Re: beginner

[Ben Abbott]

On Jul 3, 2009, at 2:26 AM, Thomas Treichl wrote:

> > Thomas et al.,
> >
> > Thanks for a quick reply.
> >
> > I am totally lost in this process, but I have installed MacPorts.  It
> > looks as though I inadvertently have DarwinPorts also.  I have
> > octave-3.2.0 on my Mac, and I have poked around a bit but did not  
> > find
> > any executable files.
> >
> > As an overview, I am trying to provide my students a Reed College  
> > was an
> > alternative to MATLAB which I own.  I intend to teach two physics
> > courses next year that will involve using .m code.
> >
> > Sorry to be so lost,
> >
> > johnny
>
> No need to be sorry ;) We're all lost in something ;)
>
> I have a suggestion that you can try to get started more quickly:  
> Get Octave.app from http://octave.sourceforge.net. Then carefully  
> read the Reamde.html file of the octave-3.2.0-xxx.dmg image before  
> installation.
>
> Don't be afraid that you install that Octave.app beside your  
> DarwinPorts MacPorts Octave, they don't modify each other. And if  
> you ever have the time to fix your DarwinPorts MacPorts Octave then  
> you can easily delete Octave.app again.
>
> Let us know if you liked this idea?

Regarding macports / darwinports, they are the same thing ... the name  
for the package management system was originally darwinports and was  
later changed to macports.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacPorts

Some useful links for macports are

        http://guide.macports.org/

        http://www.macports.org/

To install octave, run Terminal and type ...

        port install octave

To see where the octave binary is installed, run Terminal and type ...

        which octave

But if you just want to run octave installed by macports, run Terminal  
and type ...

        octave

Ben