Carlo de Falco wrote: >> So, it appears as though a complete install of Octave (able to plot) >> would include Octave.app, Gnuplot.app, and AquaTerm.app. > > Aquaterm is actually not necessary to plot, even when using the Gnuplot > backend. > If you have X11 installed on your mac you can do...
Ah, but I don't have (nor want) X11. That's good to know for people who do though. >> Or, perhaps the alleged built-in plotting capability can be somehow >> activated -- though all my googling has entirely failed to find any >> mention of this beyond the cryptic remark in Octave's Readme.html. > > It's in the news file: typing "news" at the Octave prompt you get (among > many other useful info) > > ** New experimental OpenGL/FLTK based plotting system. Thank you, I hadn't seen that. > It is also in the inline manual in the "advanced plotting" section: > > type > > doc plotting > > or > > doc backend I think I need a manual describing how to use the inline manual! (Mostly kidding, I see that it has its own help, but it's still quite scary for someone not used to command-line tools... and nothing I'd seen so far even hinted that the "doc" command exists until you mentioned it.) Is it also in the octave.pdf that comes in the "Docs" folder? (...searching...) I see that it's at least mentioned in section 15.2.9, "Graphics backends," though not in a way that a newbie is likely to find or understand. I certainly didn't find it last night when I was looking for it. But I see that this new backend doesn't yet support text, so it's a bit of an exaggeration for the Requirements section of Readme.html to claim that there is no need to install Gnuplot anymore. Please understand that I'm not just complaining to complain; I've led some open-source projects myself, and I've seen that the hardest thing to get right is the new-user experience. All the experienced users (and especially the developers) have long since installed all the extra stuff, gotten used to all the obscure commands, and otherwise lost sight of what hurdles a new (or prospective) user runs into. So, a new user who takes the time to point out and explain where they've gotten lost, misdirected, or confused is a helpful resource. In Octave's case, I think a good goal would be for a new user to be able to download Octave on a fresh machine and get through Chapter 1 (A Brief Introduction to Octave) without running into any failures or having to go digging around for additional information. It's very close! We just need to clear up these initial plotting problems. Best, - Joe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Throughout its 18-year history, RSA Conference consistently attracts the world's best and brightest in the field, creating opportunities for Conference attendees to learn about information security's most important issues through interactions with peers, luminaries and emerging and established companies. http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsaconf-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Octave-dev mailing list Octave-dev@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/octave-dev
