Anyway to run MATLAB in the new Mac OS X?

I have OS X 10.8 and it says MATLAB can't run because it relies on X11, which has been replaced/discontinued in OS X 10.8. XQuartz is now used exclusively by Apple and while I have the X11 program the operating system intentionally ignores it.

Does anyone else have 10.8 yet? Any work around?

[Andrew Newell]

You really mean 10.8 - Mountain Lion? Is this a pre-release?

[J]

Yep. 10.8.0.

I would have kept both 10.7.3 and 10.8 but my Macbook Air can't handle both and it's against my religion to have an old OS.

[Carlos Parra]

I opened XQuartz, and from its xterm window I opened MATLAB by typing (command line):

matlab

you can also try typing:

/Applications/MATLAB_R2008bSV.app/bin/matlab (provided you are using R2008b)

[Carlos Parra]

Oh! I forgot... You first need to install XQuartz, which is the defacto xwindow manager after Apple nixed X11.

See: http://xquartz.macosforge.org/landing/

[Krzysztof]

Some good advice - if you're serious about MATLAB then do not upgrade to OS X 10.8 - MATLAB's integration into Mountain Lion is just god-awful (10s delays between clicking the cursor and it registering on screen are normal on my top-of-the-line Retina with extra RAM)

Answer 1

[Ken Atwell]

Mountain Lion is released -- here is official information on MATLAB compatibility.

Answer 2

[Ken Atwell]

Try installing XQuartz version 2.7.1.

[J]

Thanks but it comes pre-installed with OS X 10.8; doesn't help. I think it "too new". MATLAB says "X11 version 1.1.3 or greater is required.

For OS X 10.5 or later, X11 is available on the OS X installation DVD. Please find and run the Optional Installs.mpkg installer."

[Colton Mathis]

Actually, J, X11 is not included with 10.8. You do need to install it. See my answer below.

Answer 3

[Colton Mathis]

I ran into the same problem you did after just installing 10.8. At first, it told me I needed to install X11. I did, and then it said MATLAB couldn't open because it was experiencing an error. So, I restarted, updated X11 through the program itself (for some reason, the latest version isn't available for download on their site), uninstalled/reinstalled MATLAB, and now it all works perfectly!

[Bryan]

Could you tell us where you got X11, what version worked and what version of MATLAB you are running? thank you.

Answer 4

[Jesus Rogel-Salazar]

I had a similar issue and managed to get it running (after a while) running the application directly form XQuartz xterm.

More detailed info can be found here: http://quantumtunnel.wordpress.com/2012/07/29/matlab-for-mac-in-mountain-lion-without-x11/

In a nutshell, I used the -maci flag at the end and that seemed to do the trick.

[Ken Atwell]

Glad you got itworking, and thanks for sharing the tips. The -maci flag suggests you have an older 32-bit MATLAB installation. I believe more recent 64-bit versions of MATLAB will work "as is" after the installation of XQuartz, without needing to resort to terminal tricks.

Answer 5

[Charles Flaum]

To make Matlab 2010 or earlier run on Yosemite (10.10) or later you need the following steps:

1. Yosemite does not come with X11. You need to install it - use XQuartz 2.7.7. It is possible the XQuartz Installer will not install in the right folder. Make sure the X11 folder is in /opt (/opt/X11).

2. To enable help menus and doc browsers you need to install Matlab Java Patch.

Unfortunately, Mathworks released the patch tied to individual Matlab versions starting with 2101a. In order to install it with Matlab 2010a/b you need to copy the patch files in "patch" folder of the release into the Java folder of the contents of Matlab 2010a/b. Alternately, you can edit the script "main.scpt" inside the resources/scripts folder of the contents of the patch app, to replace all instances of the target version to the version you want to patch and then run the app.

With these steps you will be able to run matlab directly from the Applications folder and all the help windows will work properly.

[Walter Roberson]

Note however that Yosemite does not offer the 32 bit kernel interface so it will not run 32 bit versions of MATLAB.