Ubuntu 14.04 + Matlab 2014b, constant graphics glitches

I'm just trying to do normal matlab stuff, stepping through functions, checking intermediate results, maybe writing some scripts to do some more complex debugging. I'm using a fresh install of both Matlab and Ubuntu 14.04, but I constantly get errors like:

Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Window must not be zero
  at sun.awt.X11.WindowPropertyGetter.<init>(Unknown Source)
  at sun.awt.X11.WindowPropertyGetter.<init>(Unknown Source)
  at sun.awt.X11.XlibUtil.isToplevelWindow(Unknown Source)
  at sun.awt.X11.XWindowPeer.removeTransientForHint(Unknown Source)
  at sun.awt.X11.XWindowPeer.restoreTransientFor(Unknown Source)
  at sun.awt.X11.XWindowPeer.updateTransientFor(Unknown Source)
  at sun.awt.X11.XWindowPeer.setModalBlocked(Unknown Source)
  at sun.awt.X11.XDialogPeer.blockWindows(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.Dialog.blockWindows(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.Dialog.modalShow(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.Dialog.conditionalShow(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.Dialog.show(Unknown Source)
  at com.mathworks.mwswing.MJDialog.show(MJDialog.java:311)
  at java.awt.Component.show(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.Component.setVisible(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.Window.setVisible(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.Dialog.setVisible(Unknown Source)
  at com.mathworks.mwswing.MJOptionPane.showOptionDialog(MJOptionPane.java:539)
  at com.mathworks.mwswing.MJOptionPane.showMessageDialog(MJOptionPane.java:435)
  at com.mathworks.mwswing.MJOptionPane.showMessageDialog(MJOptionPane.java:425)
  at com.mathworks.mde.cmdwin.CmdWinEditorKit.enforceAppendLimit(CmdWinEditorKit.java:2799)
  at com.mathworks.mde.cmdwin.CmdWinEditorKit.appendRecalledCommands(CmdWinEditorKit.java:2734)
  at com.mathworks.mde.cmdwin.CmdWinEditorKit$HistoryRecallListener.commandRecalled(CmdWinEditorKit.java:2698)
  at com.mathworks.mde.cmdhist.AltHistory$14$1.run(AltHistory.java:601)
  at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventQueue.access$200(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventQueue$3.run(Unknown Source)
  at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
  at java.security.ProtectionDomain$1.doIntersectionPrivilege(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
  at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)

whereupon some/any of the following occur:

• I can't use the command window (gives no cursor when clicked on)
• I can't edit files
• I can edit files but can't save them
• MATLAB is totally frozen
• MATLAB is totally frozen and sits on top of any other windows.

So then I have to kill the process and restart, which kills any progress I've made. For long running optimizations, this is really annoying. I don't understand how you (Mathworks) allow such rickety product to ship.

Answer 1

[Adrien Peyrache]

I have the same error/issue, same version of Ubuntu and I have tried matlab version R2014a,R2014a, and R2013b.

seems to occur when I am making many plots, but it is not a reproducible problem. did you find a solution?

[Sanj B]

I installed 2014a and it seems to be a bit less buggy, though I think that this is just because it's a fresh install. Using a desktop manager that isn't Unity also seems to cause more problems (than using Unity).

Otherwise, I'm slowly migrating my work over to numpy.