Hi all, As the maintainer (and main developer) of the package LabPlot i thought it would be a good idea to join this discussion. I'm always interested in improving LabPlot and getting feedback. This is a very good way not only to keep the motivation but also to see what needs to be done. +++++++++++++ Now i need to say something about the mentioned problems: > * labplot > Shares many of the same bugs/problems as qtiplot. If you find bugs or problems, just let me know. I'm getting a lot reponse but there's certainly a lot more to improve. > But you also can't add > a new curve to an existing graph unless you read it in from a data file > directly or it is a mathematical function (i.e. you can't use data > already in a data sheet). Yes, you can. Just define the destination for the plots from a spreadsheet to the existing plot. In the development release (1.5.1.pre) you can use the same method like in Origin by clicking on the plot and select any columns from any spreadsheet or even other data from any plots you want to add to the plot. The development release also has an explorer where you can copy/move/delete spreadsheets/worksheets/plots/graphs (i.e. curves in a plot) by using drag and drop. I think this is a great feature. > Column headers are also discarded so you'd > have to go back and relabel all the columns. (OK, on the 1 week time > scale you can just remember them, but on the 1 year timescale you need > them labelled, and I always assume that i'm going to have to come back > to it on that timescale as it can be that long between doing the work > and publishing it.) That's not true. You can check the "import header" option when reading a datafile and the column headers are named correct. When plotting from that spreadsheet the graphs are named after the y column. This can be changed of course. > It also can't generate smooth curves (e.g. splines) > between data points. Did you checked the "Analysis->Interpolation" item in the main menu? This function supports linear, polynomial, cspline and akima interpolation of your data. You can also use the "Analysis->Filter->Smooth" menu for simple smoothing of n points. +++++++++++++++++ > ** conclusions > The two main things that I can condense out of this are that: > > * there is nothing in linux land that even comes close to Origin for > flexible scientific graphing and data management. That's a pity... linux > leads in everything else, but I know very few other people who will put > the sort of time in that I have done in trying to get this to work. I started LabPlot because i wanted to have an alternative for Origin (and don't wanted to use Windows for that). I used xmgrace and gnuplot (and still use it) but i had the same problem mentioned. > * the X1 Y1 X2 Y2 data format is a problem.... many of these utilities > would work better if I wasn't using that. However, dropping that format > comes at the expense of me having to do a lot more work to split up > files and then import them individually. It should not. I designed LabPlot to support any data format to make thing as easy as possible. If there are problems just send me your data with a short problem description and i will care about it. > * generating smooth-curve data is a problem... I'll play around with > spline(1) from the plotutils package and aspline(1) from the spline > package to see if that could be a viable filter. But having to filter > all the data through an external spline program is somewhat suboptimal. > Perhaps there is python module for this that will work with PyX? The support for smoothing (mentioned above) comes from the GNU Scientific Library (gsl). I'm using the gsl a lot in LabPlot, but you don't have to care about it since it is integrated very well. LabPlot supports interpolation, fitting, histograms, fft, signal-filter, correlation, convolution, various transformations, etc. by using the gsl. BTW: LabPlot can be completely run via a scripting language (for anyone not want to have it too graphical) that can make the work very efficient. +++++++++++++++ Hope this clarifies some things and brings some progress for this discussion. Any comment is appreciated. Regards, Stefan Gerlach
Attachment:
pgpjm36GV4Bgb.pgp
Description: signature