More on Matlab (the good, the bad, and the ugly)
The good news is that Mathworks has issued a new version of Matlab.
The ugly news is that it's Release 2006a, which is also described as Matlab 7.2. Yes, Mathworks has decided to confuse us with yet another numbering scheme for Matlab, just when I'd finally internalized that R14 and version 7 were the same thing, with R14 Service Pack 3 corresponding to version 7.1 (as distinct from 7.01, which was R14 Service Pack 1).
The bad news is that the Macintosh system requirements specify that this latest version requires a PowerPC G4 or a PowerPC G5 processor. In other words, it won't run on a Core Duo. The press release about the change in name indicates that the next scheduled update is in September 2006. There is no information anywhere on the website that I've been able to find concerning plans for MacIntel version of the program. Postings on comp.soft-sys.matlab by Mathworks employees are understandably vague, but indicate an intention to provide a compatible version. It's these employees who suggest that Matlab will run on MacIntel, but only from the command line, with the flag -nojvm (that is, without the Java Virtual Machine—that's where the problem apparently is). However, at least some newsgroup posters have had problems when attempting to do so.
So, for now and for the foreseeable future, lack of Matlab could be a deal-breaker for scientists thinking about upgrading to a new Mac.
The ugly news is that it's Release 2006a, which is also described as Matlab 7.2. Yes, Mathworks has decided to confuse us with yet another numbering scheme for Matlab, just when I'd finally internalized that R14 and version 7 were the same thing, with R14 Service Pack 3 corresponding to version 7.1 (as distinct from 7.01, which was R14 Service Pack 1).
The bad news is that the Macintosh system requirements specify that this latest version requires a PowerPC G4 or a PowerPC G5 processor. In other words, it won't run on a Core Duo. The press release about the change in name indicates that the next scheduled update is in September 2006. There is no information anywhere on the website that I've been able to find concerning plans for MacIntel version of the program. Postings on comp.soft-sys.matlab by Mathworks employees are understandably vague, but indicate an intention to provide a compatible version. It's these employees who suggest that Matlab will run on MacIntel, but only from the command line, with the flag -nojvm (that is, without the Java Virtual Machine—that's where the problem apparently is). However, at least some newsgroup posters have had problems when attempting to do so.
So, for now and for the foreseeable future, lack of Matlab could be a deal-breaker for scientists thinking about upgrading to a new Mac.
posted by Aliceq @ 5:20 PM
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