-dpng gives "invalid command"

[John B. Thoo]

On Jul 10, 2009, at 11:55 AM, Thomas Treichl wrote:

> John B. Thoo schrieb:
>> On Jul 10, 2009, at 11:29 AM, Thomas Treichl wrote:
>>> John B. Thoo schrieb:
>>>> Hi, Thomas.
>>>> gnuplot> show version long
>>>>         G N U P L O T
>>>>         Version 4.2 patchlevel 5
>>>>         last modified Mar 2009
>>>>         System: Darwin 8.11.0
>>>>         Copyright (C) 1986 - 1993, 1998, 2004, 2007 - 2009
>>>>         Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley and many others
>>>>         Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual.
>>>>         The gnuplot FAQ is available from http:// 
>>>> www.gnuplot.info/faq/
>>>>         Send bug reports and suggestions to <http:// 
>>>> sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot>
>>>> Compile options:
>>>> +READLINE  -LIBREADLINE  +HISTORY  +BACKWARDS_COMPATIBILITY   
>>>> +BINARY_DATA
>>>> -LIBGD
>>>> -NOCWDRC  +X11  +X11_POLYGON  +MULTIBYTE  +USE_MOUSE   
>>>> +HIDDEN3D_QUADTREE
>>>> +DATASTRINGS  +HISTOGRAMS  +OBJECTS  +STRINGVARS  +MACROS  +IMAGE
>>>> DRIVER_DIR     = "/usr/local/libexec/gnuplot/4.2"
>>>> GNUPLOT_PS_DIR = "/usr/local/share/gnuplot/4.2/PostScript"
>>>> HELPFILE       = "/usr/local/share/gnuplot/4.2/gnuplot.gih"
>>>> gnuplot>
>>>> Thanks.
>>>> ---John.
>>>
>>> Then yes, you're right - you're missing support for *png. Your  
>>> version of Gnuplot has not been compiled against libgd. libgd  
>>> (and libpng and libjpg...) is the library that you need to create  
>>> graphics in *png, *jpg and *gif.
>>>
>>> As your binary is in /usr/local I would expect you either compile  
>>> and install Gnuplot for yourself or you use MacPorts? Either or,  
>>> you need a binary that should give you something like this to  
>>> save in *png on your Mac (compare compile options GD_* from my  
>>> machine with yours):
>>>
>>>   gnuplot> show version long
>>>
>>>         G N U P L O T
>>>         Version 4.2 patchlevel 5
>>>         last modified Mar 2009
>>>         System: Darwin 8.11.1
>>>
>>>         Copyright (C) 1986 - 1993, 1998, 2004, 2007 - 2009
>>>         Thomas Williams, Colin Kelley and many others
>>>
>>>         Type `help` to access the on-line reference manual.
>>>         The gnuplot FAQ is available from http://www.gnuplot.info/ 
>>> faq/
>>>
>>>         Send bug reports and suggestions to
>>>   <http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnuplot>
>>>
>>>   Compile options:
>>>   -READLINE  +LIBREADLINE  +HISTORY  +BACKWARDS_COMPATIBILITY   
>>> +BINARY_DATA
>>>   +GD_PNG  +GD_JPEG  +GD_GIF  +ANIMATION
>>>   -NOCWDRC  +X11  +X11_POLYGON  +MULTIBYTE  +USE_MOUSE   
>>> +HIDDEN3D_QUADTREE
>>>   +DATASTRINGS  +HISTOGRAMS  +OBJECTS  +STRINGVARS  +MACROS  +IMAGE
>>>
>>>   DRIVER_DIR     =
>>> "/Users/Thomas/bin/Octave.app.3.2.0/Gnuplot.app/Contents/ 
>>> Resources/libexec/gnuplot/4.2"
>>>   GNUPLOT_PS_DIR = "/tmp/gnuplot-i386/share/gnuplot/4.2/PostScript"
>>>   HELPFILE       = "/Users/Thomas/bin/Octave.app.3.2.0/ 
>>> Gnuplot.app/Contents/Resources/share/gnuplot/4.2/gnuplot.gih"
>>>
>>> Hope this helps somehow,
>>>
>>>   Thomas
>> Hi, Thomas.
>> Yes, I compiled gnuplot myself.  (I guess that was a mistake.)   
>> Would the easiest thing for me to do now be to install gnuplot  
>> from your octave-3.2.0-ppc.dmg?
>> If I drag-and-drop gnuplot from the .dmg into my Applications  
>> folder, would I then have to do anything in particular to use it  
>> instead of my previous installation?
>> Thanks again.
>> ---John.
>
> Hi John,
>
> why a mistake? From my point of view it is good if you try to  
> compile things for yourself. You just need to set up some more  
> libraries before compiling Gnuplot.
>
> Suggestion: If you already use Fink or MacPorts then this might be  
> a better solution to install Gnuplot that way. If you have none of  
> those or prefer Gnuplot.app beside others you can also use  
> Gnuplot.app, yes. There nearly is nothing more to do: Drag'n'Drop  
> Gnuplot.app from the *dmg to your Applications folder and then set  
> another link to use Gnuplot.app from command line, too (maybe you  
> should remove or rename or uninstall /usr/local/bin/gnuplot* before):
>
>   sudo ln -s /Applications/Gnuplot.app/Contents/Resources/bin/ 
> gnuplot /usr/local/bin/gnuplot
>
> Finally just type 'gnuplot' in Terminal.app and check once again  
> 'show version long'. Start your Octave and check
>
>   octave-3.2.0:1> system ('which gnuplot')
>
> Best regards,
>
>   Thomas

Hi, Thomas.

I installed your Gnuplot.app in my Applications folder and set the  
following symlink:

   sudo ln -sfv /Applications/Gnuplot.app/Contents/Resources/bin/ 
gnuplot /usr/bin/gnuplot

In gnuplot, I find that

gnuplot> system ('which gnuplot')
/Applications/Gnuplot.app/Contents/Resources/bin/gnuplot
gnuplot>

so I think it all looks OK.  I also tried to print a PNG and that  
worked: yea! :-)

The only difference I see immediately between using Gnuplot.app and  
the gnuplot I had complied from source (besides now being able to  
print a PNG) is that the redrawing in Gnuplot.app seems to be slower,  
so that the following, which produced a pretty smooth animation in  
gnuplot, produces a somewhat jerky animation in Gnuplot.app:

     lT = length (T) - 1;
     N = 10;   % number of time intervals (frames) to plot (must have  
N <= lT)

     if (N > lT)
       error ('N > lT;  need  N <= lT');
     end

     time = ones (1, N);
     time(2:N+1) = floor ((lT/N)*(1:N)) + 1;

     for j = 1:N+1   % for "ode45"
       plot (x, u(:,time(j)));
       title (strcat ('time =', num2str ((tf-t0)*(time(j) - 1)/lT)));
%      axis ([0 2*pi -1.5 1.5]);
       axis([0 2*pi 2*min(real(u0)) 2*max(real(u0))]);
       pause(wait);
     end

I'm not sure why.

Btw, while I was at it, I also upgraded Octave to 3.2.0.

Thanks for making this all very simple.

---John.