A problem with Octave installation

[Daniella Gati]

Dear Octave Help Team,

My name is Daniella Gáti and I am a student of economics at the University of Berne, Switzerland. I would be very grateful if you could help me out with a problem regarding the installation of the program Octave.

I have seen that there are several possibilities from where to download Octave, the most straightforward being its own website itself. However, although the actual download of the files never presented a problem, during installation, which I attempted twice, I ran into two slightly different, but I suspect related problems.

My first attempt was downloading Octave from its own website. Here, there’s a choice between a .tar.gz and a .tar.bz2 file. I first tried one, then the other, but having saved them, I did not manage to open them; the program that could open the file, it said, was unknown. In other words, I did not even manage to install those files.

My second attempt consisted of downloading Octave from a mirror site (to avoid complications, I first uninstalled and completely removed the files from my first attempt). Here, upon completion of the download, the installation process started automatically and completed successfully. However, after installation, there was no possibility of running the program. There was no obvious icon of the program anywhere (only the files themselves), and Command Prompt did not recognize any program bearing the name octave.

Now I wonder what the problem may be. It has occurred to me that .tar.gz and  .tar.bz2 files are normally used for Linux and I am a Windows-user, but I discarded this as a source of the problem due to the information on the Octave website that the program runs on Windows as well.

Logically, I browsed through the FAQs and looked for help there. As I have found no answer, I now turn to you in the hope that you can help me on this issue. Main technical features of my computer include:

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.101014-0432)

           Language: Hungarian (Regional Setting: German)

System Manufacturer: FUJITSU SIEMENS

       System Model: AMILO Pi 3540                  

               BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL8

          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU     P7350  @ 2.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz

             Memory: 3066MB RAM

          Page File: 1206MB used, 5128MB available

 

I thank you for your answer in advance and hope that I will be able to use the intriguing features of Octave.

Best regards,

Daniella Gáti