Re: cannot plot via gnuplot (4.2.6) from octave 3.2.3 (on Mac OS 10.6)

[Ben Abbott]

On Oct 13, 2009, at 12:19 PM, Bob Q wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I downloaded and installed the octave-3.2.3 dmg on Mac OS X (10.6,  
> intel) along with the gnuplot-4.2.6 dmg in the Extras.
>
> At first, it could not find gnuplot...
>
> > plot(x,y)
> [quote]
> error: popen2 (child): unable to start process -- No such file or  
> directory
> error: called from:
> error:   /Applications/Octave 3.2.3.app/Contents/Resources/share/ 
> octave/3.2.3/m/plot/__gnuplot_open_stream__.m at line 28, column 44
> error:   /Applications/Octave 3.2.3.app/Contents/Resources/share/ 
> octave/3.2.3/m/plot/gnuplot_drawnow.m at line 85, column 19
> sh: gnuplot: command not found
> error: you must have gnuplot installed to display graphics; if you  
> have gnuplot installed in a non-standard location, see the  
> 'gnuplot_binary' function
> octave-3.2.3:4> gnuplot_binary("/Applications/Gnuplot")
> octave-3.2.3:5> plot(x,y)
> sh: /Applications/Gnuplot: No such file or directory
> error: you must have gnuplot installed to display graphics; if you  
> have gnuplot installed in a non-standard location, see the  
> 'gnuplot_binary' function
> [/quote]
>
> ...solving this with a...
>
> > gnuplot_binary("/Applications/Gnuplot.app/Contents/Resources/bin/ 
> gnuplot")
>
> ...and again plotting gives...
> [quote]
> error: `unset' undefined near line 4 column 1
> warning: broken pipe -- some output may be lost
> [/quote]
>
> where it can only be escaped with a ctrl-c.
>
> Is gnuplot 4.2.6 not working with octave 3.2.3?  Is there a way  
> around this?
>
> Your help or advise is greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks, Bob

Bob,

I've had no trouble with gnuplot 4.2.3 or later versions. I'm  
currently running gnuplot's developer's sources.

Please try running gnuplot directly and type "set term". You'll see a  
list of available terminals. For example, I get the list below ....

gnuplot> set term

Available terminal types:
             aqua  Interface to graphics terminal server for Mac OS X
           canvas  HTML Canvas object
              cgm  Computer Graphics Metafile
            corel  EPS format for CorelDRAW
           dpu414  Seiko DPU-414 thermal printer [small medium large]
             dumb  ascii art for anything that prints text
              dxf  dxf-file for AutoCad (default size 120x80)
            eepic  EEPIC -- extended LaTeX picture environment
              emf  Enhanced Metafile format
            emtex  LaTeX picture environment with emTeX specials
         epslatex  LaTeX picture environment using graphicx package
     epson_180dpi  Epson LQ-style 180-dot per inch (24 pin) printers
      epson_60dpi  Epson-style 60-dot per inch printers
      epson_lx800  Epson LX-800, Star NL-10, NX-1000, PROPRINTER ...
              fig  FIG graphics language for XFIG graphics editor
              gif  GIF images using libgd and TrueType fonts
         gnugraph  GNU plot(1) format ["fontname" font_size]
             gpic  GPIC -- Produce graphs in groff using the gpic  
preprocessor
          hp2623A  HP2623A and maybe others
           hp2648  HP2648 and HP2647
           hp500c  HP DeskJet 500c, [75 100 150 300] [rle tiff]
Press return for more:
             hpdj  HP DeskJet 500, [75 100 150 300]
             hpgl  HP7475 and relatives [number of pens] [eject]
           hpljii  HP Laserjet series II, [75 100 150 300]
             hppj  HP PaintJet and HP3630 [FNT5X9 FNT9X17 FNT13X25]
           imagen  Imagen laser printer
             jpeg  JPEG images using libgd and TrueType fonts
            latex  LaTeX picture environment
              lua  Lua generic terminal driver
               mf  Metafont plotting standard
              mif  Frame maker MIF 3.00 format
               mp  MetaPost plotting standard
          nec_cp6  NEC printer CP6, Epson LQ-800 [monocrome color  
draft]
          okidata  OKIDATA 320/321 Standard
              pbm  Portable bitmap [small medium large] [monochrome  
gray color]
             pcl5  HP Designjet 750C, HP Laserjet III/IV, etc. (many  
options)
              pdf  PDF (Portable Document File) file driver
         pdfcairo  pdf terminal based on cairo
              png  PNG images using libgd and TrueType fonts
         pngcairo  png terminal based on cairo
       postscript  PostScript graphics, including EPSF embedded files  
(*.eps)
          pslatex  LaTeX picture environment with PostScript \specials
            pstex  plain TeX with PostScript \specials
Press return for more:
         pstricks  LaTeX picture environment with PSTricks macros
              qms  QMS/QUIC Laser printer (also Talaris 1200 and  
others)
            regis  REGIS graphics language
             rgip  RGIP metafile (Uniplex). Option: fontsize (1-8)
            starc  Star Color Printer
              svg  W3C Scalable Vector Graphics driver
      tandy_60dpi  Tandy DMP-130 series 60-dot per inch graphics
          tek40xx  Tektronix 4010 and others; most TEK emulators
          tek410x  Tektronix 4106, 4107, 4109 and 420X terminals
          texdraw  LaTeX texdraw environment
             tgif  TGIF X11 [mode] [x,y] [dashed] ["font" [fontsize]]
             tikz  TeX TikZ graphics macros via the lua script driver
         tkcanvas  Tk/Tcl canvas widget [perltk] [interactive]
             tpic  TPIC -- LaTeX picture environment with tpic  
\specials
          uniplex  RGIP metafile (Uniplex). Option: fontsize (1-8)  
(Same as rgip)
          unknown  Unknown terminal type - not a plotting device
            vttek  VT-like tek40xx terminal emulator
              x11  X11 Window System
             xlib  X11 Window System (gnulib_x11 dump)
            xterm  Xterm Tektronix 4014 Mode

Please verify your gnuplot supports "aqua" and "x11".

If "aqua" is not present, then you can use the "x11" terminal by  
adding the following to your ~/.octaverc file

        setenv ("GNUTERM", "x11")

If both aqua and x11 are listed, be sure to type "close all" before  
you use "gnuplot_binary" to set the path to your gnuplot. If you set  
gnuplot_binary in your ~/.octaverc, be sure to quit and restart octave  
before attempting a plot.

Ben