[AstroPy] Enthought Canopy vs. another distribution for Mac?

Thu May 9 12:10:54 EDT 2013

On Sun, May 5, 2013 at 11:28 PM, Kelle Cruz <kellecruz at gmail.com> wrote:

> I *hate* that the answer to this question changes so often! Is there any
> hope of it settling down anytime soon?
>
> Is someone planning on updating the python4astronomers install page? I've
> been considering that page the "official" recommendation. Tom? I think the
> only thing that needs to be updated is the box for the impatient…which is
> almost EVERYONE!
>

Moritz Guenther and I have made an update to the Python for Astronomers
site.  It now provides instructions for getting started with Anaconda and
greatly simplifies the overall layout and flow for installation.  Please
see:

  http://python4astronomers.github.io/installation/python_install.html

Cheers,
Tom & Moritz

>
> kelle
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 30, 2013 at 11:29 AM, Leo Singer <lsinger at caltech.edu> wrote:
>
>> I agree, MacPorts is the way to go. Enthought's 'Free' distribution is
>> crippled; it's 32-bit, which limits speed and array sizes on modern 64-bit
>> machines. MacPorts provides not just Python itself, but hundreds of Python
>> packages, including many that are related to astronomy and other science
>> disciplines.
>>
>> On Apr 30, 2013, at 10:16 AM, astropy-request at scipy.org wrote:
>>
>> *From: *"Ries, Paul A (3265-Affiliate)" <Paul.A.Ries at jpl.nasa.gov>
>> *Subject: **Re: [AstroPy] Enthought Canopy vs. another distribution for
>> Mac?*
>> *Date: *April 30, 2013 10:21:35 AM CDT
>> *To: *"AstroPy at scipy.org" <AstroPy at scipy.org>
>>
>>
>>  Eric,
>>
>>  If you're familiar with linux package administration, I recommend using
>> MacPorts ( http://www.macports.org/ ) to install your python.  It's very
>> similar to the apt or yum system used on linux boxes.  It leaves your
>> system python untouched, but lets you install pretty much any free python
>> package out there and allows you to keep everything up to date. (It also
>> works with plenty of other free and astronomically useful software e.g.
>> gcc, gfortran ,editors).  It also provides simple instruction with
>> installation for how to manage which python is used by default.   I dabbled
>> in Enthought and the system python, but I've found Macports to more
>> reliably reproduce the pain-free python experience from linux.
>>
>>  For more on installing with macports:
>> http://astrofrog.github.io/macports-python/
>>
>>  Also, an aside, don't fret much about clobbering CASA.  It will happily
>> stay in its own little python world regardless of what python you're
>> installing.
>>
>>  ----Paul
>>
>>  On Apr 30, 2013, at 7:20 AM, Matt Davis wrote:
>>
>>  Hi Eric, I generally recommend the Anaconda distro:
>> http://continuum.io/downloads.html It's open source and supports setting
>> up different environments, and it's nicely self contained so it won't mess
>> with anything else you have installed. You can set it up on both Mac and
>> Linux without root.
>>
>>  Best,
>> Matt
>>
>>  On Apr 30, 2013, at 10:13 AM, "Eric L. N. Jensen" <
>> ejensen1 at swarthmore.edu>
>>  wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I've gradually been making the switch both to using Python more for my
>> data analysis, and also doing more of my work on a Mac rather than Linux.
>>  So I've decided it's time to get my Mac python distribution(s) in order
>> (there are several of them running around on my machine, from various
>> packages) and start fresh with a new python distro that I'll maintain as my
>> main work environment.
>>
>> The page at
>> http://python4astronomers.github.io/installation/python_install.htmlrecommends Enthought Python as a good place to start, but I find that this
>> has now changed to a different environment called Canopy.  Any opinions on
>> whether I should install Canopy, or choose a different distro?
>>
>> A few pieces of information that may be helpful in answering this:
>>
>> 1.  I'm running Mac OSX 10.7, 64-bit.
>> 2.  I'm comfortable installing/building software from the command line
>> (as root or not).
>> 3.  BUT all of my installation/sys-admin experience is with non-python
>> software, and much of it on Linux.  I don't have any experience with
>> managing a python environment, especially with multiple python
>> installations, and I don't want to mess up the system python install (or
>> the internal python installs for other software I have installed, like
>> CASA).
>> 4.  I *do* qualify for the Enthought academic license, so I can use that
>> rather than the free version.
>> 5.  If this goes well, I'd probably like to set up a similar environment
>> on my linux machine as well, though this is relatively low priority if
>> otherwise there's a good Mac-only solution.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your help with this - let me know if there's other
>> info that would be useful.
>>
>> Eric Jensen
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> Kelle Cruz, PhD — http://kellecruz.com/
> 917.725.1334 — Hunter: x16486 — AMNH: x3404
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