This is the PLPLOT distribution.  PLPLOT is a scientific plotting package for
many systems, small (micro) and large (super) alike.  Despite its small size
and quickness, it has enough power to satisfy most users, including: standard
x-y plots, semilog plots, log-log plots, contour plots, 3D plots, mesh plots,
bar charts and pie charts.  Multiple graphs (of the same or different sizes)
may be placed on a single page with multiple lines in each graph.  Different
line styles, widths and colors are supported.  A virtually infinite number of
distinct area fill patterns may be used.  There are almost 1000 characters in
the extended character set.  This includes four different fonts, the Greek
alphabet and a host of mathematical, musical, and other symbols.  The fonts
can be scaled to any size for various effects.  Many different output device
drivers are available (system dependent), including a portable metafile
format and renderer.

The PLPLOT package is freely distributable, but NOT in the public domain.
The PLPLOT source code, except header files and those files explicitly
granting permission, may not be used in a commercial software package without
consent of the authors.  You are allowed and encouraged to include the PLPLOT
object library and header files in a commercial package provided that: (1) it
is explicitly and prominently stated that the PLPLOT library is freely
available, and (2) the full copyrights on the PLPLOT package be displayed
somewhere in the documentation for the package.

We welcome suggestions on how to improve this code, especially in the form of
user-contributed enhancements or bug fixes.  If PLPLOT is used in any
published papers, please include an acknowledgment or citation of our work,
which will help us to continue improving PLPLOT.  Also, please remember that
as PLPLOT is not a commercial product, we cannot be expected to offer the
kind of support that a commercial product may.  There is great interest
in extending PLPLOT and fixing bugs, but the principal authors can only
afford to work on it part time.  Improvements will necessarily focus on
those which help us get our work done.

PLPLOT is written in C, enabling it to run on many platforms practically
without modification.  Fortran programs may use it transparently; stub
routines are provided to handle the C<->Fortran interface without any
modification of the user program.  C programs are required to include the
header file "plplot.h"; see the documentation for more details.

The main documentation for PLPLOT is in the doc/ directory in the form of
several TeX files; please consult this for additional information ('latex
plotdoc').  Unfortunately documentation tends to lag actual improvements to
the code, so don't be surprised if some known features are not explained
there.  Consult 'Changes.log' to see a list of recent changes.  

At present, PLPLOT is known to work on the following systems:

	Unix:	SunOS
		A/IX 
		HP-UX
		Unicos
		DG/UX
		Ultrix
		SysV
		Linux

	Amiga/Exec
	MS-DOS
	OS/2
	NeXT

For more information on how to get or use PLPLOT on your system, see:
 - appendices to the PLPLOT manual
 - system-specific documentation in the appropriate sys/<system> directory.

To become a subscriber to the PLPLOT mailing list, send a request to
plplot-request@dino.ph.utexas.edu.

CREDITS
-------

PLPLOT is the result of the effort of many people, so it is impractical to
list all the contributors.   Those currently supporting and otherwise
responsible for the package in its present form include:

Maurice LeBrun
Please send all comments, flames, patches, etc, to me.  I am responsible for
all the PLPLOT kernel development as well as most of the work on the
metafile, xwindow, xterm, postscript, tektronix, and Amiga drivers.

EMAIL	mjl@fusion.ph.utexas.edu 
USMAIL	Dr. Maurice LeBrun
	Institute for Fusion Studies
	University of Texas
	Austin, TX  78712


Geoff Furnish
Please send questions regarding the MS-DOS and OS/2 drivers to Geoff.

EMAIL	furnish@fusion.ph.utexas.edu
USMAIL	Geoff Furnish
	Institute for Fusion Studies
	University of Texas
	Austin, TX  78712


Tony Richardson
Creator of PLPLOT 2.6b, 3.0
Please send questions regarding installation of PLPLOT on the NeXT to Tony.

EMAIL   amr@egr.duke.edu

USMAIL  Tony Richardson              Tony Richardson
        184 Electrical Engineering   2920 Chapel Hill Road Apt. 41-D
        Duke University              Durham, NC 27707
        Durham, NC 27706
        ph 919-684-5274              ph 919-493-1609
