Something's wrong here. I've installed Matlab R2012a, and the install file does not require any input file.
This should work.
Command line way.
- Open Terminal
- cd into Matlab directory ( which has the install file and is shown in your screenshot)
sudo chmod +x ./installsudo ./install- This will open a window, from where you will be able to proceed yourself.
GUI way:
- type alt+F2. this opens the
run dialog
- type
gksudo nautilus and hit enter
- open the Matlab directory (as shown in your screenshot)
- check if install file has execute permissions (as in your screenshot)
- Double click install. You will get a window asking you wether to display or run.
- Click on Run
- you should be able to find your way from here. this opens a window with necessary instructions.
as you see, The Command line way is easier and safer.. ;)
This is guaranteed to work.
And just so you know, when you executed install, as described in your question, /usr/bin/install must have got executed. It is probably the one that complained of a missing file operand.
Garrett's answer almost works for me, but instead I have to use
StartupWMClass=sun-awt-X11-XFramePeer
This still gives an extra launcher icon while the splashscreen is visible (because the WM_CLASS of the spashscreen is just "MATLAB"), but then the window gets properly grouped under the launcher.
New instances of Matlab (started by terminal, or Synapse, or from another tty with export DISPLAY=:0) also get grouped under this launcher, and the launcher's quit option kills all of them.
I found this WM_CLASS value by using
$ xprop WM_CLASS
and then clicking on the Matlab window, a command I got from Superuser.
To prevent the temporary extra launcher icon, you can also add the -nosplash flag after the -desktop one.
So, my ~/.local/share/applications/MATLAB.desktop looks like this:
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Icon=matlab
Name=Matlab
Comment=Start MATLAB - The Language of Technical Computing
Exec=matlab -desktop -nosplash
Terminal=false
Categories=Development;
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=sun-awt-X11-XFramePeer
X-Ayatana-Desktop-Shortcuts=New_Window;
Name[en_US]=MATLAB
[New_Window Shortcut Group]
Name=start a new MATLAB instance
Exec=matlab -desktop
This is on Ubuntu 12.10, with Matlab R2012b
Best Answer
You'll have to obtain a MATLAB install cd, unfortunately. Apart from a small selection of codecs and plugins, there are no licensed applications (that I know of) in the ubuntu repositories. There are a couple of paid applications in the Software Centre, but I checked and MATLAB isn't there.
You can either download a trial from www.mathworks.com and use that until you can obtain a full version, or you can try using spyder, which is an open-source matlab-like python IDE, available on the repositories.
Also, don't bother with wine (I can't comment on other people's answers because I don't have the reputation yet). You'll run into exactly the same problem of needing an install cd.