Fwd: Getting FiPy working on Windows XP

[Daniel Wheeler]

Begin forwarded message: From: Daniel Wheeler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: July 19, 2006 3:27:44 PM EDT To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Jon Guyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Getting FiPy working on Windows XP Hi Terry, Thanks for your interest. Would you mind if I forward this email and the reply to our mailing list so that it is archived? Hopefully, FiPy will help you with your work and we are happy to provide assistance where we can. As far as the tests in the examples directory are concerned, you probably just need to set the PYTHONPATH to point at 'C:\Python23\FiPy-1.1' then the tests should be able to see the required modules.  You also mentioned that when you run the examples you are not seeing any plots on the screen. What happens when you open         C:\Python23\examples\diffusion\steadyState\mesh50x50\input.py in IDLE and then run the module (press F5)? Is it that nothing shows up at all or do you get an error message? If it is that nothing shows up at all, try the following command at the IDLE command line (assuming you have Matplotlib installed):       >>> import pylab       >>> pylab.plot((1,2,3))       >>> pylab.show() Do you get something on the screen? Cheers Daniel Wheeler On Jul 19, 2006, at 4:24 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Gentlemen,     I'm a physicist trying to solve the heat conduction PDE in (z,t) for an application we have.  The problem has a time-dependent heat source and the possibility of a temperature-dependent thermal conductivity in one film in a stack.  Of course, I have abrupt discontinuities between the different films in the stack (at least in the model).  To date, I have run into seemingly insurmountable difficulties in getting toward a solution in Mathcad, Mathematica, and MATLAB. Then I came across FiPy on the web, and it looks more capable, so I was encouraged.  However, after attempting the Windows installation, and running some of the tests, I cannot seem to get past a string of errors, and I have not yet seen any plot of a result in any example.   Here is a recent log of the errors from running 'test.py' in 'C:\Python23\FiPy-1.1 \examples'   (See attached file: Python_test_errors3.doc) .  I can't really decipher it, but I suspect that FiPy is having some trouble locating files. Here is a screen shot of the main Python directory on my C drive where all this stuff is placed   (See attached file: Python23_directory.gif) .     I'm not necessarily a computer specialist - I'm a modeler.  I tried to follow the order and instructions for installation from the site 'http://www.ctcms.nist.gov/fipy/installation.html'.  The setting of a 'path' in the environmental variables was a little vague to me, so all that I did manually was set the Windows XP environmental variable / system variable PYTHONPATH to 'C:\Python23'. I notice that the installation procedure apparently added automatically a string 'C:\Python23;C:\Python23\Scripts;C:\Python23\Enthought\MingW\bin;C:\Python23\Enthought\SWIG-1.3.24'  to the Path system variable.  Perhaps my environment is still not completely set up.     I am eager to get on to solving a PDE if I can get around the installation hiccoughs.  Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might offer.  I am reachable at the phone below, or of course at this email address.   I might be able to link up on Webex or NetMeeting if desired. Terry McDaniel Seagate Research     (209) 295-6735 <Python_test_errors3.doc> <Python23_directory.gif> Daniel Wheeler Daniel Wheeler