HPC/Applications/matlab

Alternatives

MATLAB is a vendor-specific modeling package subject to license restrictions.

You may wish to consider using alternative solutions, especially for new projects.

Octave

If you have existing MATLAB code, try running in using GNU Octave instead of MATLAB for all but the most demanding or vendor-specific tasks:

• To start octave:

octave

• GNU Octave Documentation
• Differences between Octave and MATLAB in the WikiBook MATLAB Programming (slightly out of date).
• Why/when should I prefer MATLAB over Octave? – Discussion at stackoverflow.com.

Python or Perl

For more flexibility, use a general-purpose scripting language.

• Most users may want to look at Python with NumPy, available as module "numpy" on Carbon. See also:
  • Numerical python functions written for compatability with MATLAB
  • NumPy for Matlab Users
• Users who like a stonger Unix flavor should look at Perl.

NLopt – Nonlinear optimization

For users wishing to solve nonlinear optimization problems, the nlopt module is a fairly general-purpose optimization library with interfaces in C, C++ and Fortran.

Licensing

MATLAB is available on Carbon on request, and is subject to strictly limited license terms. Running MATLAB is restricted to:

• Argonne employees (including consultants and students),
• by one user at a time.

Toolboxes

We have the following toolboxes installed:

• Curve Fitting Toolbox
• Image Processing Toolbox
• Optimization Toolbox
• Parallel Computing Toolbox
• Statistics Toolbox

Running MATLAB

• To get started, load the "matlab" module as described at HPC/Module Setup.
• Then choose how to run the application:

GUI

matlab

Command line

For basic calculations, you could save some startup time by simply using the text interface.

matlab -nojvm

Does not load the Java VM and toolboxes requiring any java.

or

matlab -nodisplay

Suppresses X11.

Using the MATLAB compiler

The MATLAB compiler, available on Carbon, allows you to create standalone Linux binaries that do not need a MATLAB license token to run.

For documentation, see HPC/Applications/matlab/Compiler.

Parallel toolkit

See HPC/Applications/matlab/Parallel.

Troubleshooting

Access

To run MATLAB on Carbon, you must be a member of the "employees" group. You could still load the "matlab" module if you are not, but it will not enable anything.

• To inspect your current group membership, run:

groups

The word "employees" must show.

License in use

License checkout failed.
License Manager Error -9
This error may occur when:
-The hostid of this computer does not match the hostid in the license file.
-A Designated Computer installation is in use by another user.
If no other user is currently running MATLAB, you may need to activate.

Solution:

• Wait a few minutes or hours.
• For urgent request, to locate and possibly terminate an existing session, Send a support request.