Notebook incompatibilities
- To: mathgroup at yoda.physics.unc.edu
- Subject: Notebook incompatibilities
- From: Richard Muirhead <muirhead at u.washington.edu>
- Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1993 10:48:51 -0700 (PDT)
I recently downloaded several notebooks (*.ma) from an anonymous
ftp site. These notebooks were instructional pieces for the
teaching of undergraduate electricity and magnetism.
Unfortunately, when loaded onto my system (Windows 3.1, Mma 2.2),
I got an error message suggesting that my version of Mma was older!!
than the one under which the notebook was originally written. Also,
I received a fatal postscript rendering error on one of the
animation screens. Alas. I know these files were originally
developed in a Next environment, and hypothesized some
conflict with a DOS-Windows operating environment.
Fortunately, these same files subsequently become available
through mathsource at wri. I had no trouble obtaining them by
email request. But again, when running them on my Windows machine,
would occasionally receive fatal postscript rendering errors that would
lock up the system. This time, however, I *did not* receive the
peculiar message that my version of Mma was older than the version
under which the notebook was developed. So, I supposed, I was making
*some* progress :-).
I gather from this somewhat frustrating experience, that notebooks
are not entirely portable ??
Is there a way to "prepare" a notebook that was designed on
one platform so that it will be acceptable on another?? In my
case, I believe I want to go from a Next notebook to a Windows
adaptation.
Among my many fears is that this is a dime-a-dozen FAQ,
but I must freely admit my naivete with Mma notebooks and their
peculiarities. I would greatly appreciate any help the aficianados
might be able to throw my way. I hope to make these instructional
packages available to our E&M undergrads this fall, but certainly
want everything in smooth working order running in a MS-Windows
environment, so the students are not required to wrestle with
the system incompatabilities. Bad enough wrestling with E&M !!
The mathsource at wri files are 0204-411: Self-paced E&M notebooks.
Thanks for the help.
Rick Muirhead
Physics UW
muirhead at phys.washington.edu