From help-octave-request at bevo dot che dot wisc dot edu Wed Dec 24 14:18:28 2003 Subject: Re: gnuplot under mac osx From: Michael Martin To: Octave Help Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 13:02:56 -0600 On Dec 24, 2003, at 12:05 PM, Nicola Varanese wrote: > I've installed Apple's X11 (no SDK) and successfully compiled gnuplot > (along with its dependencies: gd, png, jpeg and so on). But, when I > launch it under xterm, it says: > > Terminal type set to 'unknown' > > and when I try to plot something, it doesn't output with an error and > simply does not plot anything (even if DISPLAY and TERM variables are > correctly set by Apple's X11)! The problem is not X11, but gnuplot. Gnuplot needs to know what sort of output device you want to plot too. Gnuplot can output to all sorts of devices and file formats and needs to be told what to use. From the sound of it, your gnuplot configuration file is not set up properly to reflect that you are using X11. To get gnuplot to plot via X11, type "set terminal X11" as soon as you get into gnuplot. This will tell gnuplot to send its output to an X11 window. > Furthermore: > Do you think it's better using Fink Octave (even if it makes you > download tons of source, like xfree86 libs)? Yes. It has been my experience that Fink is generally easier to deal with. I used the Fink installation of both Octave and gnuplot with little trouble. As to the "download tons of source, like xfree86 libs" comment, no this is not entirely true. Fink can be told about non-fink installs of things like Tex and X11. I prefer Apple's X11 over xfree86 and Gerben Wierda's Tex distribution over fink's. Simply inform fink of the packages you have already installed and it will look for the required items in their standard locations. The beauty of Fink is that in manages the entire set of packages you will need. Now yes, Fink will download the source for packages you do not have already installed, but that to me makes life easier. Also, with the Fink installation of gnuplot, one gets Aqua, which obviates the necessity of having to use X11. While X11 has its advantages, Aqua gives on a very nice Mac OSX app to use with gnuplot. Aqua will save plots to .pdf etc, whereas raw gnuplot & X11 will require you to do it manually. I use both X11 & Aqua and favor Aqua over X11 for gnuplot. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael W. Martin Phone: (281) 333-2177 Draper Laboratory FAX: (281) 333-5276 2200 Space Park Dr. EMail: martin at simba dot jsc dot draper dot com Houston, TX 77058 WWW: http://www.jsc.draper.com/ USA Mail Code: EG/Draper ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- Octave is freely available under the terms of the GNU GPL. Octave's home on the web: http://www.octave.org How to fund new projects: http://www.octave.org/funding.html Subscription information: http://www.octave.org/archive.html -------------------------------------------------------------