A brief guide on how-to install Matlab R2007a under Ubuntu 10.04.

1. Get a copy of the license e-mail from The Mathworks.

2. Create a directory where you want to install Matlab R2007a, and goto this directory:

mkdir /usr/local/matlab74
cd /usr/local/matlab74

3. From the e-mail of The Mathworks, copy the information of the Linux License file to a file license.dat, which you create in the new matlab74 directory.

4. Insert the Matlab R2007a DVD and start the installation:

cd /media/MATHWORKS_DVD
./install &

Follow the installation steps. Make sure that you set the installation directory to your directory (/usr/local/matlab74/). In one of the first steps, the Matlab license file should be found and printed to the screen.

5. After installation, goto the Matlab directory, and run the installation script.

cd /usr/local/matlab74
./install_matlab

6. Matlab uses a flexlm licensing manager which needs to be running in order to start Matlab. This server can be started either when you startup your computer, or when you start Matlab. I have chosen to write a script which automatically starts the flexlm server and then start Matlab.

#!/bin/sh
 
# Add export for menubar
export AWT_TOOLKIT=MToolkit
 
# Startup license manager
/usr/local/matlab74/etc/lmstart
 
# Startup Matlab
/usr/local/matlab74/bin/matlab

You will notice the extra export rule which is needed because otherwise the Matlab menubar is not visible. I stored this file in the matlab directory (/usr/local/matlab74). Now you can start Matlab by running this script. If you want to add Matlab to a desktop launcher you just have to call this script. The icon can be found in /usr/local/matlab/X11/icons/.