Compatibility grid of old Scilab versions
or ''getting the most on a vintage platform''
Using the latest released version of Scilab is not always possible or desirable. There are many cases in which installation is required on a vintage computer or OS, for a host of practical reasons -- dedicated hardware installed into a specific, nonreplaceable box, for instance.
The aim of these notes is to detail the reqirements of various Scilab versions in terms of OS, installed packages, memory footprint and so on, together with minimal information about the appearance of a new feature or the obsolescence of an abandoned one.
There is an official System Requirements for Scilab page on site, which mentions the supported OS of some of the latest version, but lacks other details such as minimal system requirements.
A detailed list of features introduced and changes can be usually found in the release notes files (for instance trunk version, BUILD_4) and in the \$SCI/CHANGES file.
These files, however, do not always tell the whole story. A new feature, for example, may be listed when first introduced in just a seminal and buggy implementation, versions ahead of being really usable (notable examples: integer types, new graphical mode); for some other version compilation may be possible on a particular platform, though not officially supported.
Some old packages are currently available on the Scilab site download page, down to version 2.6. Another site to look up is the INRIA frp server, and rpmfind too retrieves a few packages. For places where version 2.5 used to be still available, see this newsgroup thread. For older versions don't despair but use a search engine, there is no limit to the junk which is kept online nowadays.
Some MacOS (usually cvs snapshots at arbitrary dates, rather than official releases) binaries are available on JPC Scilab site and on Stephane Mottelet site. TODO: insert what relevant in the tables below.
Some of the historical version info is taken from SCIBOT. Partially, the point at that ancient time was to track the development status between phantom unofficial versions; now this is not anymore relevant, given the open access to the codebase and bugzilla.
Please help adding data!
Scilab 4.1 released 12/12/2006 |
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officially supported on |
Linux |
Windows (2000/XP/Vista) |
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distributed binary runs also on |
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Win98SE |
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unofficial binaries available for |
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MacOSX |
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compiles also on |
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Solaris (10) |
disk space |
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RAM |
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works with 128Mb |
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notes |
* last version supporting old graphics mode |
Scilab 4.0 released 15/2/2006 |
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officially supported on |
Linux |
Windows 9X/2000/XP |
HP-UX |
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distributed binary runs also on |
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unofficial binaries available for |
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MacOSX |
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compiles also on |
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Solaris (10) |
disk space |
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RAM |
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notes |
* last version supporting the gtk2 widget (configure --with-gtk2) |
Scilab 4.0RC1 released 21/12/2005 |
* last version for which a Solaris binary is officially available |
Scilab 3.1.1 released 31/5/2005 |
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officially supported on |
Linux |
Windows 9X/2000/XP |
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Solaris |
HP-UX |
distributed binary runs also on |
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unofficial binaries available for |
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MacOSX |
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compiles also on |
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disk space |
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RAM |
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notes |
* released "due to a problem in demostration menues" |
Scilab 3.1 released 27/5/2005 |
Scilab 3.1RC released 5/4/2005 |
Scilab 3.0 released 9/7/2004 |
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officially supported on |
Linux |
Windows 9X/NT/2000/XP |
Solaris |
HP-UX |
distributed binary runs also on |
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unofficial binaries available for |
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compiles also on |
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disk space |
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77.6Mb with xml sources |
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RAM |
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notes |
* requires Tcl/Tk 8.4 |
Scilab 3.0RC released 18/5/2004 |
Scilab 2.7.2 |
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officially supported on |
windows, available here ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Scilab/distributions-2.7/scilab272.exe with sources |
disk space |
52.7Mb with xml sources |
Scilab 2.7.1 |
Scilab 2.7 released 20/2/2003 |
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officially supported on |
Linux |
Windows 9X/NT/2000/XP |
Solaris |
Dec Alpha |
distributed binary runs also on |
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unofficial binaries available for |
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compiles also on |
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disk space |
62Mb |
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RAM |
VSZ ~14Mb+8b*stacksize |
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notes |
* last version to require Tcl/Tk 8.3 only; runs e.g. on RedHat 7.3 |
Scilab 2.6 released 26/3/2001 |
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officially supported on |
Linux |
Windows 9X/NT/2000/XP |
Solaris |
Dec Alpha |
HP-UX |
SGI |
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distributed binary runs also on |
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unofficial binaries available for |
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MacOSX package |
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compiles also on |
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disk space |
61Mb |
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RAM |
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notes |
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Scilab-2.6 (alpha version) official unstable release |
Scilab-2.5.1 (second beta version) |
unofficial branch from the INRIA sources as of 2001-1-10 modifications to up to and including 2001-1-18, courtesy of Stéphane Mottelet |
Scilab-2.5.1 (first beta version) unofficial release from the Saphir site; intended for an INRIA course; first spotted 2001-1-22. |
Scilab-2.5.1 (alpha version) official unstable release as of 2000-7-21 |
Scilab 2.5 stable version, released 12/1999 |
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officially supported on |
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distributed binary runs also on |
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unofficial binaries available for |
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LinuxPPC package |
compiles also on |
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disk space |
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RAM |
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notes |
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Scilab-2.4.1 (official release) stable version |
Scilab 2.4 released 17-20/7/1998 |
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officially supported on |
Linux |
Win95/NT |
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notes |
Scilab 2.3.1 released 5/12/1997 |
Win95 beta announcement |
Scilab 2.3 released 15/5/1997 |
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officially supported on |
Dec Alpha (OSF1 3.0) |
Sun Sparc station (Sun OS 4.1.3, Sun Solaris 5.3, 5.5) |
HP9000 (HP-UX 10.20) |
SGI Mips Irix 5.3 |
HP-UX |
IBM-RS6000 (AIX 3.2.5) |
Linux |
notes |
Scilab 2.1 released 22/2/1995 (?) |
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officially supported on |
MacOs System 7.x.x, 68020, 68030+68882fpu, PPC |
RAM |
at least 5.5 Mb for 68K and 6.2 Mb for PowerPC; best with application memory > 8Mb |
disk space |
7Mb |
notes: |
available here ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Scilab/contrib/Mac |
Scilab 2.0 released 31/10/1994 |
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"tested on" |
Sun (SunOS 4.1.3) |
HP-UX 9.01 |
DEC mips |
DEC alpha (OSF/1 1.3) |
IBM RS600 |
PC (linux) (x486) |
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notes |
* announcement |