PGPLOT > Documentation > Installation Manual > Installation Instructions: Mac OS X

Installation Instructions: Mac OS X

PGPLOT can be installed on Apple Macintosh computers running Mac OS X. It uses the X-window system for display, as on other UNIX systems. An alternative display, which does not use the X-window system, is AquaTerm (see below). The following instructions are for MacOS 10.3 (Panther).

  1. Install the Apple Developer tools (Xcode) if you haven't already done so, including the X11 SDK (Software Developer's Kit). The X11 SDK is an optional package on the Xcode disk.
  2. Install Apple's X11 package. This is an optional package on the MacOS CD.
  3. Install the g77 Fortran compiler. There are various ways to do this. You can gte a working version of g77 from http://hpc.sourceforge.net. You may also be able to use Fink (http://fink.sourceforge.net/index.php).
  4. Make sure you have working gcc and g77 commands in the terminal.
  5. Download PGPLOT 5.3.0 from http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~tjp/pgplot/.
  6. Following the Unix installation instructions, run makemake with options darwin g77_gcc. Select the X11 drivers; you probably also want PostScript and GIF.
  7. You should be able to run the demo programs from an Xterm window. There are some minor annoyances: the Apple X11 does not provide a pseudocolor visual, so color-table animation (as used in pgdemo4) does not work. Getting the right window on top and accepting keyboard input can be a pain.

AquaTerm

Aquaterm (http://aquaterm.sourceforge.net) is a graphics display terminal for Mac OS X. You run the AquaTerm application, and then direct PGPLOT output to it by using a device specification “/AQT”. The display can be saved as a PDF file or printed. AquaTerm comes with a PGPLOT device driver and instructions for adding the driver to your version of PGPLOT.

Hardcopy

For the best-quality printable output, select PostScript (“/CPS” [landscape] or “/VCPS” [portrait]). You can view PostScript files on screen using Apple's Preview, or under X11 usibg gv (available from Fink), and you can send them directly to a PostScript printer using the lp command. You can also convert PostScript to PDF using either Acrobat Distiller or the ps2pdf command (which is usually available when gv is installed). PDF files are well supported by Mac OS X and can be viewed with, e.g., Preview, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and many graphics programs.