Quick start tutorial does not work: Difficulties getting started with tutorials as mxnet package throws errors

[peterkemper]

Hello,

I am trying to get started with gluonts and I am running into errors with the quick start tutorial thanks to mxnet.
I start to believe that the retired mxnet package is outdated and incompatible now with gluonts.

Evidence:
If you run yupiter notebook for the quick start tutorial and did install the gluonts mexnet package, then the line in the tutorial:
from gluonts.mx import SimpleFeedForwardEstimator, Trainer
throws first an error that complains about np.bool being not supported any more with a recommendation to fix that.
Once you do that, there is more trouble coming up, the next issue is:
AttributeError: module 'mxnet' has no attribute 'context'
At that point I stopped as I do not want to start debugging libraries for a tutorial that is supposed to run out of the box.

Discussion points:

• Please understand that tutorials that do not work close the door for anyone interested in using gluonts. So, please fix the tutorials.
• What is going to happen with the gluonts dependency on mxnet as this project is retired by apache (placed in the attic)?
• What is a recommended way to get started with gluonts (assuming that this is a community open to others)?

Thanks for your time.