Has anyone managed to run the MATLAB R2023a new desktop (Beta) on Linux? It does not like Fedora 38 Linux with Gnome 44 desktop (X11).

Just downloaded anhd installed "newdesktopformatlab.mlpkginstall" (version 23.1.0) on Linux 2023a update 2, running on Fedora 38 with Gnome, X11 desktop.

Had to move /usr/local/MATLAB/R2023a/bin/glnxa64/libfreetype.* to a ./exclude directory, to avoid the R2022b and later problem recorded here https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1978579-why-do-some-matlab-features-fail-on-ubuntu-23-04-with-exit-code-127-in-matlab-r2022b-and-matlab-r202, when trying to install the new desktop app.

Several problems found when running with the new desktop.

On running from the command line, these info lines (not seen with original desktop) were reported:

[mark@alice ~]$ /usr/local/MATLAB/R2023a/bin/matlab
[0613/181331.933127:INFO:client_app.cpp(383)] Dealing with user ID
[0613/181331.933191:INFO:client_app.cpp(390)] Process is not running as root
[0613/181332.012646:INFO:client_app.cpp(383)] Dealing with user ID
[0613/181332.012714:INFO:client_app.cpp(390)] Process is not running as root
[0613/181332.014270:INFO:client_app.cpp(383)] Dealing with user ID
[0613/181332.014327:INFO:client_app.cpp(390)] Process is not running as root

DevTools listening on ws://127.0.0.1:3222/devtools/browser/fe52616e-1c87-45ea-bc6b-a19d7d1f7c5f
% <<snip fontconfig warning>>
[0613/181332.298219:INFO:client_app.cpp(383)] Dealing with user ID
[0613/181332.298297:INFO:client_app.cpp(390)] Process is not running as root
    

These problems were seen when the GUI opened:

1. The gettingstarted.mlx Live Script took a while to load;
2. The MATLAB GUI maximised over the largest dimensions of my dual-screen setup, so went off the sides of the bottom screen;
3. Right-click menus are shown, but no items could be selected (menu closes with no command executed);
4. Managed to open a project and run a script (only by double-clicking to open the file in the editor and pressing the Run button). The program opens two uifigures, which should size to the height of the first screen and each just less than half its width, BUT both opened as tiny square windows. Re-sizing them worked OK and they appeared to hold the expected multiple plots.
5. Tried "Send Feedback", but a) the topic dropdown expanded, but all attempts to select an item failed (the list just closed); b) selecting either text box worked only occasionally (typed text did not appear); and c) could not [Submit], because the topic was not selected.

(I suspect the inability to select an item from the right-click menu (3) and the Feedback tote menu (5a) are instances of the same problem.)

Have gone back to the original desktop, until the new beta has been fixed and tested on Linux and re-released.

None of the problems seen above are happening with the original desktop.

[Nikola]

Hey, did you ever resolve these issues?

I'm facing a similar problem where I cannot change the state of dropdown menus when I try the new desktop on Ubuntu 22.04.4

Answer 1

[Aniket]

Hi @Mark Thomas,

I understand that you are experiencing several issues with the new desktop format on MATLAB version 23.1.0, running on Fedora 38 with the Gnome X11 desktop environment.

As mentioned in the MATLAB Linux System Requirements below, Fedora is not officially supported by MathWorks, which may lead to some compatibility issues.

https://www.mathworks.com/support/requirements/matlab-linux.html

The first, second, and fourth issues you have encountered are probably because of unsupported platform since they are not reproducible on Ubuntu 22.04.

Kindly refer to following steps to resolve rest of the issues:

1. Regarding the third issue, where right-click menus are not functioning properly: MATLAB does not yet support native Wayland environments. Although you mentioned using X11, ensure that your session is indeed running under X11 and not Wayland. This can be done by running the following command in the terminal:

echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE 

You can switch to X11 by selecting it from the login screen options before logging in.

2. Regarding the fifth issue of using the feedback form, the dropdown selection problem appears related to the same issue as the right-click menu. The text box issue, where typed text does not appear, is a known bug with GNOME desktops. Please refer to the following bug report for workarounds:

https://www.mathworks.com/support/bugreports/1797911

I hope these suggestions help to resolve the issues you are facing.