Best OS for Matlab

I dual-boot Windows and Linux Mint (derivative of Ubuntu). In the past I've used Matlab in Windows, but I typically prefer to run things in Linux. I use Matlab for modeling ecological process (currently spatially explicit population dynamics). From what I can tell, some of the developer tools for Matlab are available only for the Windows versions, but this doesn't matter to me.

Should I go for a Windows or Linux version of Matlab?

Thanks!

[Walter Roberson]

Watch out for falling flame-wars ;-(

Collin, you have not defined what _is_ important to you in making the decision.

[Claudio Iturra]

Linux is the way!

Answer 1

[Arnaud Miege]

If you use Excel and want to read/write from/to Excel, I would recommend Windows to get the fully functionality. Similarly, if you intend to use ActiveX, I would also recommend Windows. There are other toolboxes that only work on Windows. If you connect to hardware, again, there are various things that only work under Windows. It really depends what you want to do.

HTH,

Arnaud

Answer 2

[Daniel Shub]

Do you even need to make the choice? Many of the MATLAB licensing options are pretty flexible. You should check with Mathworks if the license you are interested in covers dual-boot machines.

Answer 3

[Jan]

There are small, but critical differences between Matlab under Windows and Linux, e.g.:

• Answers:figures pop to foreground
• Answers: BG-color of uicontrol.

The fine-tuning of a GUI has to take into account such differences, which increases the complexity of a program.

Answer 4

[Collin]

All right. Thanks everyone for your advice! I've got matlab installed on my Windows partition, and I'll probably keep using that, but I will definitely see if I can use it on both OS's with the same license!

[Jan]

I imagine this: Run Matlab in a virtual Windows machine under Linux. Do the license conditions allow to use the same license as for the Matlab version installed on the same computer for a dual-boot Windows?? Kind regards to the TMW lawyers.

[Daniel Shub]

My named-user license allows me to install MATLAB on ~5 machines. I don't know how virtual machines and dual-boot machines count.