> By using pipes, does that mean you have to close the plot before
> continuing to do work with maxima? If so, maxima used to work this
> way, but someone changed it so you could leave the plot around and
> still continue to work with maxima.
No, the plot stays open and you can continue your work.
There is one gnuplot process running in the background (even if there
is no plot window open) and it does all the plotting. Maxima writes
the usual maxout.gnuplot file and then sends commands through pipes to
gnuplot to plot the data. The control returns to maxima, the plot
window stays open and you can use the mouse to rotate the plot etc.
There is a new function to send command directly to gnuplot to modify
the existing plot.
Andrej