Easy-to-install-and-use scientific graphics (plotting) package for Python 2.5.1 on Linux Ubuntu 7.1

[Joshua Kugler]

> Is there an easy scientific graphics (plotting) package for Python
> 2.5.1 running on Ubuntu Linux 7.1 ("Gutsy Gibbon")?
> 
> A few years ago I used PyLab (a MatLab-like plotting module for
> Python) on a Windows machine, but I don't know if there is a similar
> easy-to-install-and-use Python 2.5.1-compatible graphics package for
> Ubuntu Linux 7.1?

We've been using Matplotlib for a while, but are looking for alternatives. 
I recently came across Chaco (http://code.enthought.com/chaco/) and am
quite impressed with what I see so far.

It's API is very clean, not requiring the "magic functions" (can we say
setp()?) that is required by matplotlib.  Very OO, and from what I see of
example code, the API complies with PEP 8 conventions.

Installation was easy (easy_install), but for a couple packages, you will
need GCC, python-dev, and swig.

I haven't dug into it much, but it looks really, really promising.

j