GNU Octave is a numerical computing package used in the Physics and MSCS departments at St. Olaf. It is free and open-source software and can be installed on any computer. IT maintains an installer for Windows to ease the installation process. Octave is installed on computers in the Physics department labs: RNS271, RNS292, RNS293 and RNS298.
Follow these instructions to install Octave on your computer.
1. Make sure you are connected to the network file storage, specifically the I: drive. For information on connecting, see Network File Storage at St. Olaf.
2. Navigate to I:Octave.
3. Right-click on install-octave.bat and select Run as administrator.
4. The installer will copy the Octave files to C:Octave on your computer and place a shortcut on your desktop. Double-click on the desktop shortcut to start Octave.
St. Olaf IT recommends the text editor Notepad++ for writing and editing Octave files.
Important information for Windows 10 and 8 users
Octave is not completely compatible with Windows 10 and 8. If you install it on Windows 10 or 8, you will not see the typical “octave>” prompt, and certain functions, such as plotting, will not work. There is a work-around:
1. Right-click on the desktop shortcut for Octave and select Properties.
2. In the Target: field, add the following text to the end of the line “-i –line-editing”.
3. Click OK to save the change.