Complete novice w/elementary questions

[Gene Partlow]

Hello - -
I am going to opt for the GNU Octave mathware package, but
(1) I am quite incapable of downloading, compiling and installing
it.  I will need to hire a local programmer in the Santa Cruz area
to do this for me.  Finding a pre-built one would be ideal.

And (2) I need to know if there exists older versions which would
operate well with my older 2001 iMac, which has a 500 MHz Power
PC G3 'engine', 256 MB SDRAM memory, and runs version
OS X 10.3.9  (The current Octave version requires an OS X 10.4 or
higher, I think.)  I am desperate to just get the job done by a local
pro, so I can get back to my work, which is my real habitat.

Any suggestions can help me.  You can send to my e-mail also:
    address@hidden

Thanks for your time,
Gene Partlow