Re: Windows?

[Benjamin Lindner]

Schirmacher, Rolf wrote:
> I must confess that I did not follow all details of the thread. I am bound
> to a windows environment and would like to use octave within a restricted
> commercial environment.
>
> By now, I only used the MSVC-precompiled builds and I really appreciate
> them. The key is that they are really easy to install and use (even without
> administrative privelleges) and are well maintained - thanks Micheal!
>
> Now I probably have to switch to mingw in the future. O.k. - but what does
> that mean from a user perspective?
>
> One thing I understand immediately is that I would need gcc in mingw to
> build oct-files (instead of MSVC). But I would assume that most windows
> users rarely build oct-files themselves (at least those users who we are
> worrying about here). And please remember all the issues with getting the
> right "MSVC release" - that really never was easy. In addition, mingw/gcc
> might be distributed in the same package, ensuring that every user is able
> to build oct-files without additional package loading (that would even be an
> improvement over MSVC).
>
> What else will change?
>
> Will there be a reduced performance of octave? 

No I would not expect this. However, I did not do a thorough msvc/mingw 
performance test. Important to note is that a mingw-binary will be 
faster than a cygwin-binary since mingw does not use the intermediate 
cygwin layer.

> Will gnuplot still work well with a good performance for the rendering?

same as above. However, gnuplot's rendering speed is far from what I'd 
call a "good" performance, especially with 3D plots (but then again, its 
purpose is *not* to be a 3D graphics rendering engine).

> Will there be limited interaction with standard software? (I use emacs as a
> shell / UI anyway).
>
> Will I have to install separate packages (e.g. the mingw environment) or
> will all be bundled in one package (as the MSVC build)?

No separate packages required. both msys and mingw's gcc are bundled.
There are now 3.0.5 binaries availabe, see
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2888&package_id=287261

The bundled package also includes optimized atlas libararies for 
different platforms. The installer should chose the appropriate one.

> Are there additional caveats when switching?

Please have a try and report issues you might find. If possible these 
can be solved.

benjamin