darrell@midgard.ucsc.edu (Darrell Long) (02/21/90)
Here's the summary of responses that I got. I haven't had a chance to try
any of them out yet, so I can't comment on which is best.
Thanks to all who responded.
**** 8< -------- >8 ****
kaul@icarus.eng.ohio-state.edu (Rich Kaul), says...
You don't mention anything about the system on which you want to run this,
but if you're running on a Sun console and have SunOS 4.x you might try
and run grtool. It's a pretty neat graphing program much like TempleGraph
but PD. You can get if for anonymous ftp from cse.ogi.edu.
beck@cs.cornell.edu (Micah Beck), says...
Use GnuTeX, which is a version of GnuPlot. It has a mode for output in
LaTeX picture environment, and it can also produce Fig code output, which
can be edited using the Fig graphics editor and/or translated to various
LaTeX compatible forms using the TransFig package.
GnuTeX is available by FTP from duke.cs.duke.edu. TransFig is available
by FTP from svax.cs.cornell.edu.
/micah
nuchat!steve@uunet.UU.NET (Steve Nuchia), says...
Do you know about "graph+"? It uses the unix standard plot interface, I
don't know of a postscript backend for that inteface but it is mostly
trivial to implement a backend for.
Robert Polzer <rpolzer@seismic.geosc.psu.edu>, says...
Try grtool from cse.ogc.edu (129.75.40.2). It is a good graphing tool for
sunwindows with output to postscript, hpgl, or sun raster files.
kraussW%moravian.edu@RELAY.CS.NET, says...
You should probably look at grtool. It's public domain (although I don't
remember where I got it from.) We have students that have plotted 29,000
points with it. The interface is nice, easy to use and the resulting
graphs are great. Here is the description from the man page...
DESCRIPTION
Grtool is a data/function plotting tool for Sun workstations Here are some
of its features:
* Curve fitting
* Plots up to 15 datasets or functions.
* User-defined scaling, tic marks, labels, symbols, line styles,
colors.
* Batch mode for unattended plotting.
* Read and write parameters used during a session.
* Support through a device independent graphics driver for HP75xx and
PostScript. Other devices can be added but will require recompiling
grtool.
Added in this release :
o sub/superscripting in text labels.
o math symbols
o font changes on the fly.
I'm sure the guy who wrote it can tell you where to get it. His address
is pturner@cse.ogc.edu. Good Luck!
Pete Mellor <pm%cs.city.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK>, says...
With reference to your queries in SUN-Spots Digest v9n34, we use a package
called SIMPLEPLOT, available from:
Bradford University Software Services Ltd., Tel.: +44 (0)274 309214
Price on SUN: #1200 for first node + #800 for each additional node
+ #100 for C interface - 50% educational discount (UK only?)
(# = 'Pounds sterling')
The package includes screen driver, and drivers for HP plotter and
Postscript printer. The SIMPLEPLOT library calls can also be hosted in
FORTRAN or Pascal on the Vax or SUN. The package is quite easy to use, and
it didn't take long for one of our research assistants to knock together a
little general purpose 2D graph drawing program in which scale types
(linear, log, etc.) and ranges, and graph types (points only, straight
segment joins, spline fits, with a selection of point representations and
line styles) are given as parameters, and the graphs are defined as lists
of x,y coordinates for each point. He also had quite good results drawing
3D surfaces in perspective.
Output can be in Postscript format, so presumably can be incorporated in
documents formatted via postscript, and messed around using things like
idraw (whatever that is). Output on Postscript printer is fairly high
quality.
Drawbacks: Screen display is not refreshed if window is moved or resized,
so plot vanishes. Different styles of dashed lines are sometimes difficult
to distinguish if many graphs are present on the same plot. Key to dash
styles of graphs appears automatically at top right, and sometimes
overwrites curves.
The first problem, I think, is inherent in SIMPLEPLOT. The others might
just be the fault of our implementor.
Our program was compiled on OS 3.5, and so is forward compatible with
4.0.3.
We hope to start using (Oh joy! Another package to learn!) a package
called grtool. I believe that this also produces Postscript output. Latest
release was announced in v8n202. To save you looking it up, here it is:
pturner@ogccse.ogc.edu (Paul Turner), says...
Announcing grtool upgrade:
Grtool, a public domain plotting program for Sun workstations running
SunOS 4.0+, has undergone a major iteration lately and has made it to 1.02
Beta test. This version has support for multiple graphs, splines,
X-correlation in addition to regression, running averages, DFT/FFT, log
plots. While still definitely Beta, those of you running 1.01 should
upgrade.
Still available via anonymous ftp to cse.ogc.edu (or cse.ogi.edu)
[129.95.40.2] in pub/grtool. Management would prefer that this be done
before the hour of 8:00 AM PST and after 5:00 PM PST during the week or
anytime weekends, please. Due to the load last time, I won't be able to
send shar files, sorry.
For you DSP types, I'd appreciate any C code you might have for windowing,
AR, MA, ARMA models and digital filter design that you think would fit
into grtool.
pmurphy@killians.tuc.nrao.edu (Pat Murphy), says...
Try pgplot, a set of subroutines for device-independent graphics.
Available from Tim Pearson of Caltech/Astronomy (tjp@deimos.caltech.edu,
tjp@citdeimo.bitnet) as long as you don't use it for commercial profit.
Available for SunOS 4 (I run it on 4.0.3), VAX/VMS, and Convex Unix. Has
output to a bunch of different graphics devices including postscript
printers and sunview windows.
cohen@gumby.ecs.umass.edu (Marc Cohen), says...
Try grtool, available via anonymous ftp from cse.ogi.edu. I think it's
great.
palkovic@linac.fnal.gov (John A. Palkovic), says...
We just installed a package called MONGO on a couple of sun 4's and a VAX
8650. It is great. It can produce a graph on your terminal or printer.
Here is a list of the supported printer types from mongo's online help:
>> PRINTER (n (device)) - directs output to a hardcopy printer
>> PRINTER directs graphical output to a graphics printer and
>> sets default values for the plot region location and device physical
>> limits. An optional argument is used to specify a particular device.
>> n Device
>> 1 Versatec (portrait)
>> 2 Versatec (landscape)
>> 3 Printronix (portrait)
>> 4 Printronix (landscape)
>> 5 Laser printer (portrait)
>> 6 Laser printer (landscape)
The supported terminal types:
TERMINAL (n (device)) - directs output to a graphics terminal
>> TERMINAL directs graphical output to the graphics terminal and
>> sets default values for the plot region location and device physical
>> limits. An optional argument is used to specify a particular device.
>> n Device
>> 1 Retrographics 640
>> 2 DEC VT125
>> 3 Tektronix 4010
>> 4 Grinnell 270
>> 5 HP 2648A
>> 6 Sun Windows
>> A second optional argument specifies the device name, eg, TTA0:
I have not used mongo to produce a postscript file on disk, but I am
confident that it can be done. I know that mongo must produce postscript,
since it prints on our apple laserwriter II. It is not just a simple
matter of redirecting the standard output (I don't know how to get mongo
to write to stdout, but I have the source :-) ). MONGO is distributed in
source form. You will need the sun fortran compiler to install it, since
most of mongo is written in FORTRAN.
If you would like more info, the author's email address is :
jt%antares@space.mit.edu