[Baypiggies] hardware question

[Paul Ivanov]

Jason Culverhouse, on 2010-12-23 17:10,  wrote:
> Just my 2 cents, 6 years python development on Mac (g4 and x86) and deployment on Ubuntu, no problems encountered on Mac  that didn't have some analogue on Ubuntu.
> Jason

Jason, 

Can you be more specific about what kind of development you're
talking about? web? pure python? The reason I ask is that it
doesn't sound typical for the packages Vikram specifically
mentioned.

> >> Since most of my computational work will be using python i wanted to ask others on this forum about whether there would be any compatibility issues with using the various python libraries (matplotlib, scipy, numpy, Biopython, etc.) when using Python on the Mac.

I'm also a user of numpy, matplotlib, scipy and friends. I run
ubuntu so you can take mine as just comments from the peanut
gallery, but I interact with other folks using a similar
computing environment on other platforms here at UC Berkeley
(both through the py4science group we have, and this past
semester through TA-ing).

My impression is that OS X users run into a lot more problems
getting these particular packages up and running on OS X (just
for starters: will you use system python, fink, macports,
something else?  oh my!). I think most end up grabbing
Enthought's EPD - since it's free for academic use [1] (with the
caveat that EPD resolves the 'which python' issue by shipping
with its own python - but you do get all of numpy, scipy,
matplotlib, ipython, etc. bundled in there).

As for the Alexandre's comment about putting Ubuntu on a Mac to
get both the software and the hardware - I think this may only be
argued with respect to build quality these days - not the
underlying hardwar. Apple tends to charge more for systems with
the identical processor and memory configuration, compared to
most of the other computer manufacturers out there.

1. http://www.enthought.com/products/edudownload.php

-- 
Paul Ivanov
314 address only used for lists,  off-list direct email at:
http://pirsquared.org | GPG/PGP key id: 0x0F3E28F7 
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