MATLAB at UD

Using MATLAB at UD

MATLAB is installed in a few (not most) public PC and Mac labs. Try Smith, Spencer, or DuPont Lab. Your department may have its own lab with access.
If you have your own computer, you can buy the student version of MATLAB for about $100.
You can use your "composer" account on copland. (For UNIX account help, go here.) Running graphically (e.g., being able to see the fancy interface and figure windows) from strauss or brahms requires an "X server" on your computer. X is a standard allowing another computer to open windows on your display. It does not ship with Windows. By itself, telnet from Windows or Mac will not give you access to MATLAB graphics. You can make an X connection from an X terminal in a lab, or from your own PC using free software Cygwin/X. (I have no Mac OSX experience, but it should be possible from there as well.)
Once you have logged on, first enter
```
newgrp xxxx
```
at the UNIX prompt in a shell window. Here "xxxx" is a project number assigned to the course, available from your instructor. This step makes sure that your activities are not charged against your general email account. You must then tell the mainframe where to display its windows. This is fairly automatic in Exceed; from a public terminal you should ask for local help on setting your "DISPLAY variable". Finally, enter
```
matlab &
```
at the prompt to run MATLAB.

Printing from MATLAB at an X terminal

If you are using an X terminal (such as those in Smith Hall), and you have trouble printing to the local printers, try one of the following alternatives.

Work around the problem by always printing in two steps:
```
>> print -f1 myfig.ps
>> !qpr -q smips myfig.ps
```
This would print Figure 1 on the Smith printer. (Check with someone at the lab for the correct queue name in other labs.)
Set up MATLAB to print correctly, but for only one lab, as follows:
1. Exit MATLAB if it is running. At the prompt type
```
strauss.udel.edu% cd ~; mkdir matlab
```
  If a "File exists" error occurs, ignore it.
2. Start MATLAB and enter
```
>> cd matlab
>> !pwd
>> edit printopt
```
  When the Editor opens, look for the comment "Put your own changes to the defaults here." On the next line, enter
```
pcmd = 'qpr -q smips';
```
  This is correct for Smith; you need to replace smips with something else in another lab (ask for help).
3. Click File/Save As... in the Editor. In the "Path or folder name" box, enter the output you got from "!pwd" above. Then click OK. You can close the Editor if you wish.
4. To check, enter
```
>> printopt
```
  The result should be
```
ans = 

qpr -q smips
```
  or whatever you used for pcmd. Now all printing should work as expected forever.