ?

	I have octave running on my G4 tower and my Titanium laptop and have 
used it for plotting. While some of the posts on this subject have dealt 
with some of the plotting issues, it might be useful to summarize some of 
the details. I experimented with various things and some work better than 
others.

	Octave, as noted earlier, uses gnuplot for plots. Gnuplot must be 
installed. Fink will do this just fine. Now, to actually USE gnuplot, one 
needs an X-Windowing system of one sort or another. You have two choices, 
install XDarwin/X11 or Aquaterm. I have tried both and each has certain 
advantages.

	I prefer XDarwin/X11, since octave is not the only useful Unix package 
that needs X11 support. I recommend that you go to 
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unix_apps_utilities/xfree86.html and 
download the installer and use it. The current fink X11 install has some 
problems, problems I never got resolved despite posting questions at 
sourceforge on the subject. As a result, I DO NOT recommend the fink 
X11/XDarwin installation at this time, but the installer at the URL above.
 The installer does not have the problems fink does in getting X11 
configured properly. The only problem with the installer route is that 
since the installer use a new XFree86/XDarwin build, some older X11 apps 
might need to be recomplied/downloaded. So be advised if an old X11 app 
suddenly stops working. It will take some time for all the X11 sofware to 
update to XFree86 4.2. Octave/gnuplot does just fine under XFree86 4.2, so 
for your immedeate needs, you should not have any problems.

	Lastly, on the subject of XFree86, the XDarwin application which 
starts the X11 window environment is automatically installed in your 
Applications folder, so look for it there. This is true of both fink and 
the installer.

	You can bypass the X11/XFree86/XDarwin approach and use Aquaterm if 
you so desire. It is in some respects nicer than XDarwin and certianly 
plays well with OSX. However, I have used gnuplot/X11 over the years on 
various platforms and am set in my ways to a certain extent. It is a 
matter of preference really. If you DO use Aquaterm, then you cannot use 
fink to simply install gnuplot. You need to get gnuplot 3.8 and compile it 
yourself. It is not hard, but I do recall having to do a little something 
 to install it. You will also need to configure gnuplot to use Aquaterm. 
You can get the details at: 
http://homepage.mac.com/persquare/matlabReplace.html. I have used AquaTerm,
 by the way, and though I use XDarwin usually, I do keep AquaTerm around 
in case I need it.

	Now one BIG difference between gnuplot via XDarwin and gnuplot via 
Aquaterm is that one must launch XDarwin first and then execute octave (or 
gnuplot) from the command line before plotting. XWindows apps need to be 
run under Xwindows, so run your Xterms/Xwindows first and then enter the 
commands to execute the approriate app. On OSX, this means launching 
XDarwin as your terminal app. If you do run octave/gnuplot under Aquaterm,
 Aquaterm will launch itself. (As I said, Aquaterm plays well under OSX). 
Since I work under XWindows/XDarwin all the time for other apps, this 
difference is not important to me.


On a related note:
On Tuesday, February 12, 2002, at 09:37 AM, A Scottedward Hodel wrote:
> I haven't yet had time to try using mkoctfile under OS X.

	I have. Under 10.0.4 it works, but appears to be broken under 
10.1.2! :-( I notified octave's fink maintainer, but have yet to hear back 
from him. Perhaps if all us OSX owners "pestered" him a bit on the subject,
 he would get around to it. He is rather busy, but the squeaking wheel 
gets the grease. :-)

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Michael W. Martin                   Phone: (281) 333-2177
Draper Laboratory                   FAX:   (281) 333-5276
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