Previously I described how to change the default zoom setting for the Maple gui by modifying the appropriate initialization file. Another useful setting to change is the default background color of the help browser. This is done by modifying, in the initialization file, the line HelpBGColor=. I set it to HelpBGColor=240 240 240, that gives a light gray background that is less harsh on my eyes. The three fields should be integers from 0 to 255; they correspond to the red, green, and blue components of the color.

A poster on comp.soft-sys.math.maple recently asked how to set the default zoom for worksheets to a non-standard value; the jump from 100% to 150% being rather large. Standard GUI This can be readily accomplished by modifying the proper Maple initialization file.

Linux

the file is ~/.maple10rc

Mac OS X

the file is Maple 10 Preferences in Library/Preferences under your user directory (thanks to Tim Lahey).

Windows

the file is Maple10.ini (not maple.ini). The maple help pages do not mention this file and I do not have Windows, so cannot check. I have received reports that it is located in the users subdirectory under the Maple installation directory, but also reports that it is in c:\Documents and Settings\JoeUser, where JoeUser is your user name. My advice, until this is cleared up, is to search for all instances of this file and use the newest one. Maple writes to this file whenever the gui exits, so the newest one should be the right one. You might send me a note on what you've found (along with which version of Maple you are using); I'll update this accordingly.

When I upgraded my Mac G5 from OS 10.3 to OS 10.4, the OS X versions of Maple (Maple 9.5 and Maple 10) continued to work. But the classic versions of Maple (Maple 7 and Maple Vr5) quit working. It turns out that the classic versions will run in OS 10.4 if the following files (perhaps from an old "System Folder") are moved into the "Extensions" folder of the active classic OS 9 "System Folder":

When I upgraded my Mac G5 from OS 10.3 to OS 10.4, the OS X versions of Maple (Maple 9.5 and Maple 10) continued to work. But the classic versions of Maple (Maple 7 and Maple Vr5) quit working. It turns out that the classic versions will run in OS 10.4 if the following files (perhaps from an old "System Folder") are moved into the "Extensions" folder of the active classic OS 9 "System Folder": OpenGLEngine OpenGLUtility OpenGLRendererATI OpenGLRenderer OpenGLMemory OpenGLLibrary Shared Library Manager PPC At least this worked for me.

I've been completely unsatisfied with the Maple LaTeX output. So, with the help of Joe Riel on comp.soft-sys.math.maple, I've created a procedure to use instead of a call to the latex command called simpleLaTeX. I've attached to this entry a Maple 9.5 worksheet that contains the procedure and a sample of its use. I'd appreciate any feedback people might have or further suggestions. Please send me any modifications you might make to the procedure. It seems to work quite well for all the test expressions I've sent to it.