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Re: Mathematica: should I move to Windows from X?

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg3756] Re: Mathematica: should I move to Windows from X?
  • From: welter at texoma.com (Jason Welter)
  • Date: Sun, 14 Apr 1996 03:03:36 -0400
  • Organization: Internet Texoma, Inc.
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

reza at bme.jhu.edu (Reza Shadmehr) wrote:

>Hello.  

>I've been using Mathematica for years now on a unix platform (Sun Sparcs)
>and quite happy with it.  I've gotten used to generating my graphics and then
>psfix-ing them and then using a postscript editor to fine tune it and get it
>ready for publication.  I write my manuscripts in LaTex, so the graphics just
>get inserted and print fine.

>These days however, with the ever more powerful Pentiums out there, and the
>fact that they keep getting cheaper and cheaper, I've been seriously thinking
>about moving all my code to a Pentium Pro.  My students are starting to run
>all their simulation software (not Mathematica, but Matlab) on the Pentiums 
>and they rave about its performance.  I'm beginning to think that maybe I 
>should move to a Pentium.

>But I have a dilema.  I know nothing about stability of Mathematica on the
>PC platform.  Also, what sort of graphics does Mathematics produce on the
>PC?  Can it easily be edited using other software and then turned into
>postscript?

>I'd appreciate any advice from people who have made or thought about this
>transition.

Stability issues revolve around which OS you select more than which
processor (as I think you know).

One things for sure, don't migrate to Windows 3.x or 95.  I ran alot
of mathematica code on Windows 3.11 and the system was never stable!
  I absolutely hated it.  I now run Mathematic on NT on a PC and the
stability is great. I couldn't be happier with the performace either.

You can write articles in LaTeX using PC software and incorporate
Mathematica graphics numerous ways depending on the application.  Your
usual way of rendering the graphics as Postscript code, tweeking it
and pasting it in your LaTeX articles will still be available.
Ghostview for NT (32-bit)  is available free on the net and is stable
too.  As for me, I simply used the cut  and paste method.  The quality
did not suffer but it can if you are not careful.

I use Mathematic 2.2.3 and a 486/66 with 24 megs RAM.  Mathematica has
never crashed my system.

Jason







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