title: How do I get interactive plots again in Spyder/IPython/matplotlib?
body: <p>I upgraded from Python(x,y) 2.7.2.3 to <a href="http://code.google.com/p/pythonxy/wiki/Downloads">2.7.6.0</a> in Windows 7 (and was happy to see that I can finally type <code>function_name?</code> and see the docstring in the Object Inspector again) but now the plotting doesn't work as it used to.</p>
  
  <p>Previously (Spyder 2.1.9, IPython 0.10.2, matplotlib 1.2.1), when I plotted <a href="https://gist.github.com/endolith/4625838">this script</a>, for instance, it would plot the subplots side-by-side in an interactive window:</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rHoPQ.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
  
  <p>Now (Spyder 2.2.5, IPython 1.2.0, Matplotlib 1.3.1) when I try to plot things, it does the subplots as tiny inline PNGs, which is a <a href="http://ipython.org/ipython-doc/dev/interactive/qtconsole.html#inline-matplotlib">change in IPython</a>:</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/CP7Yy.png" alt="tiny inline PNGs"></p>
  
  <p>So I went into options and found this:</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/mLYFZ.png" alt="graphics options"></p>
  
  <p>which seems to say that I can get the old interactive plots back, with the 4 subplots displayed side-by-side, but when I switch to "Automatic", and try to plot something, it does nothing.  No plots at all.</p>
  
  <p>If I switch this drop-down to Qt, or uncheck "Activate support", it only plots the first subplot, or part of it, and then stops:</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/dXJpB.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
  
  <p>How do I get the old behavior of 4 side-by-side subplots in a single figure that I can interact with?</p>