ISIS and Gnuplot

[Ken Hudson]

Hello Everyone,

In a few weeks we are going to have a workshop for first time spectroscopists in New Mexico. Prior to the workshop we are asking attendees to install ISIS on their laptops. When I installed ISIS a couple years ago I had to use a specific version of gnuplot. Is this still the case? If yes, what version of gnuplot should be used?

Also, what is the best way to install a new version of ISIS? Should the old version be uninstalled first and then the new version installed or is there an upgrade procedure?

Thank you for your help!

Ken

[Andrew Smith]

As no one has answered yet I will try. A post on vds indicates you need version 4 of gunplot.

I have just downloaded the next version of ISIS and installed it in it own directory, removing the old one as an when I decided to.

Regards Andrew

[Olivier GARDE]

Yes ISIS need a Gnuplot V4 not the V5

[Ken Hudson]

Andrew and Olivier,

Thank you for your responses. I appreciate the help!

Ken

[Forrest Sims]

Hi Ken,

Adding to what Andrew said. I don’t think you so much install ISIS, but rather unzip it and run the ISIS executable from the directory where you unzipped it. Two things I would recommend from my limited experience is first take a picture with your phone (or a screen dump) of all the tabs in the version of ISIS that you are currently using. This way you do not loose all your settings such as to Spectrograph model, Observatory Long and Lat, Spectral calibration mode, Instrument, Observatory and Observer Output, etc. written to the fits files. I learned this the hard way as the new version has no “memory” that I am aware of of your previous settings. And second unzip the newer version into a different folder than you are using for the current version. This way you can always go back to the previous version by running it’s executable if you missed a setting. A great piece of software but these two things could save some wasted time and aggravation. Others may know a better way of preserving previous settings.

Woody

[Ken Hudson]

Hi Woody,

Thank you very much for those two pieces of great advice! Those are excellent suggestions!

Ken

[Jean-Paul Godard]

Personnaly, I run gnuplot version 4.6 patchlevel 3 (but i should perhaps update).

Concerning the "version management" for ISIS, the phone may be a good idea. An other one , is to Zip the folder of the initial version, delete the files and to install a second.
Should you need to return to earlier, just Zip the latest, delete the files and unzip the former..

[James Foster]

You can always download and use the PlotSpectra program from Tim Lester, see:

http://spectro-aras.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1925

Its small, easy to use and fairly powerful if you don't need all the "bells and whistles"
of Gnuplot in IS.

James