Plotting backends (All platforms)

For plotting with McStas, different support packages can be used:

• PGPLOT/PDL (perl-PDL)/pgperl (perl-PGPLOT) (Unix only) - Binary builds of the packages exist for various Linux distributions (for instance Debian comes with prebuilt versions). Prebuilt versions also exist for some commercial Unix'es. Refer to distributor/vendor for documentation. The packages can also be built from source using some (in many cases much) effort. See the PGPLOT documentation for further details. You may need to define the PGPLOT_DIR variable to the location of the Pgplot library.
• Matlab (Some Unix/Win32) - refer to http://www.mathworks.com. Matlab licenses are rather costly, but discount programmes for university and research departments exist.
• Scilab (Unix/Win32/Mac...) - a free 'Matlab-like' package, available from http://www.scilab.org/download/index_download.php?page=oldReleases.html.
  IMPORTANT: McStas plotting only works properly with Scilab ver.$\leq$3.0
  On Windows systems, Scilab should be installed in a directory such as C:\Scilab (do NOT use spaces in names) and you should then add the C:\Scilab\bin directory to your PATH using
  
  'Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Advanced/Environment Variables'.