Re: [Axiom-developer] Axiom under windows

[Bill Page]

On 6/8/07, Alasdair McAndrew wrote:

> As an experiment (to see if it would be possible to use with my students), I'm experimenting to see if I can run Axiom under windows.  I've downloaded Axiom 
> 0.1.3, and that runs fine, in a console.  I've also downloaded cygTeXmacs, which is a huge download (80Mb), which I haven't got working quite yet.

 

Although the cygwin version of TeXmacs is more current, I would not recommend running TeXmacs on Windows this way since it is both slow and uncomfortable for someone familiar with Windows. But if you must do this, then I recommend that at least you run Xming as your X-server instead of the cygwin version. Xming is a native windows application that integrates quite well with other windows applications.

 

I think the Windows native verison of TeXmacs is significantly more friendly to Windows users and I have used it very successfully with the native Windows version of Axiom. Unfortunately it is not currently actively maintained by the TeXmacs developers. There are some installation notes WinTeXmacs this at url:

 

http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/TeXmacs

 

If you must use the pre-compiled version of Axiom for Windows then I would suggest you use the newer version 0.1.4. Unfortunately even this version is badly out of date. So a better option would be to compile Axiom from the wh-sandbox sources using MSYS/MinGW. See:

 

http://wiki.axiom-developer.org/BuildAxiom

 

(Building Axiom on Windows)

 

> Now the trouble is that this setup: Axiom in TeXmacs in Cygwin in Windows, is three or four removes from a native system.  Ideally, we would want Axiom in a windows native executable interface (such as WxMaxima).  Since windows is, for better or worse, the predominant desktop OS currently, with no change likely in the foreseeable future, I would have thought that to make Axiom more popular, a native interface is required.

 

Absolutely. We have been talking about this forever on the axiom-developer email list but there are no resources available to implement such an interface. The trouble is that by far most open source developers prefer Linux over Windows. Since Windows is a commerical proprietary operating system, the expectation is that the most appropriate develop and support software for this environment is by following the same model. Unfortunately there is no commerically motivated company that is currently interested in Axiom.

> As an interim, maybe we need some sort of Axiom+TeXmacs+Cygwin installer, which involves the downloading of just 
> one file, and which then installs itself in a directory somewhere, with all appropriate links and paths set during the installing process.
>
> Just my Saturday morning 2 cents.

 

It would not be hard to create an Windows installer that included both Axiom and WinTeXmacs. Both of these use the same NSIS installation program. In fact the original Windows installer for Axiom was implemented by the same person who ported TeXmacs to Windows. You can check-out this history in the axiom-developer archive.

Regards,

Bill Page.