It turns out that it's very tricky to use yum to install ANYTHING... (at least compared to Ubuntu)
First of all, install Python-2.7 side by side with the original 2.6 since otherwise you will mess up your OS. Then, install pip and configure it to Python-2.7. The step by step instruction is here:
https://github.com/0xdata/h2o/wiki/Installing-python-2.7-on-centos-6.3.-Follow-this-sequence-exactly-for-centos-machine-only
http://toomuchdata.com/2012/06/25/how-to-install-python-2-7-3-on-centos-6-2/
It's important to run:
yum groupinstall "Development tools" yum install zlib-devel bzip2-devel openssl-devel ncurses-devel sqlite-devel readline-devel tk-develBefore compiling and installing Python.
Then, by typing:
pip install PACKAGE_NAME
You will be able to install the package for Python-2.7.
For Scipy, the important package to install before it are:
yum install blas blas-devel lapack lapack-devel atlas atlas-devel
For Matpoltlib, the important package to install before it are:
yum install freetype-devel libpng-devel
For iPython to have [Tab] nationalities:
pip install readline
To install Emacs 24:
http://vitalvastness.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/installing-emacs-24-on-centos-6/comment-page-1/
Install liblockfile from here (that’s the x86_64 link) … if you click on the download link it will invoke the package manager and install directly from Firefox.
cd /etc/yum.repos.d
yum install emacs-24.2-4.el6.x86_64
