RE: [Axiom-developer] Scientific Computing with Free software onGNU/Linux HOWTO

[Bill Page]

On Sunday, November 14, 2004 1:39 AM Jason White wrote:

> 
> I noticed that Axiom wasn't mentioned in the Scientific Computing
> with Free software on GNU/Linux HOWTO:
> http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Scientific-Computing-with-GNU-Linux/
> 
> Is this deliberate in as much as Axiom hasn't been officially
> released? If not, then perhaps the maintainer of the HOWTO could
> be encouraged to include it in the next revision.

I think Axiom should be listed at the above site. I see not
reason to wait until there is an "official" release since this
could end up being a long time. In the mean time I think that
the Axiom project could use as many new users as possible.
Some of these might well be sufficiently motivated to help
bring Axiom to it's first official release state.

Unless somebody else here says "no" with good reasons, I think
you should go ahead and inform the maintainer of www.tldp.org
about Axiom and recommend that it be added.

> 
> It isn't clear exactly which Web pages to cite: the project
> page at http://nongnu.org/axiom/ is somewhat out of date
> (the Axiom book is still noted as forthcoming, for example).

I have to admit that that currently is a bit of a problem!

The site you mention above has been replaced by Tim Daly with
the following web site:

  http://axiom.axiom-developer.org

as the default home page for the developer site:

  http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/axiom

I am not exactly sure why he did this. ??

I think the contents of Tim's pages are more up to date but
apparently Tim has not yet had enough time to complete the
transition since there are still a few rough edges. Unfortunately
the web pages at http://axiom-axiom-developer.org can only be
updated by Tim Daly.

Both http://axiom-developer.org and
     http://www.axiom-developer.org
currently are redirected to the above page.

The pages at http://nongnu.org/axiom however can still be
updated by any of the developers with CVS access at Savannah.
In fact I did update it in September to point to the page you
mention below, but as far as I know, no other changes have
been made since they were first designed by David Mentre.

> http://page.axiom-developer.org/ might be a better reference.

There is also a link to this page at axiom.axiom-developer.org
where it is called 'wiki'. But this page is really just a
"place holder" page that currently I can update. It contains
links to the Axiom Portal

  http://page.axiom-developer.org/zope/Plone

and the MathAction wiki

  http://page.axiom-developer.org/zope/mathaction

There is also a link to the test environment for further
development of Axiom Portal and MathAction itself and few
selected other relevant links.

Recently Martin Rubey has done an excellent job of cleaning
up the MathAction wiki so that it also now serves as a good
starting point for new Axiom users. Both MathAction and the
Axiom Portal have the advantage that they can be updated by
anyone, directly over the web.

I think perhaps the best web reference for now might be

  http://www.axiom-developer.org

In the future once we straighten all this out, either that
can become the "official" home page for Axiom users or else
it can be redirected to the right place. Anyone else have
a better suggestion?

Note however that the computer where axiom-developer.org
resides is currently paid for privately by Tim Daly. I have
suggested previously that if we (collectively) see an advantage
to having parts of the Axiom support web pages (such as Axiom
Portal or MathAction) hosted on a "paid for" site such as
axiom-developer.org which has more flexibility than Savannah
or some other free open source development site, then I think
that it would be appropriate to call for donations to help
with funding this site. I think the costs right now are on
the order of $60 per month.

> Either way, whenever Axiom is ready for publicity we could
> request that it be added.
> 

I say do it now!

Regards,
Bill Page.