[Texmacs-dev] Windows TeXmacs version TeXmacs-1.0.7.19 Crashes after startup

[David E. Miller]

Installed TeXmacs-1.0.7.19  MS Windows QT version of TeXmacs downloaded from link of TeXmacs website.

Using Windows 7 Pro OS.

This version crashes a few seconds after startup.

Uninstalled version 1.0.7.19 and reinstalled version 1.0.7.18 and this version works normally,
except there is an issue with file permissions for all help files. These will not load from Help
menu as a result.

Also the website states that:

The current Windows version of TeXmacs only supports a reduced set of plug-ins. As of version
1.0.7.18, Maxima, Mathemagix, Octave, Pari and Python should run out of the box after a
standard installation.

It is not the case that the Octave plugin runs "out of the box" as stated. There is a bug in this plugin
located in the file tmrepl.m. This is true regardless of the operation system and Octave version.
It is a bug in the plugin in this plugin file. I have a workaround for this until the point in time
where someone submits an improved fix. Replace the code in the tmrepl.m Octave plugin file
with:

 function tmrepl()
          prompt=sprintf("%cchannel:prompt%coctave> %c",2,5,5);
          r=input(prompt, "s");
          while ( 1 )
                  eval(r,"tmlasterr");
                  r=input(prompt,"s");
          endwhile
endfunction

As an alternative, users may install the Oct2Py module (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/oct2py) which is a Python interface
to Octave. This module is imported from a TeXmacs Python plugin session and works well even for plotting. Inline plot
insertion into the Python session is possible by using the the ps_out() method of the Python plugin. This method works
for plots saved as EPS files.

Until such time as the Octave plugin is fixed permanently, it seems not to be a good idea to leave the impression that this
plugin is working "out of the box" as advertised, because it is not.

Also, to avoid new users having a bad experience with TeXmacs, it should be the practice of the developers not to use a link
to an installer file that has this kind of erratic behavior.

Best wishes,

David E. Miller