readme.txt~

The Engineering Vibration Toolbox is a set of educational programs written in Octave by Joseph C.

ABOUT THE ENGIENERING VIBRATION TOOLBOX:

The Engineering Vibration Toolbox is a set of educational programs 
written in Octave by Joseph C. Slater. Also included are a number of help files,  
demonstration examples, and data files containing raw experimental data. The 
codes include single degree of freedom response, response spectrum, finite 
elements, numerical integration, and phase plane analysis. 

The most current version, can be obtained via the Engineering Vibration 
Toolbox home page at http://www.cs.wright.edu/~vtoolbox using any  HTML 2.0 
capable browser. For more information, please email me directly at 
mailto:[e-mail] if you have difficulty with this link.

A brief introduction to UNIX and MATLAB is also available in PostScript format 
on the FTP site. MATLAB is very similar to Octave. The EVT codes can be used as 
examples to learn how to program in Octave.

NOTE TO INSTRUCTORS:

Please send me any problems you've developed for the toolbox, I'd like to begin a 
collection of problems that better take advantage of its capabilities.


SETTING UP THE TOOLBOX:

The first step is to download the files.  Files in the must be downloaded in the 
following formats:

Text if they end in:
	.txt
	.m
	.exa
	
Binary is they end in:
	.con
	.mat
	.eqn

The toolbox can go in any directory as long as the Octave path to it is 
set properly in the .octaverc file in the users home directory.  
It should be named "vtoolbox" for consistency with other installations.  
Like any of the other toolboxes, you should not save personal files inside 
the vtoolbox directory since you may inadvertently lose them when you update 
(i.e. you may decide to delete the directory and replace everything).  

Example:
On my mac, my .octaverc file contains the command:
path(LOADPATH,"/Volumes/LaCie/Documents/MyMath/ovtoolbox");

On my UNIX system, my startup.m file contains the command:
path(LOADPATH,"/Volumes/LaCie/Documents/MyMath/ovtoolbox");

Funny, that's because my Mac is a UNIX system (OS X). Octave does not run on old MacOS.

Be aware that PCs are not case sensitive, Unix machines (including MacOS X) 
are case sensitive. The bottom line is save the vibration toolbox files in 
lower case (including the directory), on UNIX machines, and make sure your 
paths have the correct case. Type the "LOADPATH" command  from the Octave 
prompt to check the case of the directory structure to other toolboxes 
installed on your machine.


USING THE ENGINEERING VIBRATION TOOLBOX

The files on this disk will load/run on all platforms if transferred 
properly. Files with the extension .mat, .exa, .con, .eqn, and .out are 
binary files compatible on all platforms. To load them type "load filename 
-mat". Files with no extension or the extension .m are text files and must 
be transferred properly to assure that the end-of-line characters are 
correct for your platform. 

Typing 'help vtoolbox' will provide a table of contents of the toolbox. 
Likewise, typing 'help vtb?' will provide a table of contents for the 
files related to chapter '?'. Typing 'help codename' will provide help on 
the particular code.  Note that the 'filename' is 'codename.m'.

Engineering Vibration Toolbox commands can be run by typing them with the 
necessary arguments just as any other Octave/MATLAB commands/functions. For 
instance, vtb1_1 can be run by typing "vtb1_1(1,.1,1,1,0,10)". Many 
functions have multiple forms of input. The help for each function shows 
this flexibility.


CONTACTING THE AUTHOR:

If you have any difficulty, please email me at [e-mail].

Please visit the Engineering Vibration Toolbox home page at 
http://www.cs.wright.edu/~vtoolbox


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

Support for the Engineering Vibration Toolbox has come from a number of 
sources. First and foremost, Daniel J. Inman, who initially tasked myself 
and Donald J. Leo to write version 3 of the software for his text 
"Engineering Vibration" by Dr. Daniel J. Inman (Prentice Hall, 1994). I 
also thank the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and the 
College of Engineering and Computer Science at Wright State University for 
providing the computer resources for developing the MATLAB 4 version of 
the software. Perhaps the people who have given the most are my students 
who painfully experienced every piece of beta code, often at the least 
opportune times. Thanks is also given to Dr. Maurice Petyt and Robert C. 
Chiroux for their patience in testing numerous 4.0 beta versions of this 
software. Finally, John W. Eaton and others for writing/coordinating/
developing/supporting Octave. Please see http://www.octave.org for more 
information on Octave and how you can support its development.


LICENSE:
The Engineering Vibration Toolbox is licensed free of charge for educational use. 
For professional use, users should contact the Engineering Vibration Toolbox 
author directly.


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MATLAB is a registered trademark of the MathWorks, Inc.
Mac(intosh) is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
PostScript is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.
Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T.

Joseph C. Slater is the copyright holder of the Engineering Vibration 
Toolbox. Neither the author, Prentice Hall, nor Wright State University 
make any warranty with regard to merchantability or fitness for any given 
purpose with regard to the software. All rights are retained. No 
permission is given to anyone other than myself, the MathWorks and 
Prentice Hall to distribute this software in any manner whatsoever.