Why does MATLAB 7.0 (R14) crash when using Remote Desktop?

When I use a Remote Desktop session with low color depth, I obtain a crash. Here are the reproduction steps:

1. From my local machine (I use Linux) I remote desktop into my university:

 $ rdesktop remote.seas.ucla.edu

2. Once logged in, I start MATLAB

3. Then I execute my prob_2.m file

prob_2

I obtain the following error: ERROR: Error in ==> getframe at 35 x=capturescreen(varargin{:}); Error in ==> prob_2 at 9 M(t+1) = getframe;

then I obtain a crashdump:

 Stack Trace:
   [0] libmwgui.dll:bool __cdecl wm_IsWindowTrueColor(struct WinRec_tag *)(0x0f656420, 3983552, 0xffffffff, 1) + 20 bytes
   [1] hg.dll:_hgGetframeNew(1, 0x00cdd8ac, 0, 0x00cdd90c) + 522 bytes
   [2] m_dispatcher.dll:public: virtual void __thiscall Mfh_builtin<struct mxArray_tag>::dispatch_mf(int,struct mxArray_tag * *,int,struct mxArray_tag * *)(1, 0x00cdd8ac, 0, 0x00cdd90c) + 55 bytes
   [3] m_dispatcher.dll:public: virtual void __thiscall Mfh_MATLAB_fn::dispatch_fh(int,struct mxArray_tag * *,int,struct mxArray_tag * *)(1, 0x00cdd8ac, 0, 0x00cdd90c) + 200 bytes
 <snip>

If in step 1, I remote desktop like this:

 $ rdesktop -a 24 <server_machine_address>

where server_machine_address is the address of the machine I am remotely connecting to.

After following steps 2 and 3 no crash occurs.

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

Since the color depth was not specified the Remote Desktop server was probably using 8-bit color depth. MATLAB supports 16-bit or higher color depth as is stated in the system requirements.