[SciPy-user] Re: [Scipy-chaco] TeX/LaTeX and Chaco

[Fernando Perez]

Gary Pajer wrote:

> Very nontrivial on Windows, too.  If I ever get it compiled and running 
> (I have doubts) I'll post instructions.   Certainly the installation is 
> not ready for primetime.   (I'd love it if someone makes a fool out of 
> me and tells me how easy it is ...  )
> 
> How is the performance relative to the promises on the web site?

Actually, quite good as far as I've seen.  I ran all the examples, and only 
one (the PyX logo with  a pattern of little copies of itself) didn't give me 
identical-looking eps.  That's listed on the report I sent to the developers.

What I find _extremely_ interesting about it is the ability to load pre-made 
EPS files to add latex symbols and arbitrary PostScript elements to them. 
Gnuplot is my main workhorse, but making symbols, arrows, etc in Gnuplot is a 
pain in the neck.  A combination of Gnuplot for the first pass over data and 
pyx for 'post-processing' may be a killer.

Regards,

Fernando.

PS.  I'd love to see chaco incorporate these capabilities, but until that 
happens on Linux, we need viable alternatives.  However, for the long run I 
truly hope Chaco becomes very successful.  As Chris suggested, the pyx 
approach may even provide Chaco with Latex capabilities.  That would indeed be 
fantastic.