Scared to fly? But I love rocket science!: August 2011

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Octave - Matrix notation and the dot product of vectors

I am going to list some matrix applications in this post for myself (and whoever wishes to utilize this) so I can return to look up later if needed. This post concerns matrix notation and the dot product of vectors, A matrix in Octave is the same notation as in MATLAB:

A = [ 1, 1, 2; 3, 5, 8; 13, 21, 34 ]

where commas separate columns on a row and the semicolon separates rows. In order to take the dot product between tow vectors we can do:

U = [ 1, 1, 1 

V = [-1, 4, 1]

dot(U, V)

ans =  4

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Kayali - a Qt based Computer Algebra System

Kayali - http://kayali.sourceforge.net

Overview

Kayali is a Qt based Computer Algebra System (CAS) that can also be used as an advanced replacement for KDE KCalc. It is essentially a front end GUI for Maxima (and is easily extended to other CAS back-ends) and Gnuplot.

Please Note: I am currently targetting a small subset of Maxima, while maintaining a medium-term goal of supporting all of Maxima. Please bear in mind that although Kayali probably does not support what you want to do with it right now, it can be made do so - but I need your feedback to do that. Please try it out if you can and share your thoughts.

Kayali is currently alpha software and has only been tested on my own PC. It you are reading this (condition1 : satisfied) and are prepared to give it a go, then please do send me feedback as to how you get on. At this stage I am particularly looking for hints about where to focus my development efforts, so please email me or post a message to the Kayali sourceforge forum with what you would like to see Kayali support.

I expect to see rapid development of Kayali so please check back regularly for updates.

Requires

Python

Kayali has been written in Python. Nearly all linux installations already have python installed.

Python Web Site

Maxima

Maxima is the engine behind Kayali. It is called a CAS (Computer Algebra System). Kayali passes all its commands to Maxima, so to learn more about the advanced use of Kayali you need to learn Maxima:

Maxima Sourceforge Web Site

PyQt4

PyQt4 is the interface between Python, which Kayali is written in, and Qt4. Qt4 is a great development toolkit developed by Trolltech in Norway.

Trolltech Qt Web Site

Riverbank PyQt Web Site

GnuPlot

(Only required for plotting) GnuPlot is a plotting utility under the GNU umbrella. The 3D plots require v4 or above.

GnuPlot Web Site

libgd

(Only required for plotting) libgd is a gif manipulation library needed by gnuplot to produce png files.

libgd Web Site

User Documentation

Until Kayali reaches beta there is no user documentation. However, a little exploration of the system will go a long way. To learn the more advanced usage of Kayali, go to the Maxima web site.

Maxima Sourceforge Web Site

Acknowledgements

Yapps

Yapps is a python-based parser which I have used for parsing the expressions.

Yapps Web Site

Pexpect

Pexpect is a python-based implementation of Expect, which I am using to communicate with Maxima.

Pexpect Web Site

Monday, August 29, 2011

The KDE Education Project - KAlgebra - Graph Calculator

The KDE Education Project - KAlgebra - Graph Calculator - http://edu.kde.org/applications/mathematics/kalgebra/

Here is a nice graphing scientific calculator type app from KDE in Ubuntu. I have been mainly using this as a graphing/scientific calculator for sin, cos, etc. It doesn't have and explicit square root function, but you can always do ^(1/2) or any other power. It has a nice autofill/autosearch feature. That is, when you begin to type it brings up a list of functions based on your input. Fro example, type "arc" and it brings up "arcsin, arccos, etc."

KAlgebra is a fully featured calculator that lets you plot different types of 2D and 3D functions and to calculate easy and not so easy calculations, such as addition, trigonometric functions or derivatives.

The application has been thought to be easily understandable for students, so that they don't need to read a boring manual. The language is deeply integrated in the UI, providing a dictionary with representations for all the available operations, code highlighting and code completion.

My screenshot:

wxMaxima - initial calculations, first use - finding an angle by the inverse cosine

So I am beginning my endeavor into wxMaxima which I am using for a Mathematica replacement. So far not so bad, I will just have to get use to the syntax and the ways things are done in Maxima. Thus, I will be posting to my blog regularly once I have accomplished, done an example, or figured something out in Maxima even if it is as small and minute as calculation the sine or arcosine whuch is exactly what my first task has been to do.

I am taking a vector calculus course this semester and I needed to find the angle between two vectors. The formula for this is

\begin{equation} \textbf{u} \cdot \textbf{v} = |\textbf{u}||\textbf{v}| \cos \theta \end{equation}

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Wolfram MathWorld: The Web's Most Extensive Mathematics Resource

Wolfram MathWorld: The Web's Most Extensive Mathematics Resource Here is the link to a very helpful math resource for your math questions and needs.

12 Things New in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneric[Screenshot Tour] | Tech Drive-in

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Awesome Linux Bash Shell Cheat Sheet for Beginners | Tech Drive-in

Awesome Linux Bash Shell Cheat Sheet for Beginners | Tech Drive-in

A resource for terminal commands! Courtesy of:

http://freeworld.posterous.com/

Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/397277/bash_shell_cheat_sheetV2.pdf

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Sage in Emacs and TeX

CTAN directory: /macros/latex/contrib/sagetex - http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/sagetex/

This is the SageTeX package. It allows you to embed code, results of
computations, and plots from the Sage mathematics software suite
(http://sagemath.org) into LaTeX documents.
====================================================================

The recommended way to acquire and install SageTeX is by installing the
Sage spkg; visit http://sagemath.org/packages/optional/, find the
current version number, and run "sage -i sagetex-[version]" in a
terminal. Then you'll need to make the file sagetex.sty known to TeX;
that file will be in SAGE_ROOT/local/share/texmf/tex/generic/sagetex,
along with documentation and examples.

If you can't or don't want to install SageTeX by using Sage, you can use
this CTAN package. If sagetex.py and sagetex.sty haven't been extracted
from the .dtx file, you'll need to do:

0. Run `latex sagetexpackage.ins'

If a PDF file of the documentation wasn't included with this
distribution of SageTeX, you will need to build the documentation
yourself. To do that:

1. Run `latex sagetexpackage.dtx'
2. Run `sage sagetexpackage.sage'
3. Run the indexing commands that the .ins file told you about.
4. Run `latex sagetexpackage.dtx' again.

You can skip step 3 if you don't care about the index. You will need the
pgf and tikz packages installed to typeset the figures.

The file example.tex has, as you likely guessed, a bunch of examples
showing you how this package works. You can compile it using a another
latex-sage-latex cycle as in steps 1-2-4 above. Note that example.tex
includes some PNG graphics which latex cannot use; to see those, use
pdflatex instead of regular latex or enable the imagemagick option. (See
the documentation.)

To use the SageTeX package with your own documents, see the
"Installation" section of the documentation.

SageTeX now includes `remote-sagetex.py', a plain Python script that
allows you to use a remote Sage server instead of a local Sage
installation, so now you can use SageTeX on any computer with TeX and
Python 2.6 installed.

This work builds on a lot of work by others; see the "Credits" section
of the documentation for credits. The source code may be modified and
distributed under the terms of the GPL, v2 or later; the documentation
may be modified and distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution -
Noncommercial - Share Alike 3.0 License. See the "Copying and licenses"
section of the documentation.

Please let me know if you find any bugs or have any ideas for
improvement!

- Dan Drake

sage-mode - http://wiki.sagemath.org/sage-mode

Description

sage-mode provides Emacs Lisp that helps you use Sage in GNU Emacs.

Warning! This is alpha code. This might fail horribly and is not (yet) easily customizable!

Pre-built Binary Install and Compile from Source Install — Sage Installation Guide v4.7.1

Pre-built Binary Install — Sage Installation Guide v4.7.1 - http://www.sagemath.org/doc/installation/binary.html

In order to install a binary (a pre-compiled version) of Sage:

1) Go here -> Download for Linux - http://www.sagemath.org/download-linux.html

and choose a mirror.

2) Choose you system bit type then system appropriate file -> my case was 64-bit and I chose the smaller file to download

sage-4.7.1-linux-64bit-ubuntu_10.04.1_lts-x86_64-Linux.tar.lzma

*.lzma compressed binaries can be extracted via
tar --lzma -xvf sage-*...tar.lzma
They save you about 150MB to download.

3) Then extract package and move to desired folder location. For additional path naming etc. information see -> Pre-built Binary Install - http://www.sagemath.org/doc/installation/binary.html

I, for example, simply extracted it into the folder it was downloaded to -> home/Downloads then moved it to home.

4) Then simply execute the Sage command by typing:

./sage

in the directory. If you don't and try to double click on it like the big dummy I am then it won't run and you might get confused and try to run make (like I did) which is not necessary, but you can do it :). Sage will then open in a browser, but on your local machine. Sage is heavy on being online based (works in a web browser) so that is why it opens in a browser.

Also see link:

Quick Download and Installation Guide - http://wiki.sagemath.org/DownloadAndInstallationGuide

If you choose to compile yourself,

1) then download the source file from the mirror of your choice:

2) You may have to do extra steps (see below), but then run the command "make" without quotations (simply type make) in a terminal command line IN the directory where the "sage" file is located.

Source Code - http://www.sagemath.org/download-source.html

Information

Thank you for your interest in Sage! You can get the complete source for Sage to compile it on your own Linux or Mac OS X system. Sage lives in an isolated directory and does not interfere with your surrounding system. It ships together with everything necessary to develop Sage, the source code, all its dependencies and the complete changelog.

Short instructions:

Extract archive

Start compiling:
make

Run Sage: .
/sage

Upgrade to newer version later:
./sage -upgrade

Please read the README.txt and the installation guide for more details. Note: On Linux systems like Debian/Ubuntu, you may have to install the build essential package, the m4 macro processor, and gfortran:

sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install m4
sudo apt-get install gfortran

You might also consider installing the readline package and its corresponding development headers. These packages make it easier to work with the Sage command line interface by providing text editing features at the command line level:

sudo apt-get install readline-common
sudo apt-get install libreadline-dev

There is a very high level changelog.

You can browse all the tracked source code repositories and see exactly what's going on, and who did what when.

RKWard - another GUI for R

RKWard - http://rkward.sourceforge.net/

One of the main differences between R Commander and RkWard is that RKWard is KDE based and developed.

RKWard aims to become an easy to use, transparent frontend to R, a powerful system for statistical computation and graphics. Besides a convenient GUI for the most important statistical functions, future versions will also provide seamless integration with an office-suite.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/rkward/

KDE Science: Thomas Friedrichsmeier on RKWard, Toolkits and the KDE Platform - 2010 13 Sep - By: Luca Beltrame - http://dot.kde.org/2010/09/13/kde-science-thomas-friedrichsmeier-rkward-toolkits-and-kde-platform

A review of a bunch of R GUIs:

R GUIs · 06/05/2010 - http://www.nettakeaway.com/tp/R/137/r-guis

Upgrading to/Installation of Kile 2.1

Ubuntu does not update Kile from 2.1 beta 4 to the latest 2.1 release. In order to update you can do two things.

1) Compile your own like I did with wxMaxima

How to compile Kile for Linux/BSD - http://kile.sourceforge.net/help.php#compile

2) Or find someone that has already compiled a deb package install like I should have looked for one for wxMaxima. (I have found the PPA for wxMaxima here -> Maxima and wxMaxima by István Blahota - https://launchpad.net/~blahota/+archive/wxmaxima as ppa:blahota/wxmaxima and have added it to my original wxMaxima post too.)

In this forum topic, I found a PPA (Personal Package Archive) which once added to the repositories and updated will then install once you run the update manager.

[SOLVED] Kile upgrade - Ubuntu Forums - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1773808

See here for PPA explanation. I've used it several times without knowing what it was or did. Now I think I understand a little bit better.

How do I use software from a PPA? - https://launchpad.net/+help/soyuz/ppa-sources-list.html

To start installing and using software from a Personal Package Archive, you first need to tell Ubuntu where to find the PPA.

Important: The contents of Personal Package Archives are not checked or monitored. You install software from them at your own risk.

Adding the PPA to Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) and later

If you're using the most recent version of Ubuntu (or any version from Ubuntu 9.10 onwards), you can add a PPA to your system with a single line in your terminal.

Step 1: On the PPA's overview page, look for the heading that reads Adding this PPA to your system. Make a note of the PPA's location, which looks like:

ppa:gwibber-daily/ppa

Step 2: Open a terminal and enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:user/ppa-name

Replace ppa:user/ppa-name with the PPA's location that you noted above.

Your system will now fetch the PPA's key. This enables your Ubuntu system to verify that the packages in the PPA have not been interfered with since they were built.

Step 3: Now, as a one-off, you should tell your system to pull down the latest list of software from each archive it knows about, including the PPA you just added:

sudo apt-get update

Now you're ready to start installing software from the PPA!

So in this case do:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kile/stable

sudo apt-get update

(launchpad.net link -> Kile - kile stable - https://launchpad.net/~kile/+archive/stable)

Then run the update manager either from the apps (GUI tool - Ubuntu Update Manager) or the terminal in the command line (I don't know the terminal command).

Ah, found it here -> How do I update Ubuntu Linux softwares? - http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-do-i-update-ubuntu-linux-softwares/

sudo apt-get upgrade

From the site:

=> apt-get update : Update is used to resynchronize the package index files from their sources via Internet.

=> apt-get upgrade : Upgrade is used to install the newest versions of all packages currently installed on the system

=> apt-get install package-name : install is followed by one or more packages desired for installation. If package is already installed it will try to update to latest version.

[xubuntu] Xubuntu vs XFCE sessions - Ubuntu Forums

Edubuntu

The Edubuntu Project

Edubuntu is a grassroots movement, we aim to get Ubuntu into schools, homes and communities and make it easy for users to install and maintain their systems.

We are students, teachers, parents and hackers who believe that learning and knowledge should be available to everyone who wants to improve themselves and the world around them.

Our Goals

Our aim is to put together a system that contains all the best free software available in education and make it easy to install and maintain.

An Ubuntu Project

The majority of the technical work that the Edubuntu team performs occurs within the Ubuntu project. All the packages we work on are available in the Ubuntu software repositories and the Edubuntu DVD is built from the exact same repositories as the Ubuntu discs and other official derivatives.

Unity DE

GNOME DE

Monday, August 22, 2011

Sage: Open Source Mathematics Software

Once I get the hang of Maxima I think I will give this a go again. This can call software such as Maxima, Octave, etc.

Sage: Open Source Mathematics Software

Sage is a free open-source mathematics software system licensed under the GPL. It combines the power of many existing open-source packages into a common Python-based interface.
Mission: Creating a viable free open source alternative to Magma, Maple, Mathematica and Matlab

Link to introductory videos on Sage and Python from the Sage website:

Screencasts and Videos - http://sagemath.org/help-video.html

Link to help and documentation from the Sage site:

http://sagemath.org/help.html

Xmaxima

Xmaxima is a graphical interface for Maxima, written in Tcl/Tk. It also provides the openmath plotting program for Maxima, which can do some of the plots done by Maxima's default plotter (gnuplot) and a few more that gnuplot cannot do.

This manual was written for version 5.11.0 of Xmaxima. Some familiarity with Maxima 5.11.0 is assumed. There is a separate reference manual for Maxima, which can be browsed and studied from Xmaxima.

This is apparently installed by default when you install Maxima from the USC.

Xmaxima Manual: Top

ÜberStudent - Ubuntu version for Students and Researchers

Pretty interesting.

ÜberStudent - Ubuntu version for Students and Researchers | Ubuntu Geek

Features of ÜberStudent

System

# Pic 1 Built upon compatibility with the latest distribution of Ubuntu (version 9.10), the world’s dominant open source operating system. With ÜberStudent, you can be confident that you are computing from both strength and stability.

# Free to download, install, use and share. And when the next version comes out, it too will be free. You’ll no longer have to lay out painful cash every few years just to keep updated.

# Works “out-of-the-box” on nearly every manufacturer’s computer, both new and older, and tools and guides are right onboard to get your hardware going for the rare instances otherwise. Give ÜberStudent a test run from its Live DVD! When you’re ready to install, you can do it side-by-side with your current configured operating system and choose between them at boot time.

# Fully multimedia-ready in mere seconds. Just go to the Extras Menu in the Main Menu (“Start Button”), click the appropriate icons, and you’re all set.

# High-yield quick-help guides, example program usages, and templates for academic work by top educators and students (but approved by educators) are on-board in ÜberStudent, and their number is growing. You’ll save time and very quickly become productive by doing.

# ÜberStudent is blazingly fast, much faster than the operating system with which you are probably accustomed. It boots much faster, and programs both load and respond faster—no more clicking and constant waiting! And when you search for files, you’ll have results in an instant. You can even preview the contents of files by simply highlighting the file (clicking on it once) and hitting the space bar.

# An eye-popping user interface comes default on ÜberStudent, as expected of a next-generation operating system. With just a few clicks you can additionally enable a Mac-like dock, and on higher end computers you can easily install free proprietary drivers and enable amazing window animations that are at the utter pinnacle of the desktop computing world.

# Easily accesible power-user extras that won’t get in the way of those who aren’t looking for them. For example, just hit F12 to call up Guake Terminal, from which you’ll find the most commonly used command line programs are ready to go.

Core Programs

In addition to a full array of programs befitting a complete operating system, ÜberStudent comes with a customized selection of expertly configured core programs for students of all academic disciplines (some programs may change until the 1/15/10 release-date, last update to below list 1/13/09).

# Zotero configured to cite your sources into Open Office Writer, a full-featured word-processor similar to and compatible with Microsoft Word. Our customized Zotero turns the popular Firefox browser into a powerful, easy-to-use research tool that helps you gather, organize, cite, and analyze sources, and then share the results of your research online or through a network. Our Firefox browser itself comes with numerous customizations to immediately boost your academic productivity.

# Google Plus Search, our Firefox extension that unobtrusively adds links to additional searches, seeded with your Google search term(s). ÜberStudent can work with your learning institution to customize it to display search links to library catalog and subscription resources, e.g., EBSCO and JSTOR, so links to high quality academic resources display right within most students’ first stop for information, Google.

# NoteCase Notes Manager, a hierarchical note manager (outliner) that helps students and researchers take and organize notes into logically-arranged tree-like structures (each note can have sub-notes). Fire up your laptop and one of our NoteCase templates first thing when you arrive to class! See our on-board example usages—you’ll kick yourself for ever trying to get along with paper and pen; plus, when it comes time to write papers, you’ll find you already have them partly written! We recommend you take notes from articles for research papers within Zotero, however.

# AutoKey, a program in which you can easily key in an unlimited number of keyboard abbreviations to reduce the need to type out frequently written words or phrases. Just key an abbreviation for a word or phrase, and then every time you type the abbreviation it is instantly replaced by the word or phrase. AutoKey works literally everywhere you can type in ÜberStudent, but it is especially amazing coupled with NoteCase Notes Manager. You’ll have clearer class notes, and more of them, than ever before.

# Semantik, a mind-mapping tool to visually help students study and write texts such as dissertations, theses, research papers, essays, and even screenplays.
# Parley, a program to help you memorize any material on any subject. Create virtual flashcards from your class notes taken in NoteCase, or download pre-made sets and increase those available by uploading your own.

# Golden Dictionary, a full-featured multi-lingual dictionary, thesaurus, translator, and word-pronouncer that works with literally every program in ÜberStudent at just the touch of a key. Goodbye clunky dictionary.com!

# GNOME Do, inspired by Apple’s Quicksilver, enables you to quickly search for items on your computer or the web, and perform useful actions on those items.

# Gloobus Preview, like Apple’s Quicklook, enables you to quickly glance at the contents of your files and folders. Just highlight the file or folder, hit the space bar, and have a look!

# Top Shelf, a handy program to help you organize and track drafts of papers.

# Cloud Menu with the speed of Prism brings the ease of Cloud Computing to your desktop. Google Calendar and Google Docs sync through Google Gears for both on- and off-line use. Building your network with Facebook has never been simpler and faster, nor has Gmail. Remember The Milk! helps you keep organized and syncs with Google Calendar. And just in case, EyeOS, a full-featured opensource online operating system, is available with just a click.

# Mozilla Thunderbird with Lightning Calendar, which can automatically sync with Google Calendar, iCalendar and others.

# KMyMoney, to help ensure that your finances are kept in correct order.

# Mendeley, like iTunes for research papers, although we much more recommend Zotero.

# ÜberStudent’s Extras Menu provides easy access to additional drivers, software, and other extras.

Other Program Highlights

We realize it’s counterproductive to only study, and that you’ll want to keep contact with friends and family. That’s why we’ve included some of the very best play-ready games, everything you need to rip and burn CDs, programs to make your music sound amazing and handle nearly every video format ever invented, and well-chosen messaging programs. We’ve done this without uneccesary program redundancy.

Games

A full range of games, from 3D chess, to flash pinball, to card games, to a Space Invaders clone and the utterly hilarious Potato Guy and more, are onboard in ÜberStudent. In addition, you can let off stress with the fast-paced first-person 3D shooter game, Warsow, or try your hand in the World of Goo, an amazing Wii-like physics-based puzzle/construction game.

Messaging

Every major (and some minor) Instant Messaging service is ready-to-go within one program, Pidgen, in ÜberStudent. As well, Skype is on board for voice calls. In addition, we’ve include a microblogging client to help you keep current on Twitter, Jaiku, Identi.ca, Facebook, Flickr, Digg, and RSS. There’s even a super-simple IRC program, and one that hooks into your webcam to enable you to send personalized messages.

Multimedia

ÜberStudent comes with everything you need to download, rip, and burn media disks, and programs to handle nearly every audio and video format ever invented, including DVDs and all the formats you’ll encounter everyday on the Internet. Use eMusic Remote to tap over 7-million top songs and albums at half the price of iTunes, and play them in Audacious Music Player, where our expert plugin and equalizer settings (over thirty) will make them sound amazing!

http://www.uberstudent.org/

UberStudent (uber meaning "productive" in Latin) is a free, user-friendly Linux distribution for learning, doing, and teaching academic success at the higher education and advanced secondary levels. It is supported by a free Moodle-based virtual learning environment. Lifelong learners, researchers, and knowledge workers of all types will also benefit.

UberStudent fundamentally redefines what it means to be an operating system for education. At core, it is a pedagogically cohesive academic success curriculum integrated into an installable, easy-to-use, and full-featured learning platform.

UberStudent is developed by professional educators around a core academic skills approach. These are research and writing, study, and self-management skills, essentials to students regardless of their academic major. UberStudent can additionally be extended for specific academic disciplines using its on-board tools to finding and installing additional software. An additional learning outcome of using UberStudent is the achievement of not just computer literacy but computer fluency for lifelong success.

While foremost for academic computing, UberStudent is also decked out for multimedia, graphics, messaging, and even games, all with the needs of students in mind.

Not just for for end-users, UberStudent is the perfect Linux distribution for installation by learning institutions, and customized installations and commercial support or consulting are available.

We would be pleased to present UberStudent and its vision to increase student learning and support the mission of learning institutions to your campus or group. We may be reached at info@uberstudent.org.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

wxMaxima - University of Hawaii Calculus Notebooks

Some wxMaxima "notebooks" over various calculus topics and examples from the University of Hawaii.

wxMaxima

Calculus Demonstration Sessions

Updated July 5, 2011

Below are a collection of wxMaxima sessions which are saved with the file names *.wxm. By downloading these files and opening them in wxMaxima you can modify and experiment with them to learn how to use the program. In addition, for each session there is a PDF version which can viewed using the Adobe Reader.

Some of the programs use just basic operations and graphing while others are somewhat sophisticated. They use the more powerful drawing package and animation features. In either case, you need only right-click the wxm link and download the file to your computer. In IE this is the “Save target as ...” option on the right-click menu. By double clicking the downloaded fine you can view the inputs and outputs. Note that you will need to evaluate each expression in the files below by clicking the expression and then using Shift-Enter to evaluate it.

Some of the complicated animations will take a few seconds to load so be patient. Once the slides have been produced you click the graph window and use the slider on the top menu bar to view the animation.

- Basic calculations and algebra

- Basic lab graphing

- Parametric curves

- Polar plots

- Tangent lines

- Velocity vector

- Table & graphs

- Sine limit

- Discontinuous functions

- Functions & derivatives

- Sliding ladder

- Implicit functions

- Newton's method

- Max/min problem

- Riemann sums

- Area between curves

- Surface plotting and contour animation

- Direction fields and solving first order ODEs

Saturday, August 20, 2011

wxMaxima - Community Ubuntu Documentation - Installing the latest version by compiling and PPA

In order to install the latest wxMaxima (a Mathematica type software) by compiling the source code yourself follow these instructions (this is not necessary as you can use the PPA that I provide further below). The Ubuntu SC only installs 0.8.5 while the latest version as of this date is 11.8.0

wxMaxima - Community Ubuntu Documentation

Download the latest version here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/wxmaxima/files/

Uninstall the old version if you have one.

sudo apt-get remove maxima-doc wxmaxima

Then:

You will need the virtual package "build-essential" for making the package and the package "checkinstall" for building a debian package. So if you don't have it or are unsure,

sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall

Now its time to extract, configure, make and install your package:

tar xfvz /"locationof"/wxMaxima-"latest-version".tar.gz
sudo apt-get build-dep wxmaxima
cd /"locationof"/wxMaxima-"latest-version"/
./configure --enable-dnd --enable-printing --enable-unicode-glyphs --prefix=/usr --exec-prefix=/usr
make
sudo checkinstall

After

sudo apt-get build-dep wxmaxima

I extracted the .tar.gz file because the /"locationof"/wxMaxima-"latest-version"/ directory didn't exist until you do this. You may be able to do this (extract) earlier. Then follow the rest of the directions:

ay "yes" to create a document package and paste the description of Maxima off of the website pasted bellow:

wxMaxima is a cross platform GUI for the computer algebra system maxima based on wxWidgets.

When this is done type "0" then "ENTER" and enter your email address so that people know who you are if they use your package you@somewhere as an example

hit "ENTER" and hope for the best. Checkinstall attempts to build you a deb package which it automatically installs by default and is also included in the directory you made WxMaxima, i.e. the deb is in /"locationof"/WxMaxima-"latest-version"/. Thus if everything goes smoothly you now have the latest version of wxmaxima installed.

I have found the PPA for wxMaxima here -> Maxima and wxMaxima by István Blahota - https://launchpad.net/~blahota/+archive/wxmaxima as ppa:blahota/wxmaxima.

Thus to install via PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:blahota/wxmaxima

sudo apt-get update

Then install from USC (Ubuntu Software Center) or if an older version is already installed simply type into the terminal command line:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Links to Maxima and wxMaxima:

Maxima, a Computer Algebra System - http://maxima.sourceforge.net/

Maxima is a system for the manipulation of symbolic and numerical expressions, including differentiation, integration, Taylor series, Laplace transforms, ordinary differential equations, systems of linear equations, polynomials, and sets, lists, vectors, matrices, and tensors. Maxima yields high precision numeric results by using exact fractions, arbitrary precision integers, and variable precision floating point numbers. Maxima can plot functions and data in two and three dimensions.

The Maxima source code can be compiled on many systems, including Windows, Linux, and MacOS X. The source code for all systems and precompiled binaries for Windows and Linux are available at the SourceForge file manager.

Maxima is a descendant of Macsyma, the legendary computer algebra system developed in the late 1960s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is the only system based on that effort still publicly available and with an active user community, thanks to its open source nature. Macsyma was revolutionary in its day, and many later systems, such as Maple and Mathematica, were inspired by it.

The Maxima branch of Macsyma was maintained by William Schelter from 1982 until he passed away in 2001. In 1998 he obtained permission to release the source code under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It was his efforts and skill which have made the survival of Maxima possible, and we are very grateful to him for volunteering his time and expert knowledge to keep the original DOE Macsyma code alive and well. Since his passing a group of users and developers has formed to bring Maxima to a wider audience.

We are constantly updating Maxima, to fix bugs and improve the code and the documentation. We welcome suggestions and contributions from the community of Maxima users. Most discussion is conducted on the Maxima mailing list.

Some screen shots from the Maxima site:

Xmaxima 5.18 running on Linux (with Tk 8.5) with the Embedded plot windows option:

Xmaxima running on Windows:

Maxima running in GNU Emacs:

Maxima 5.18 running in command line mode in Linux:

Maxima running in GNU TeXmacs:

Maxima running in GNU Emacs with Imaxima mode:

Maxima Documentation - http://maxima.sourceforge.net/documentation.html

wxMaxima - http://andrejv.github.com/wxmaxima/

About

wxMaxima is a document based interface for the computer algebra system Maxima. wxMaxima uses wxWidgets and runs natively on Windows, X11 and Mac OS X. wxMaxima provides menus and dialogs for many common maxima commands, autocompletion, inline plots and simple animations. wxMaxima is distributed under the GPL license.

Some screen shots from wxMaxima:

wxMaxima on Linux:

wxMaxima on Mac OS X:

Some interesting links from the Maxima website:

Related Projects

Stand-alone user interfaces for Maxima

Imaxima and imath

Developers: Jesper Harder, Yasuaki Honda.

“Imaxima.el provides support for interacting with the computer algebra system Maxima in an Emacs buffer. Imaxima processes the output from Maxima with TeX and inserts the resulting image in the buffer.”

→ http://sites.google.com/site/imaximaimath/
Kayali

Developer: Abdulhaq Lynch.

“Kayali is a Qt based Computer Algebra System (CAS) that can also be used as an advanced replacement for KDE KCalc. It is essentially a front end GUI for Maxima (and is easily extended to other CAS back-ends) and Gnuplot.”

→ http://kayali.sourceforge.net/
LyX

There is a way to send commands to Maxima from the LyX document processor. It's somewhat different from the TeXmacs functionality, but does seem to be functional at least on a basic level.

See an example document: http://maxima.sourceforge.net/lyx+maxima.lyx.

→ http://www.lyx.org/
Symaxx2

Developer: Markus Nentwig.

“Symaxx is a graphical front end for the Maxima computer algebra system (GPL).”

→ http://symaxx.sourceforge.net/
TeXmacs

Developer: Joris van der Hoeven.

“GNU TeXmacs is a free wysiwyw (what you see is what you want) editing platform with special features for scientists. The software aims to provide a unified and user friendly framework for editing structured documents with different types of content (text, graphics, mathematics, interactive content, etc.).”

→ http://www.texmacs.org/
wxMaxima

Developers: Andrej Vodopivec et al

“wxMaxima is a cross platform GUI for the computer algebra system maxima based on wxWidgets. It provides menu and dialog based interface for maxima and a nice display of math output.”

→ http://wxmaxima.sourceforge.net/

Web interfaces running Maxima

Calc.Matthen.com

Online integrator, differentiator, graph plotter, etc.

→ http://calc.matthen.com/
Interactive Demos of Mathematical Computations

(Institute for Computational Mathematics at Kent State U)

→ http://icm.mcs.kent.edu/research/demo.html
Mathematical Assistant

Developers: Robert Marik, Miroslava Tihlarikova.

“This site contains interface to access computer algebra system Maxima and automatically solve selected typical problems from mathematical courses, including intermediate steps in the solution.”

Mathassistant project page at Sourceforge.

→ http://user.mendelu.cz/marik/maw/index.php?lang=en
Maxima-Online

Developer: Piotr Lewalski

“Maxima-Online is a web based front end to the oryginal Maxima command line program. It's task is to deliver an interface which is simple and easy to use.”

→ http://maxima-online.lewalski.pl/
MaximaPHP

Developer: Bowo Prasetyo

“A PHP program to access Maxima on the server interactively from a website.”

See also: Maxima show-case.

See also: MaximaPHP project page at SourceForge.

→ http://www.my-tool.com/mathematics/maximaphp/
WebMathematics Interactive

Developer: Zoltan Kovacs, U Szeged, Hungary.

WMI On-line demo
Documentation (including 3 short movies in English and 3 in Hungarian)
Old version
Details of development (obsolete)

→ http://wmi.math.u-szeged.hu/wmi/math.php

Systems using Maxima as a component in a larger scheme

Euler

Developer: Rene Grothmann.

“Euler is a MatLab like numerical system with a GUI frontend in notebook style ala Maple, plot features, and a numerical programming language. Euler can be used as a GUI frontend to Maxima. It can also exchange data and expressions with Maxima, helping Maxima with numerical calculations, and Euler with symbolic evaluation.”

→ http://mathsrv.ku-eichstaett.de/MGF/homes/grothmann/euler/
GeoGebraCAS

Developer: Markus Hohenwarter et al.

“GeoGebra is free and multi-platform dynamic mathematics software for all levels of education that joins geometry, algebra, tables, graphing, statistics and calculus in one easy-to-use package. GeoGebraCAS extends the Computer Algebra System (CAS) features of GeoGebra to allow students to work with fractions, equations, and formulas that include variables.”

→ http://www.geogebra.org/trac/wiki/GeoGebraCAS/Documentation
The LearningOnline Network with CAPA

Developer: Gerd Kortemeyer.

“Sharing and using online learning and assessment materials across institutions and disciplines.”

Computer Algebra System (notes about integration of Maxima with LON-CAPA).

→ http://www.lon-capa.org/
MathDrag'n

Developer: James Hart.

MathDrag'n project page at SourceForge.

“MathDrag'n is an interface designed to help you, the user, maintain almost complete control over the algebra while stopping you from making mistakes. In contrast to most computer algebra systems, MathDrag'n's philosophy is that the user interface is first, and that ease of use is what you want.”

→ http://mathdragn.squarespace.com/
Mediawiki Algebra extension

Developer: Markus Arndt.

“ defines a maxima session. Any line terminating with a semicolon is passed to maxima for evaluation. For all other lines the wiki syntax applies.”

→ http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Mafs/Computer_algebra
SAGE

“Sage is a comprehensive open-source mathematics software suite that has the mission statement ‘Creating a viable free open source alternative to Magma, Maple, Mathematica, and Matlab.’”

SAGE web interface.

→ http://sagemath.org/
STACK

Developer: Chris Sangwin, U Birmingham, UK.

STACK SourceForge project page.

→ http://www.stack.bham.ac.uk/
WIMS

→ http://wims.unice.fr/wims/en_home.html

Third Party Code

There are some packages we cannot include in the official Maxima distribution due to legal restrictions or because they are not in a stable state yet.

If you know any old Macsyma code still available on the Internet or new Maxima packages that should be included in this list, please tell us about it so we can add a link or even add it to the official distribution, if its license is compatible with Maxima's.

A collection of user-contributed code
Misc code by Willy Hereman et. al.
A series of interesting Macsyma packages. Commercial use is not permitted without consent of the authors.
Pw.mac
The package pw.mac extends Maxima by enabling it to work with piecewise continuous functions.
Qinf (quantum information and entanglement package)
A quantum information package that allows the manipulation of instances of objects — operators, vectors, tensors, etc. — that appear in the theory of quantum information and quantum entanglement.
SymSAP
Symbolic matrix analysis of structures. SymSAP aims to become a powerful didactic tool to help students learn structural analysis.
rfMaxima
rfMaxima allows for symbolic derivation, as well as numerical evaluation (incl. Bode and Smith chart plotting), of 2-port network (ABCD, G, InverseABCD, H, S, Y, and Z), noise and stability parameters. Derivations are based on the solution of the set of Kirchoff current and voltage law equations representing the 2-port. Expressions can be exported to HTML or TeX. Figures can be exported to EPS or PNG.

Other Open Source Computer Algebra Systems

Axiom

“Axiom is a general purpose Computer Algebra system. It is useful for doing mathematics by computer and for research and development of mathematical algorithms. It defines a strongly typed, mathematically correct type hierarchy. It has a programming language and a built-in compiler.”

There is also an interesting Rosetta Stone which offers translations of many basic operations for several computer algebra systems, including Maxima.

→ http://axiom-developer.org/
GAP

“GAP is a system for computational discrete algebra, with particular emphasis on Computational Group Theory.”

→ http://turnbull.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~gap/
Jasymca

“Jasymca is a symbolic calculator written for mobile phones and PDAs. It solves and manipulates equations, handles basic calculus problems, and provides a few more typical functions of computer algebra systems. The syntax is loosely related to GNU-Maxima.”

→ http://webuser.hs-furtwangen.de/~dersch
REDUCE

“REDUCE is an interactive system for general algebraic computations of interest to mathematicians, scientists and engineers.”

→ http://reduce-algebra.com
SINGULAR

“SINGULAR is a Computer Algebra System for polynomial computations with special emphasis on the needs of commutative algebra, algebraic geometry, and singularity theory.”

→ http://www.singular.uni-kl.de/
Yacas

“YACAS is an easy to use, general purpose Computer Algebra System, a program for symbolic manipulation of mathematical expressions. It uses its own programming language designed for symbolic as well as arbitrary-precision numerical computations.”

→ http://yacas.sourceforge.net/

Other Open Source Mathematical Software

Oberwolfach References on Mathematical Software: http://orms.mfo.de/
Free mathematical and computational software directory: http://cadadr.org/fm/

ARIBAS

“ARIBAS is an interactive interpreter for big integer arithmetic and multi-precision floating point arithmetic with a Pascal/Modula like syntax. It has several builtin functions for algorithmic number theory like gcd, Jacobi symbol, Rabin probabilistic prime test, factorization algorithms (Pollard rho, elliptic curve, continued fraction, quadratic sieve), etc.”

→ http://www.mathematik.uni-muenchen.de/~forster/sw/aribas.html
NumPy

“The fundamental package needed for scientific computing with Python is called NumPy. This package contains a powerful N-dimensional array object, sophisticated (broadcasting) functions, tools for integrating C/C++ and Fortran code, and useful linear algebra, Fourier transform, and random number capabilities.”

→ http://numpy.scipy.org/
Octave

“GNU Octave is a high-level language, primarily intended for numerical computations. It provides a convenient command line interface for solving linear and nonlinear problems numerically, and for performing other numerical experiments using a language that is mostly compatible with Matlab.”

→ http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/
PARI/GP

“PARI/GP is a widely used computer algebra system designed for fast computations in number theory (factorizations, algebraic number theory, elliptic curves...), but also contains a large number of other useful functions to compute with mathematical entities such as matrices, polynomials, power series, algebraic numbers etc., and a lot of transcendental functions.”

→ http://pari.math.u-bordeaux.fr/
R

“R is a free software environment for statistical computing and graphics. It compiles and runs on a wide variety of UNIX platforms, Windows and MacOS.”

→ http://www.r-project.org/

Information about Computer Algebra Systems

List of computer algebra systems (Wikipedia)

Lots of links there.

→ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_computer_algebra_systems
SymbolicNet

A very good starting point to learn about symbolic computation and computer algebra systems.

→ http://www.symbolicnet.org/

MintMenu PPA Updated For Ubuntu 11.04 (Classic Ubuntu Session) ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog

MintMenu is away to get Linux Mint DE on Ubuntu without dual booting or running in a VM. Here is some info.

MintMenu PPA Updated For Ubuntu 11.04 (Classic Ubuntu Session) ~ Web Upd8: Ubuntu / Linux blog - 03 May 2011 - http://www.webupd8.org/2011/05/mintmenu-ppa-updated-for-ubuntu-1104.html

Install Linux Mint Main Menu (MintMenu) In Ubuntu From A PPA - 23 May 2010 - http://www.webupd8.org/2010/05/install-linux-mint-main-menu-mintmenu.html

Install Linux Mint (USP) Main Menu in Ubuntu - 14 Mar 2010 - http://www.webupd8.org/2010/03/install-linux-mint-slab-main-menu-in.html

Dual boot- Ubuntu and Mint - February 2nd, 2008 - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=685230

[SOLVED] UBUBNTU - How many different flavours do exist? (& is Kubuntu easy to use?) - November 26th, 2007 - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=624064

Linux Mint 11 installation tips: - Friday, October 28, 2011 (not sure what calendar this guy is on?!) - http://ubuntu-install.blogspot.com/

Complete LinuxMint theme for ubuntu - Jul 23, 2011 - http://askubuntu.com/questions/54208/complete-linuxmint-theme-for-ubuntu

Linux Mint 11 vs. Ubuntu 11.04

Some info on Linux Mint 11 vs. Ubuntu 11.04.

Sibling Rivalry: Linux Mint 11 vs. Ubuntu 11.04 | TechSource - 6/13/2011

http://www.linuxmint.com/

Dual-boot Fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04 with either side on an LVM partitioning scheme

A good article/tutorial on dual booting Fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04.

Dual-boot Fedora 15 and Ubuntu 11.04 with either side on an LVM partitioning scheme - June 20, 2011

Fedora 15 vs Ubuntu Natty Narwhal

Some info on Fedora vs. Ubuntu

http://fedoraproject.org/

Fedora 15 vs Ubuntu Natty Narwhal – The Battle for Your Next Desktop - March 17, 2011 - http://maketecheasier.com/fedora-15-vs-ubuntu-natty-narwhal-the-battle-for-your-next-desktop/2011/03/17

Fedora 15 with GNOME 3: better than Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity, but... - Wednesday, 25 May 2011 - http://linuxblog.darkduck.com/2011/05/fedora-15-with-gnome-3-better-than.html

Fedora vs. Ubuntu: Is Either Better? - February 2, 2010 - http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3862556/Fedora-vs-Ubuntu-Is-Either-Better.htm

Fedora Core vs Ubuntu for desktop use - 12-05-2009 - 02-13-2010 - http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2030064

Fedora 15 vs. Ubuntu 11.04: The Battle for Linux Desktop Supremacy - 3/30/2011 - http://www.junauza.com/2011/03/fedora-15-vs-ubuntu-1104-battle-for.html

Ubuntu 11.04 vs Fedora 15 - June 16th, 2011 - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1784055

What is the difference between GNOME, KDE, Xfce, and LXDE? - Renewable PCs

A good article on Linux DEs.

What is the difference between GNOME, KDE, Xfce, and LXDE? - Renewable PCs

How to Install/Unistall GNOME 3 on Ubuntu 11.04

Edit:9-24-11 Apparently GNOME 3 runs pretty well in the latest beta versions of 11.10 which GNOME 3 comes with by default, I believe. Not sure how this is playing out as I thought Unity was the go to for Ubuntu. The next release is pretty close Oct. 13th for 11.10 if I am correct.

Ah, I found

Unity is based atop of the latest unstable release of GNOME 3.

Ubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 Released, Reviewed - September 22, 2011 - http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/?p=20709

Ubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) Released - September 23, 2011 - http://www.ubuntugeek.com/ubuntu-11-10-beta-2-oneiric-ocelot-released.html

I'll make a new post about this as well.

Edit: 8-23-11

Ok, I really jacked my installation up. I tried to uninstall GNOME 3 and reinstall Ubunt/GNOME 2 with no luck. When I unistalled GNOME and couldn't reinstall it following this:

Follow the below steps to remove gnome 3 and revert to Gnome 2.x.

sudo apt-get remove libgtk-3-common
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo apt-get install gnome-panel

Reboot and you should be back to good old classic gnome. In case you don’t find gnome back again. try this.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

from here -> Ubuntu 11.04 : Uninstall Gnome3 and revert to Gnome 2.x - April 26, 2011 - http://www.ajopaul.com/2011/04/26/ubuntu-11-04-uninstall-gnome3-and-revert-to-gnome-2-x/

Didn't work. Of course not anyone's fault but mine. I was receiving some dependency errors or something like that. My linux knowledge is VERY shallow so this didn't help.

Anyways I found a blog note (which I can't find now!) that had an alternate idea.

Ah here it is: Tutorial: How to remove/uninstall Gnome 3 in Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) - 31 May, 2011 - http://supportlife.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/tutorial-how-to-removeuninstall-gnome-3-in-ubuntu-11-04-natty-narwhal/

Have you installed Gnome 3 from ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3 because you were tired of Unity or just because you wanted to test the new shell and this has broken your login? Are you now on the login screen but no graphic environment will ever work?

Then you have to remove gnome 3 following the steps below:

- Press CTRL+ALT+F1 to access the terminal window and log in. At the prompt type following commands:

- sudo apt-get remove libgtk-3-common

- sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

- sudo ppa-purge ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3

- sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

- sudo apt-get install gnome-panel

- sudo shutdown –r now

The pc will reboot and you should be able to use Unity/Classic login again.

Good luck!

It uninstalled Ubuntu/Unity/Gnome classic and then (tried to) reinstalled it. I got to the last step before restarting "sudo apt-get install gnome-panel" and had some dependency issues again.

Unfortunately, I only had Kubuntu and Xubuntu installed now so when I restarted it asked for a DM login which was either KDM or LXDM. I chose KDM thinking nothing of it. I restarted and the KDM came up fine. I noticed I had to enter my username. No biggie, I thought. I also couldn't select GNOME or Ubuntu since it has been uninstalled at this point. I entered what I thought was my username, but it didn't work. Ok, I tried some other variations of what it could be. Didn't work. Great. So I got my laptop out, as this was all occurring on my desktop, and searched for login problems with forget as a keyword too.

I found where this happened to someone before but in another situation (dammit I forgot this too, I'll try to find these missing pieces).

Ah, I found it too!

Can't Log In to Kubuntu? - 3 weeks ago - http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110805135811AAJ0sTO

I am having problems logging in to Kubuntu. I just switched to Kubuntu from within Ubuntu by typcing into the terminal . Then I selected "kdm" then I ran the line . Then . And this is on a machine that dual boots with windows on the other partition. What I want to know is why Kubuntu forgot my log in information, because I thought it was supposed to transfer all my data over (I backed up my files though). Also, how can I log in, or fix this issue. I was using Ubuntu 11.04. Thanks for the help.

The answer was no help to me either:

re-install ubuntu-desktop, do you know how many libs are shared? half were probably meta packages that pulled out way to much. Whenever you do major stuff like that use aptitude, it won't trash your system like apt-get will.

Ok so I had one last card up my sleeve. I saw here -> [SOLVED] How to remove Gnome 3 from Ubuntu 11.04 - April 11th, 2011 - April 17th, 2011 - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=172675

that someone entered a Live CD or USB and reinstalled Ubuntu over there existing one. They claimed everything was fine and were able to keep files/software/etc. still loaded so they advoid a complete, fresh reinstall or install.

I had the exact same problem, and i managed to fix it pretty easily. I loaded up an Ubuntu 11.04 live cd, and chose the upgrade option. (Even though i was already using 11.04) I let it go through the upgrade process, and when it was done, my computer booted up, i chose Ubuntu classic as my desktop environment (because i am not a fan of unity) and it started it normally with all of my programs and files still there with no sign of gnome 3 in sight. I hope this helps.

So I began to reinstall with a USB stick. I then noticed that the user name Ubuntu gave me then was a version I did not think of at the time. I then tried to go back so I could get out of the upgrade reinstall so I could try the new username idea, but the farthest back I could get was the date setup. I couldn't log out either. So I just restart my computer and pulled the stick. Bad idea!! When I did this I got an error that said

Unable to find a medium containing a live file system

and something about

BusyBox - initramfs

So I looked this up where people had problems with this too, but this error was encounted in some similar and some different situations. I found one solution was to type exit a bunch of times, but this did not work for me past the second when I could type. I couldn't reboot at all without this error or even get an install with the USB LiveCD stick.

The final solution was to get my laptop with the burner out and burn a LiveCD. This worked, but I had to install from start :(.

So moral of the story is...DO NOT INSTALL GNOME 3 unless you know what you are doing and/or you are sure you are going to use it. I would wait anyways until the official release before using GNOME 3 with Ubuntu 11.04 and wait even more for someone to tweak a solution for installing GNOME 3 without harming Unity and/or GNOME classic.

One solution would be to try GNOME 3 on another distro such as Fedora or Open Suse. This is what kind of got me into this mess as I wanted to try to load as many options as I could since I have been jumping back and forth between GNOME classic, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu for quad support.

By the way Xubuntu with XFCE seems to be the best stable-wise so far to use quads (haven't used GNOME classic too much. I like Kubuntu, but it runs slow at times). An alternate might be Lubuntu which runs LXDE and is similar to XFCE but "lighter"

My second mistake came from trying to install too many large package changers at once with the MintMenu install AND GNOME 3. From now on I am going to install large ones like these such as Kubuntu and Xubuntu on at a time between restarts.

Thirdly, I got too greedy with options. I wanted as many distros/options/DEs as possible since I am now forced to look around until Unity supports quads. I wanted to do this like the simple Xubuntu/Kubuntu/Lubuntu options without multi-booting or using a VM. Thus, the MintMenu to get a Mint like DE/distro on Ubuntu and the GNOME 3 fiasco. I looked into multi-booting a bunch of distros, but it looks way too complicated. I think I will stick to running them in VMs.

Finally, my last mistake was not ever backing up my system so that I could recover my setup easily. You'll see this all the time, people warning you to backup your setup and this looks/sounds especially easy in Linux/Ubuntu. So from now on, I am going to do that. That way I couldn't have easily recovered my settings without having to do a fresh install :(, :(, :(!!!!

Edit 8-22-11

Well, apparently GNOME 3 is not officially out yet...so this may be why is still seems unstable/buggy.

GNOME be trollin’ – 3.0 delayed (again) to September 2011 - April 1, 2011 - http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/gnome-3-0-delayed-again-to-september-2011/

The new GNOME 3 website goes live - January 19, 2011 - http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/01/gnome-3-website-goes-live/

GNOME 3 delayed until March 2011 - July 28, 2010 - http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/07/gnome-3-delayed-until-march-2011/

Also one of the things when installing GNOME 3 is that the font changes in all DEs (I think not 100% sure). Also, my login screen changed a bit, but I am not sure if that is from the GNOME 3 install, the MintMenu install, or just a regular update? For example the session login bar has been moved to the area where you login instead of on a bar at the bottom of the screen. Going to check to see if Unity is ok after GNOME 3 install and unistall. Cross fingers! Oh and my Ubuntu Classic choice is missing from the session drop down menu, but I am sure that can easily be fixed. I hope I didn't mess things up too badly!!

Ok, so it seems Unity works ok. I couldn't test fully cause I had the Quads going. It may look like that I need to reinstall some icons or the such, but like I said I couldn't test it fully since Unity does not work properly with four monitors.

Also if read this:

Reboot and you should be back to good old classic gnome. In case you don’t find gnome back again. try this.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

This is from Ubuntu 11.04 : Uninstall Gnome3 and revert to Gnome 2.x - April 26, 2011 - http://www.ajopaul.com/2011/04/26/ubuntu-11-04-uninstall-gnome3-and-revert-to-gnome-2-x/

I thought I saw an alternate command other than

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
with gnome instead of ubuntu in the command. I'll try to refind it.

Some GNOME 3 uninstall sites/articles:

[SOLVED] How to remove Gnome 3 from Ubuntu 11.04 - April 11th, 2011 - April 17th, 2011 - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1726755

Intersting comment:

I had the exact same problem, and i managed to fix it pretty easily. I loaded up an Ubuntu 11.04 live cd, and chose the upgrade option. (Even though i was already using 11.04) I let it go through the upgrade process, and when it was done, my computer booted up, i chose Ubuntu classic as my desktop environment (because i am not a fan of unity) and it started it normally with all of my programs and files still there with no sign of gnome 3 in sight. I hope this helps.

Another GNOME 3 install site:

How do I install the latest version of GNOME 3? - Jan 23 at 21:16 - May 19 at 21:56 - http://askubuntu.com/questions/22946/how-do-i-install-the-latest-version-of-gnome-3

Interesting quote explaining some more about the install and other things such as warnings:

Note: GNOME3 is provided as a tech preview for 11.04, it is not officially supported by the Ubuntu team. Here's another warning before you try this.

Using GNOME3 on 11.04 will upgrade major parts of the desktop infrastructure, if you are not familiar with how to do package management then we recommend you try this on a virtualized installation or a non-production system, reverting back to vanilla 11.04 is not trivial.

Specifically GNOME3 will migrate your application settings to gsettings, so if you want to try to rollback you'll get your old settings from before you upgraded.

As with all major desktop upgrades we recommend backing up your important data before getting started.

Some articles on installing GNOME 3 on Ubuntu 11.04. The past few days I have been experimenting with other DEs such as Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Lubuntu based on KDE, XFCE, and LXDE respectfully. So far I like Kubuntu the best since it is BLUE (I know), I run a lot of KDE apps already (Kopete, Kile, etc.), and the interface is pretty snazzy. However, it may just be me, but Kubuntu runs rather slowly at times. I am running these other DEs since Quad monitors are not "officially" supported in Unity (at least I haven't found a way to run 4 in Unity). I could also throw the Ubuntu Classic or GNOME 2 in there, but I haven't used it much.

Anyways, some info on installing and un-installing GNOME 3. Caveat: apparently GNOME 3 might break Unity so be careful and do your research. For example here is a warning from a commenter on Ubuntu Geek:

Ed says:
July 29, 2011 at 8:12 am

WARNING: gnome3 breaks unity. Even when doing the “ppa-purge” thing … unity might be unable to save any settings afterwards.

Only install gnome3 when you are absolutely sure that you dont need unity any more. Or when you are willing to do a fresh install afterwards.

People have installed it with no problems. GNOME 3 is already the DE for Open Suse and Fedora 15.

Edit: 8-22-11

For me GNOME 3 did not work. The desktop started to show (purplish background and the activity bar), but I couldn't do anything. Luckily I could CTL + ATL + DEL to log out. I think I am going to uninstall it. Plus you can't use GNOME 2/Ubuntu Classic anymore. I think I'll wait until GNOME 3 is more developed to work with other DE installations and when someone has found a way to keep GNOME 2. There may already be a way, I just haven't found it yet.

How to Install Gnome 3 In Ubuntu - August 1, 2011 - http://maketecheasier.com/install-gnome-3-in-ubuntu/2011/08/01

How To Install Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 11.04 -May 4, 2011 - http://techhamlet.com/2011/05/how-to-install-gnome-3-on-ubuntu-11-04/

How to install Gnome3 on ubuntu 11.04 (Natty)/Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick - April 11, 2011 - http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-install-gnome3-on-ubuntu-11-04-nattyubuntu-10-10-maverick.html

How to Install GNOME 3 on Ubuntu 11.04 - April 9th, 2011 - Softpedia - http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-to-Install-GNOME-3-on-Ubuntu-11-04-194085.shtml

GNOME 3 released; to be available for Ubuntu 11.04 via PPA - April 6, 2011 - http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/gnome-3-released-to-be-available-for-ubuntu-11-04-via-ppa/

GNOME sites and some more articles on GNOME 3:

http://www.gnome.org/

http://www.gnome.org/gnome-3/

Ubuntu Unity vs. GNOME 3: Which is Better? - April 12, 2011 - http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3930571/Ubuntu-Unity-vs-GNOME-3-Which-is-Better.htm

GNOME 3: Seven Pros and Cons -April 26, 2011 - http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3931801/GNOME-3-Seven-Pros-and-Cons.htm

Screenshots: Unity and Gnome 3 in Oneiric - http://www.ubuntuvibes.com/2011/05/screenshots-unity-and-gnome-3-in.html

Thursday, August 18, 2011

LaTeX Beamer Table of Contents - YouTube

Same guy on TOC. I didn't know about the Subsection TOC outline frame ability.

LaTeX Beamer Table of Contents - YouTube

Beamer: Frame Title and Subtitle « chooru::code

Beamer: Frame Title and Subtitle « chooru::code

\begin{frame}
\frametitle{What is hypersonics?}
\framesubtitle{Additional Complexities: Hypersonic Physical Phenomena}
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}What is hypersonics?}{Additional Complexities: Hypersonic Physical Phenomena}
\end{frame}

LaTeX Beamer Overlays - YouTube

Pretty good video demonstrating some slide overlays in Beamer. The guy is kind of sloooooooow in his speech though, :P!

LaTeX Beamer Overlays - YouTube

Creating a Presentation with LaTeX Beamer - some articles from R-Bloggers

Creating a Presentation with LaTeX Beamer – Getting Started - http://www.r-bloggers.com/creating-a-presentation-with-latex-beamer-%E2%80%93-getting-started/

Creating a Presentation with LaTeX Beamer – Using Overlays | (R news & tutorials)

Creating a Presentation with LaTeX Beamer – Frame Transitions - http://www.r-bloggers.com/creating-a-presentation-with-latex-beamer-%E2%80%93-frame-transitions/

Creating a Presentation with LaTeX Beamer – Tables - http://www.r-bloggers.com/creating-a-presentation-with-latex-beamer-%E2%80%93-tables/

Creating a Presentation with LaTeX Beamer – Bullet Lists - http://www.r-bloggers.com/creating-a-presentation-with-latex-beamer-%E2%80%93-bullet-lists/

Creating a Presentation with LaTeX Beamer – Basic Slides - http://www.r-bloggers.com/creating-a-presentation-with-latex-beamer-%E2%80%93-basic-slides/

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

software recommendation - Create pdf from HTML book - Ask Ubuntu - Stack Exchange

Some insight on converting HTML to PDF and more.

software recommendation - Create pdf from HTML book - Ask Ubuntu - Stack Exchange

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

ThinkPad Middle Mouse Button Scroll – Ubuntu Linux | Eastwood Zhao

ThinkPad Middle Mouse Button Scroll – Ubuntu Linux | Eastwood Zhao

Here is a link for those running Ubuntu on a ThinkPad. I recently bought a Lenovo X60 Tablet PC and to my surprise. Many of the buttons already work well with Ubuntu 11.04. Here is the link to get the middle button to work on the pointer/touchpad device.

Ubuntu 11.04 + Gnome Classic + 4 LCD Monitors - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1743715&page=2

July 7th, 2011:
Ugh, can't get 4 to work at all. I have NO problems with a dual setup. I want 1x4.

Running 8800GTS for ASUS 22" both DVI, Twinview works fine.

Other card is an 8400 GS, two Acer 19", one DVI, one VGA. I see everything fine in in nvidia x server settings, but the two Acer screens have a red tint to them when I enable them.

I've also had both Acer's working with the 8800. I wanted to add two more displays for multi-tasking so I got the ASUS screens and the 8400 (no particular reason except the ASUS's were cheap open box on newegg and the card was just something that seemed like it would work fine for what i wanted).

Running Ubuntu 11.04 Unity, I have also had the same issue in both KDE and XFCE desktops. Not sure if I've had dumb luck with duals and Ubuntu because I haven't had any issues, knock on wood.

Sorry, nothing to really add. Just wanted to log my setup and issue. Still a noob to Linux/Ubuntu (been using about a year), but I'm not looking back, I love it so far!!

Oh, and I am pretty sure I am not running any of the fancy Compiz stuff (3D, etc.). I don't want/need it.

Today/Yesterday: Sunday, August 14, 2011

Update: Still no working solution.

So I did get quad monitors to "work" but ran into the issues others have posted about (not sure if it was here or not). It was weird. I had live screens on all four monitors, but the far two "duals" on the right had the tool bar one the left of the two screens. So monitor 3 of 4 had the tool bar as if the screens had shifted from what I thought I had setup to be 1-4 starting from the far left. However, I had to click on the left two "duals" in blank space (I had a desktop background just no windows or the tool bar) which showed up on the right duals. So in order to restart or change the configurations back, I had to blindly click in monitor 1 of 4 to execute what I saw in monitor 3 of 4. Or it may have been the other way around. I forget, it has been probably a month since I did it. Sorry, should have posted when it was fresh, but I was so DAMN frustrated!! I want to say I enabled Xinerama to get the four monitors to "work" or at least display something on the screens with two TwinViews(???) since I have two monitors on one card each.

Anyways, still chugging along fine with dual monitors TwinView, except, I get black blocks every now and then on windows where I had to shrink or move the window to get everything to show again. I also noticed that Ubuntu Unity 11.04 allows the window snap feature of the half screen to work in the middle of the TwinView for both screens. I don't think that was working before, but maybe I missed it too. Thought that was pretty sweet. So if they are fixing stuff like that, then I think 11.10 and 12.04 are going to be so much better (well I am not sure if it was an Ubuntu update or nVidia or both since I did update my driver to 280.13, but I still think the next Ubuntu releases will be a big fix). Try to hang in there guys with Unity. I like it. At first I was ehh, but I got used to it. Of course everyone has their personal preferences for their needs, and I am definitely not going to "force" someone to use it or say that it is better than blah, blah, blah.

Anyways, hopefully next post will have a fix!

edit: Now that I think about, I remember I had the left two screens stretched as one screen at one point. Not sure if this was with the other two screens "working" or not. Maybe I'll try GNOME classic or KDE, but I relly like Unity now that I am used to it, .

edit2: ok, so a work around! GNOME classic and KDE allow quad monitors for my setup. However, I have "two" stretch "screens" for the left and right pair of monitors, but I can move windows to all four monitors. You have to have Xinerama enabled. Even if the pairs are treated like separate X screens then the monitors are still stretched. Also in the "separate" mode there is no bar across the right pair of screens nor can I move windows between pairs. This might be the best solution for now. At least I can use the real estate now. I can even use snap windows in KDE so I don't have to manually resize too much which I thought might be a problem with the stretched screens!! I am guessing XFCE might work in this way too. Sticking with KDE for now since a) I love blue, and b) I use Kile and Kopete anyways.

I'm new to KDE so I don't know all of its tricks. I am liking it so far.

Screenshots:

edit3: Ok, so KDE was running slow. Not sure if it had to do with the screens or not. Quads do work in XFCE and Xubuntu. I am going with Xubuntu for now.

Next steps: 1) see if I can get separate screen for each monitor and be able to move windows amongst them all and 2) get this to work in Unity!!