Linux has spoiled me

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After switching to Ubuntu Linux, I grew accustomed to, whenever I wanted new software, simply typing "sudo apt-get install [software]" and having a new application within a minute. Now, as I intend to get a second major in mathematics, I was looking at some math-related programs, such as Mathematica, Maple, and Matlab, all of which are available for and compatible with Linux. However, they cost money. Maple is $50, the other two I think are around $100 apiece, and each of those is with my student discount. I was initially shocked that I should be expected to pay money for software; don't you just download something from the repositories and use it? Of course there is always Octave, which IIRC is similar to Matlab, and there are free alternatives such as Maxima etc that are supposed to be similar to each of these three programs, but the most fully-featured apps I think are the proprietary ones in this case, and also those are the programs my professors will refer to in class and recommend we use. So, it appears that at some point I will have to give in and shell out money for some software, which by now is a somewhat alien concept to me. Ah well, at least I saved a couple hundred bucks on the OS, and some more $$$ on my office suite and internet applications, plus the other miscellaneous software I use.

Matlab and Mathematica are hard to duplicate because of the large amount of effort that goes into writing software like those. Unless you'd be seriously stretched by the $200, it's a more worthwhile investment than some textbooks are. I've gotten great mileage out of Mathematica and Matlab has been quite useful as well.

Maple and Mathematica do about the same thing, so just Matlab and Mathematica would probably do the trick.

Oh, and for someone used to the total freedom of ubuntu, the licensing for these programs is pretty draconian - for example, with Mathematica, every time you do something like reinstall the OS or install on a different computer or whatever, you have to renew your license, which basically involves re-verifying your student status and so on. I've never been in a situation where I've had trouble doing all this, but it's a hassle. It's a lot like MS windows activation, but more locked down

Alternatively you should check if your school has matlab/mathematica installed on lab computers, or if it's accessible remotely on some server somewhere.

Oh, I certainly wasn't intending to get all three of them. For Matlab I would preferably get a RAM upgrade first (I currently have 1 GB, which is now becoming the low-end of memory) and I don't know about Maple. Matlab and Mathematica, conveniently enough, are available in my university's bookstore, but Maple (with my student discount) is cheaper than either of them.

And yeah, I have been confused trying to figure out the licensing for these. When I first looked at Mathematica last year, I saw ridiculous costs of about $100/semester to RENT it. "Student, personal use only" and I apparently am limited in what I am allowed to do with it, and I'm not sure if I get to keep it after I graduate or not... at least with the MS software my uni provides for free, I get to keep a licensed copy when I graduate. Not that I'll download any of it anyways, since I don't need any of the MS stuff.

Once classes start, I will definitely make sure to ask one of the math professors if there is any way for me to access those programs for free- maybe in the computer lab, as you said.

I'm pretty sure that I saw that wine will make the windows version of mathematica function. If you have a free licence from the university, it might be the way to go.

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.p ... on&iId=425

Last edited by Fuzzy on 18 Aug 2008, 10:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

No point in bothering with that, mathematica and the others I listed can run natively in Linux. It just costs money, which is a bit of a let-down. Plus the licensing is pretty restrictive.

If it saves you a buck....

Of course its good to say you dont ever have to use windows apps.

I think it costs money regardless of which platform you get it for. And I currently am not using any Windows apps. I have MS Office on my OSX partition, but I never boot into that anyways. Actually, my uni provides free copies of Microsoft software, but I haven't bothered to download any of it because I already have better software that was free without needing a special deal from my school.