I would like to announce the beta availability of maxima 5.17.1 using the wxMaxima GUI as a portable app from
http://www.permucode.com/maxima [or search for "maxima portable" at the portableapp.com web site]
Portable Apps (portable.com) are applications that can be run from a portable storage device without installing on a windows PC. (linux and mac users must have the wine compatibility layer to run portable apps).
The availability of maxima as a portable app makes it the most convenient CAS available today, easily usable by (for example) students and professors in a university where they do not have administrative rights to install programs, and generally work at many different stations.
A portable app can also be installed in any convenient folder for a non-administrator user. After installation, simply double-click on the MaximaPortable.exe in the installation folder to run. Removing a portable app amounts to deleting the installation folder. This makes trying out maxima easier than ever.
I hope Maxima users try it out and give me feedback about problems so I may make a non-testing release soon. [ I see no significant issues right now and the overall functionality seems very reliable ]. I would like to move the hosting of the portable app to either the maxima website or the portableapp website after the testing phase.
Problems can be emailed to maxima-testing at permucode.com. I am especially interested in hearing from the maxima and wxMaxima developers to suggest some small changes that would make the maintenance of the portable app easier (but not change functionality for other purposes).
Thanks,
Warren MacEvoy
http://home.mesastate.edu/~wmacevoy