matplotlib pylab plot() BadWindow error

[oyinbo55]

I am trying to use the pylab plot command on my laptop running Ubuntu
6.06 (Dapper). Although the plot command works fine on my XP desktop
at work, I cannot open the plot window on the laptop. I edited
matplotlibrc to change interactive: to "True". In idle, I entered the
commands:

>>from pylab import *
plot([1,2,3])

The terminal window closed abruptly when I typed the closing
parenthesis.
I have been warned not to use the show() command in interactive mode.
I tried:
oyinbo@oyinbo-laptop:~$ idle-python2.4 -n
In idle -n, I entered the sam two commands. This time I got an error
message:
The program 'idle-python2.4' received an X Window System error.
This probably reflects a bug in the program.
The error was 'BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)'.
(Details: serial 2875 error_code 3 request_code 15 minor_code
0)
(Note to programmers: normally, X errors are reported
asynchronously;
that is, you will receive the error a while after causing it.
To debug your program, run it with the --sync command line
option to change this behavior. You can then get a meaningful
backtrace from your debugger if you break on the gdk_x_error()
function.)

Using the Python prompt without idle, I got no error message, but the
window simply didn't open:

oyinbo@oyinbo-laptop:~$ python
Python 2.4.3 (#2, Mar 7 2008, 01:58:20)
[GCC 4.0.3 (Ubuntu 4.0.3-1ubuntu5)] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright" , "credits" or "license" for more
information.

>>from pylab import *
plot([1,2,3])

[<matplotlib.lin es.Line2D instance at 0xb7bf04cc>]

Have I skipped a step?

Thanks for all the great information on your group.

Bill

[three3q]

Hi,

I have been warned not to use the show() command in interactive mode.

I can't find the error but had better luck with interactivePyth on ipython which shippes with a
pylab-friendly option.

dan