Re: Symbolic package for Octave

[Nicholas Jankowski]

On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 9:37 PM, Nicholas Jankowski <address@hidden> wrote:

assuming you're

On Mon, Jul 6, 2015 at 9:17 PM, Pervin, William <address@hidden> wrote:

I still have no idea of how to install packages. I have downloaded
4.0.0 and it works. I can't get anything "forge" working and have
not gotten any help yet. As I asked before, please give explicit
instructions as to a child. Thanks.

Dr. William J. Pervin

Professor Emeritus of Mathematics,
Electrical and Computer Engineering,
and Computer Science
University of Texas at Dallas

Did you not get any of our previous emails? If so, did any of those things work? Having gotten no response, I assumed you had gotten things working and moved on.

You can see the emails here:

http://octave.1599824.n4.nabble.com/Symbolic-package-for-Octave-tt4670576.html#none
 

I'll follow up with another reply specific to your latest request, but please send me and the list a direct email so we can be sure you are getting these messages.

Nick Jankowski

Ok, after installing Octave 4.0.0 for Windows, you need to run the Package setup script.  There's a README.html file in the octave-4.0.0 folder with the following instructions:

------------------------

Included Octave Forge Packages

A number of Octave-Forge packages have been included with Octave, however they must be installed in order to use them.

To install:

• Start Octave and then open the build_packages.m file found in the src folder where Octave was installed.
• Run the script build_packages.m to build and install the packages.

Installation is a one-time procedure. After installation packages must still be loaded in order to use them with the pkg load PACKAGENAME command.

---------------------------

So, after opening Octave, use the folder tree on the upper left to navigate to the octave-4.0.0 install  folder, then the src folder under that.  You should see the build_packages.m file in that same file/folder list. right click that file and select Run.

That will take a little while. But this will install the base Octave Forge packages.  I don't recall if this gets the latest versions from the octave forge website.  You can ensure they're all up-to-date by typing:

>> pkg update

again, this might take a while.

SYMBOLIC:

now, symbolic is something different. it depends on you having installed the correct version of Python and SymPy.  If you want, you can instead manually install a 'bundled' version of the symbolic package (this includes a stand-alone python, you don't have to do anything special).

You can get the bundled version from
https://github.com/cbm755/octsympy/releases/latest

download symbolic-win-py-bundle-2.2.2.zip

You can save this file anywhere, you just need to be able to get there inside of octave to issue the install command.  I saved mine under C:/Octave/

Then, use the folder tree in the upper left again, and navigate to that folder, or wherever else you might have decided to save it. You should see the symbolic-win-py-bundle-2.2.2.zip file in that file/folder list. 

type

>> pkg install -auto symbolic-win-py-bundle-2.2.2.zip

(the -auto will make the package load for you every time you open octave. I assume from your initial email that this would be desired. leave out the -auto if you'd rather load it manually every time.)

if you get a 'not found' error, it means Octave's active directory is not where you saved the file. you can use the file/folder window or:

Use the CD command to change to the directory with the file. E.g., if the file is in the C:/Octave directory, you can type:

>> cd c:\octave

then,

>> pwd

will print the current working directory, and

>> dir

will show you the files in that directory.  You need to get to where dir shows you the symbolic-win-py-bundle-2.2.2.zip file.  Then the pkg install command will work.

Please email back verifying receipt of this email, and later let us know if you get stuck an any particular part.  I'd like to see you able to make this work for your class.

Nick J.