Am 28.08.05 13:31 schrieb Donna and Dan Stanger:
> Hello Gottfried,
> Why is this proposal better than texmacs (www.texmacs.org)?
> Regards,
> Dan
Hi Dan -
generally this is difficult to answer, but let me try this:
From casual discussions previous years I got the impression,
that the line-modus of input/output is a common preference
in the maxima-community - and simply didn't expect, this
had changed. So I didn't expect progress in that direction.
Next - I'm simply frustrated of some programs, which
I tried last years: the open-source-movement, which I appreciate
and which I would like to help with some own contributions, seems
to be a bit over my horizon meanwhile. When I was younger in the
70'ies,80'ies it was quite common that one needed a certain amount
of hacking to install free programs correctly - that was not
a problem, but rather a sort of an adventure (and provided me
the entry into my job....).
But things have changed for me: recently I tried another program
(than maxima), downloaded tons of files, and then ... had to compile
that stuff - noticing a bunch of directories and header-files, and
was confronted with a science of compiler-switches... Well, bad
news for just a test of a new software.
But the worst was, I had no c-compiler. So I searched for
a c-compiler, this way learning there are lots of standards,
and it was difficult to find, which standard I needed.
Even the requirement of that software and the list of
free c-compilers was difficult to meet by the sheer terminology.
After a lot of fiddling and searching I found one c-compiler,
which seemed to be appropriate. The only problem: this
compiler came in sources only... needed another c-compiler
be compiled first...
With the experience, that something else *will* be difficult later,
I finally gave up.
So I got rather sceptical with consuming time for searching for
such programs.
Recently I tired a new approach to emancipate from the
windollar-office (which I had to use many years) and try
to learn tex, which seems to me a great idea - I made several
tries last years casually. Even that dante-tex I couldn't start
then, although with some effort - my frustration limit has been
overstepped already (and seemingly too...) many times.
Recently I found this message in the maxima-list concerning
the client-server-solution, that someone had installed and could access
his maxima-server via internet - good idea, maybe I could use that,
but- again a single-line-input- solution...
My time to search for new products is limited, so in a cursory
search on the internet for new solutions for a maxima-interface
I simply didn't stumble on WinTexMac - but well, I just downloaded
it because of your hint.
Good: seems to integrate 2 things: maxima-interface and a
wysiwig-Tex-editor: give it a fair chance.
Well - after only some hours of dealing with it I cannot say, whether
it is better; but surely it is.
But it seems, I needed a better hardware for that (I own only
a 700 MHZ/128 MB windoze), and it seems that I have to convert
all my html-files first, to be readable for that program.
In the 3 hours today in the afternoon I managed to open three or
four files, and was not able to write a small text in a sensible
way - bad luck: the tutorial was not in the package.
The maxima-connection seems also to be a single-line-input;
but I could not try it properly since after some messages
in a red rectangle ("no more space in environment - lisp not
avaliable" - repeated about 30 times) I have to admit, that
my diagnostic abilities need polishing before I can start
with that and give it a better chance.
Well- that all may sound a bit ;-).. ehm... frustrated and sarcastic,
sorry for that: I don't want to talk software bad, which isn't.
I assume, WinTexmacs is a great thing with good ideas - just I can't
discuss about it without better hardware currently.
And it seems, it was a good idea to quickly put some tools
together and build my own interface yesterday (just an rtf-
control, some housekeeping and the unavoidable bunch of
windows-api-crap) and could test some formulae already at the
same day, which I dealt with some previous days ago.
You just insert the actual pathes in that ini-file, launch
that small application - and instantly (on a machine like mine)
have a screen-orientated editor available and can start
working.
So - why do I think, my maximaHlp-Gui is better? Seriously-
I don't think so - your question has a wrong assumption, I
even did not think about a comparision: it's just quick&dirty
and and may only be a starter for some people in the same
situation as I am.
It helps to work with maxima in a complete easy way - until I
find another software, which is also suitable to my hardware-
ressources.
Gottfried Helms