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Re: [TeXmacs] virtualbox


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  • From: "el.douwen" <address@hidden>
  • To: address@hidden
  • Subject: Re: [TeXmacs] virtualbox
  • Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 12:04:40 +0100
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Hi Paul & Mark 
thank you for you ranswers
Thankyou Paul for your long development

--------------------------------
i make a point on my aims:
- using teXmacs for myself, reinstalling teXmacs if i change one day my computer: that is ok, on mac os X leopard it was not too complicated to install. and teXmacs under mac os X seems working not too bad, except DS3 and except the shortcuts (i have never managed to parameter the apple, crtl, alt, keys, to be the A-, M-... modifiers)
- using texmacs on other computers when i am not by home. The idea of liveware, for this point, interests me a lot. Is it possible to have a "portable" teXmacs on a usbkey instead of a CD ?
- showing teXmacs to colleagues, and, if they are interested, convincing them that it is possible and easy to install it. Even if "installing" is not the right word (eg: usbkey, or virtualbox). There must be "not too many complicatee operations" to do before being able to use the software.
- export pdf with pdf images in the document - that is not a priority for me, i guess that if there are bugs on this point, there will be one day corrected. But of course, if it works well with Debian 4.0, that can only be better
- being able to follow the evolution of TeXmacs, when future versions will come.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i make a point of questions that seem difficult to solve for the moment
(- easy install, that is the subject of these emails)
- compatibility with a geometryware, in my case Geogebra (it is a free software, and very efficient). I mean the possibility of inserting geogebra sessions in the texmacs document, i mean inserting geometric dynamic figures in the Texmacs document. I know that geogebra is written in java, while texmacs.. is not. But this option would ideally be very very interesting
- insertion of spreadsheet blocs in texmacs document. I often use this with appleworks for example, it is very convenient to insert a bloc with numbers, that you can modify, in the document.
- apart this points i am very satisfied for the moment, of texmacs, during years i have expected such a software, it is very fantastic.

-----
now:
-----

- i have just asked the "personne ressource" of my lycee, if he has a (.iso) of Ubuntu and Debian. Paul you have convinced me to use Debian 4.0

- i would be very interested in something "ready-to-use". That means: a liveware. And if it is not necessary to restart the computer, that is very very good.
My limited understanding of Texmacs is that Ghostscript is used to render PS/PDF objects and to create PS/PDF exports. It appears that success depends on the version of Ghostscript that is installed. It might also depend on the method used by Geobra to create the original PDF. I seem to recall that when I tried importing a PDF document that I had created, it rendered correctly in Ubuntu even though DS3.tm did not.

- on this liveware, ideally, the good version of ghostscript would be installed.

- i must study a bit "methods to create pdf". If some pdf can be used bay teXmacs and other not, i must understand why. It can be also discussed with the creator of Geogebra; but at the moment i am writing i have no idea of "how a pdf is created". As Marc says, ...google is my friend"...

- i have still installed virtual box on my mac os X: very easy. but i have not yet installed anything virtual with it.

You could start with a live CD that already has the necessary software installed, e.g. Quantian 0.7.9.2 or liveTeXmacs 1.0.6, then you won't need to install anything! My impression is that Debian or Ubuntu installed to the (virtual) hard disc runs more quickly than a live CD on the same virtual machine. However, the live CD method lets you try the idea of a virtual computer more quickly and easily. See my previous e-mail for related comments on this.

- i woud say that: a livecd (better: liveusb) permitting to boot Debian 4.0, if TeXmacs is properly installed on the Debian, that would be a good first step. Of course being obliged to restart the computer is not very practisch but for a demo.. But maybe Debian does not exist as liveCD ? I did not see it here (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_des_LiveCD)

[former mail:] The second step is to create a virtual machine. VirtualBox has a wizard which makes this easy. If you want to run Linux from a live CD, such as liveTexmacs or Quantian, then the virtual computer doesn't need a hard disc and can run entirely from the live CD (or an ISO image file attached to the virtual computer's CD-ROM drive). It won't use any space on your hard disc.

- so: virtualbox offers 2 possibilitys: 1), using a installation CD, doing as if you were installing Debian or Ubuntu, except that you are not installing it direct on the real machine, but on the virtualmachine. I guess that you just have to start virtualbox, and then insert the installation CD, and virtualbox is autonom and do its job. Then when you want to use the virtual system, you run virtualbox, you select the system you want among the ones you have installed in virtualbox, and then it works ? and 2), if a linux system is ready-to-boot on a CD, instead of restarting the computer and telling it to restart from the CD, you do the same virtually with virtualbox, so instead of restarting the real machine, you start virtualbox. Is it that ?


Instead of using a live CD, you can add a virtual hard disc to the virtual computer and install the Linux system of your choice. A 4GB virtual hard disc may be sufficient for most purposes. This arrangement has the advantage that you are not restricted by the selection of software on a live CD and can install whatever software you like.
The virtual hard disc is simply a file on your real hard disc. The virtual machine can easily be moved to another host computer by copying this file plus one very small file holding configuration data. This will, of course, include any files that you saved to the virtual hard disc. You could even keep the virtual hard disc's file on a USB drive and carry it with you. If the drive is large enough, it could also hold a copy of VirtualBox, so that you have everything you need to install both VirtualBox and the virtual machine onto any computer.

YES !!!!!


I am also still experimenting with installing Debian Linux onto a bootable USB drive. I had a few problems but am making progress. Personally, though, I think I prefer the virtual machine approach.
I'd be happy to write a recipe showing how to install and set it up (it isn't difficult actually).
YES !!

Note that Quantian is a very big download at 2.7GB but has lots of software already installed! Live Texmacs is smaller (700MB approx) but the server is slow and I found it quicker to download Quantian.

I think i prefer Debian 4.0 than livetexmacs, lookinf at your results on this page.

Hope this helps.

of course

Paul.

Vincent

Package versions

This table shows the version numbers of the relevant packages available on each platform, either pre-installed or available from the official repository (of course, you could always compile a different version from source code). Where more than one version is available, the version shown here is the one I used.

Platform
 Texmacs
 Ghostscript
 GNUplot
 Maxima
 Octave
 R
Debian 4.0
 1.0.6-10
 ESP 8.15.3
 4.0.0-5
 5.10.0-6
 2.1.73-13
 2.4.0.20061125
LiveTexmacs 1.0.6
 1.0.6.2
 ESP 7.0.7 4.0
 5.9.3
 2.9.3
 2.2.0
LiveTexmacs 1.0.7
 1.0.7 GPL 8.61
 ?
 5.16.3 2.1.73 -
Quantian 0.7.9.2
 1.0.5-3.1
 ESP 7.07.1-9
 4.0 5.9.2-2
 2.1.72-10
 2.2.1-6
Ubuntu 8.04
 1.0.6.11-2
 GPL 8.61
 4.2.2-1
 5.13.0-3
 3.0
 2.6.2-2

Working features and plug-ins

Platform
 PDF export
format
 PDF import1
 GNUplot
 Maxima
 Octave
 R
Debian 4.0
 1.4 Yes
 Yes Yes Yes Yes
Debian 4.0 with Texmacs 1.0.7 from source
 1.4 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
LiveTexmacs 1.0.6
 1.2 Yes2
 Yes Yes
 Yes
 Yes
LiveTexmacs 1.0.7
 1.4
No7

No6
Quantian 0.7.9.2
 1.2 Yes2 Yes
 Yes

Ubuntu 8.04
 1.4 Yes3
Almost5
 No4
 Yes

NOTES
  1. Texmacs can import a page or graphic in PDF format and embed it into the document like any other graphic. This can be useful for importing graphics produced by other software. It doesn't work on all platforms but it works well on Debian 4.0 (I suspect it depends which version of Ghostscript is installed).
  2. Doesn't work with DS3.tm. The document is correct in Texmacs but, when exported to PS/PDF, the graphics appear full-page (or not at all) and overlay one another.
  3. Doesn't work with DS3.tm. When DS3.tm is opened in Texmacs the rendering of the imported PDF is very unreliable. When the document is exported to PS/PDF, the graphics appear full-page (or not at all) and overlay one another.
  4. The version supplied (or available from the official package repository) is not compatible with the supplied version of Texmacs.
  5. Can be made to work with some minor setting up.
  6. Not included (possibly could be added).
  7. GNUplot crashes immediately with error message "error while loading shared libraries: libwx_gtk2ud_richtext-2.8.so.0: cannot open shared object: No such file or directory"


el.douwen wrote:
hi everybody
i have decided to try this solution virtual box
i have just downloaded it for my mac
if it works well i will try on the Pcs in the lycee
for the moment i have a very simple question:
which system should i install on my virtual box ?
linux ? and which version ? ubuntu ? and where to download it ?
Vincent


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