Some Ubuntu-related tricks will be descibed here.
Matlab
Matlab R2007a crashes frequently in Ubuntu Feisty. Apparently most of these problems are actually the fault of Java, on which Matlab relies heavily. By setting a few environment variables and upgrading the java JVM, most of these quirks can be fixed.
=== Simulink crashes ==
Install a new JVM by typing:
sudo aptitude install sun-java6-jre sun-java6-fonts
Now set the MATLAB_JAVA environment variable to point to the new JVM. I start Matlab via the following shell script (which I put in ~/bin):
export AWT_TOOLKIT=MToolkit export MATLAB_JAVA=/usr/lib/jvm/java-6-sun-1.6.0.00/jre eval `~/ligotools/bin/use_ligotools` /usr/local/bin/matlab $*