QtiPlot

QtiPlot is a great full featured open source alternative to Origin. It is free for the linux platform but for OS X and windows 32 a fee of 20-50 euros is required for access to the binaries. In the spirit of open source I decided to compile it myself. After failing a few times I investigated compiling it via macports. Again the process failed with an error relating to python scripts. The following workaround details how to disable python scripting and successfully install qtiplot on osx using macports.

1. Install macports from the macports website.

2. Open Terminal and issue the following command

sudo port install qtiplot (all the dependencies should install however the qtiplot build will fail)

3. Remove the qtiplot download with the following command

sudo port clean qtiplot

4. Fetch the qtiplot archive

sudo port fetch qtiplot

5. Configure the qtiplot install

sudo port configure qtilot

This will extract the qtiplot files

6. Navigate to the qtiplot folder in /opt/local/var/macports/build/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_aqua_qtiplot/work/qtiplot-XXX/qtiplot

7. Open qtiplot.pro with TextEdit and comment out the # SCRIPTING_LANGS += Python line with a #

8. Return to the Terminal and issue

sudo port build qtiplot

9. Install qtiplot with

sudo port destroot qtiplot

10. Finally issue the following command to install qtiplot in /Applications/Macports

sudo port install qtiplot

ClamShell Mode for Macbook

Following on from my KVM post here is another little trick. Sometimes I just want a bigger screen for my macbook, I don't want two screens especially when I am working with a large number of paper documents simultaneously. MacBooks have a great feature called clamshell that allows you to just use the external monitor. 

1. Set your MacBook up with a USB keyboard and mouse

2. Plug in an external monitor. 

3. Close the lid and jiggle the mouse. 

If you are lucky you will see your desktop and you will be back to a single monitor, occasionally your mac will decide to sleep but if you are insistent it will wake up again.

Virtual KVM

KMremoteControl

I have and old G4 quicksilver which belongs to the group which I use to backup my work and access old files that require classic mode. So for a long time I have been struggling with an extra keyboard and mouse on my desk. A KVM is pretty much useless as I prefer using my macbook keyboard and VNC and remote desktop are a little slow. 

Yesterday I came across a great little program called KMremoteControl which allows you to use the keyboard and mouse of one computer on another essentially creating a virtual KVM. KMremoteControl is free to use and installation and setup are really straight forward. All you need to know is the ip address or domain name of the computer you wish to control.

With KMremoteControl you can either allow the controlled computer to advertise its availabili

ty or not and there are built in features to require the user to log on before use and encrypt the traffic between the two computers.

KMremoteControl works on both mac OS X and Windows and is a great solution for anyone who has two computers and for which a KVM is not suitable. 

iWork 09

After much wrangling with Office 2008 particularly Excel I decided to try out iWork 09.Priced at $40 from my local campus bookstore it really can't get much better!

1. Keynote
The biggest pain with powerpoint 2008 for mac is that large ppt files take an age to load. This is where keynote comes in. Keynote opens those old powerpoint files like lightening, the only problem I have encountered so far is that some bulleted lists are not formatted well but this is easy to fix. The interface is intuitively laid out and the smart guides are great.


2. Numbers
Excel for mac 2008 is a nice improvement and a great middle ground between the office ribbon interface from windows and the old style layout. However it really is unreliable when working with old file formats. Again iWork steps in with Numbers, while numbers is grossly underpowered for scientific data analysis it again comes with a very intuitive interface and the ability to quickly produce professional looking results.


Conclusions I have not had much use for Pages however it also seems to have the intuitive interface and great compatibility with other office products. I cant help but wonder if it would be possible to write a paper in iWork and if anyone would tell the difference. All in all I have found iWork to offer value for money great and excellent compatibility with office. The interface is more polished than Office Mac and it is much more geared to producing professional results.

NMR and Mac

As an organic chemist and mac fan boy I have often lamented the lack of free NMR software for the mac. I have had the fortune of using both Bruker and JEOL instruments during my PhD and Post Doctoral careers and have found both to have their strengths and weaknesses ( it is well beyond the scope of this post to discuss either). I have however always been amazed at the lack of support by Bruker to the apple platform, I am sure they have good reason for such a decision however I find it rather a pain that TopSpin is a. Not free at least for processing and b. not available for OS X. JEOL on the other had has always made their DELTA NMR suite free for users on Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X. Having a fondness for JEOL this has always been a big plus for me. 

In the last few years two products risen to the front as real contenders to the OS X crown.

iNMR Reader is suitable for most general 1D and some 2D applications is ideal for the PhD student or Post-Doc who wants an economic solution for their personal computer. Price € 50 for the first copy and €30 for each additional copy on the same order

MNova is much more polished and very capable of complex analysis and production of publication quality figures with its higher price tag is aimed primarily as a laboratory purchase. Price €305 for the full version and €105 for the lite version.

UPDATE: Thank you to Marcello for pointing out that there are great reviews on both these products at the nmr-software blog

Adium and Google Translation

I have been using Adium for around 2 years as my main chat client and have found it to be reliable and convenient to use. I can chat with google talk, Yahoo, MSN, and facebook all from the same application!

When I thought things could not get any better I found a great addition which sends the output via google translate to translate into any of the available languages!!!! I have attached a screen shot to demonstrate the magic! 

Just type %_tr{translate from, translate to, Text to translate} 

e.g. %_tr{en, de, Hello Simon I am pleased to meet you.}

Where have I been??

Sorry for not posting in so long. I have been concentrating on my website and fixing problems with my hosting. Currently I am hosted by 1and1 in the uk. They seem to offer the best value for money as far as features in my opinion the only problem is that their customer service is awful and it takes forever to get anything done.