[ubuntu-uk] Curve-fitting program or package (a gnuplot example)

[Robin Menneer]

On 2/26/07, Robert McWilliam <rmcw at allmail.net> wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 15:55:28 +0000
> "Robin Menneer" <robinmenneer at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 2/25/07, Tony Arnold <tony.arnold at manchester.ac.uk> wrote:
> > > Use Synaptic! Search for gnuplot and then install it. Presumably,
> > > you've used Synaptic before to install stuff?
> >
> > This is the first time I've tried to use  Synaptic Search and have
> > got as far as being asked for a package but failed to get the files
> > listed by you. I've got the .tar file into desktop but failed to link
> > it up with Synaptic. It's no good people raving about weaning
> > ordinary folk out of windows if they are subsequently let loose in
> > such unfriendly territory.
> >
>
> A .tar sounds like the source for gnuplot which is not the easiest way
> to install software in ubuntu.
>
> An overview of the package management system is available at:
> https://help.ubuntu.com/6.10/ubuntu/desktopguide/C/add-applications.html
>
> The gnuplot packages are in universe (community supported packages)
> rather than main, which is not enabled by default, the instructions for
> enabling this are at:
> https://help.ubuntu.com/6.10/ubuntu/desktopguide/C/extra-repositories.html#id2580924
>
> [snip]
> >
> > Having used DOS for many years, I am not afraid of the concept of
> > using terminal, but just of the brute force that i may mistakedly
> > misdirect in my ignorance.   The warning in Synaptic *You can render
> > your system unusable* frightens the life out of me.  I'd rather
> > abandon Ubuntu than foul up my machine.  Thanks, Robin
> >
>
> That warning is about messing up your ubuntu install, it is very
> unlikely that anything you do in software could cause actual do damage
> to the hardware.
>
> ________________________________________________________
> Robert McWilliam     rmcw at allmail.net    www.ormiret.com
>
> Klingon function calls do not have 'parameters' -- they have
> 'arguments'
>         -- and they ALWAYS WIN THEM.
>
Upon reflection, I'm having to give up the search for a curve-fitting
program which is simple enough for me  to use.  This is a major
disappointment with Ubuntu - I have downloaded Di and Inkscape using
the Add/Rremove facility with ease and joy - just a pity neither would
do what I need to be done.  It seems to me that Ubuntu is a bit of a
con in that much of it is lovely and easy to use, a positive joy, then
all of a sudden life gets very serioius and one has to be a bit of a
programmer to get the things that one wants. I have spent a couple of
days looking around the web, there are quite a lot of Linux packages
which contain curve-fitting but contain much else and are too complex
for me.
Curvefitting is not an especially rare facility to want and I feel a
bit let down by those others who have given me the impression (not
always here in this Ubuntu list I must quickly add) that all will be
sweetness and light. Open Office is another case in point where it
promises to plot graphs but actually fails to do it properly.   I feel
guilty having taken up other people's time to no avail.  Thank you
everybody.
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>