mailing-list for TeXmacs Users

[Robert Jerrard <address@hidden>]

On Wed, 2008-09-03 at 18:38 +0000, Giorgio Tombola wrote:
> Searching for a valid alternative to Mathcad I found Maxima that seems
> powerful and complete. But one of the first problem is writing and
> checking formulas. The way Maxima use is very different from "hand
> writing" and the learning become more difficult, mainly for the
> beginner like me.  When I found TeXmacs could works as interface I was
> very happy and I tried immediately but unfortunately it don't works. 
> 
> To use TeXmacs as interface for Maxima I follow Hoven's guide chapter
> 6 
> 1) in TeXmacs menu I choose Insert -> Session -> Maxima -> 5.14.0 gcl
> 2) in few second the prompt Maxima appears
> but if I wrote a simple formula (see image attached) and press Enter
> then TeXmacs locks. The only thing I can do is kill the process.
> Note that if run Maxima before opening TeXmacs nothing change.
> 
> I'm using Mandriva Linux 2008.1, Maxima 5.14.0, TeXmacs 1.0.6.12. If
> you could give any hint it would be very appreciated.
> Sincerely

Hi Giorgio, typically you need to change two files:

maxima_detect and tm_maxima

In a debian system they are in 
/usr/lib/texmacs/TeXmacs/bin

In the maxima_detect file you need to change the line like

if $MAXIMA --list-avail | grep -F "version 5.9.1
  version 5.9.2
  version 5.9.3
  version 5.10
  version 5.11
  version 5.12" >/dev/null

to something like

if $MAXIMA --list-avail | grep -F "version 5.9.1
  version 5.9.2
  version 5.9.3
  version 5.10
  version 5.11
  version 5.12
  version 5.13
  version 5.14" >/dev/null

In the tm_maxima file you need to change the line like 

5.11.* | 5.12.*) exec maxima -u $1 -l $2 -p 
"$TEXMACS_MAXIMA_PATH/texmacs-maxima-5.11.0.lisp";;

to something like 

5.11.* | 5.12.* | 5.13.* | 5.14.*) exec maxima -u $1 -l $2 -p 
"$TEXMACS_MAXIMA_PATH/texmacs-maxima-5.11.0.lisp";;

Good luck,  Bob


-- 
Dr. Robert J. Jerrard, Professor of Mathematics,
Concordia University College of Alberta,
7128 Ada Blvd., Edmonton, Alberta, T5B 4E4, Canada.
Phone: (780) 479-9291, Fax: (780) 474-1933.