Frequently asked questions

[Matlab under Linux or SunOS] Sometimes the entire desktop (everything, not just Matlab) seems to freeze up when I'm using Iode. What gives?

This problem appears to be due to a Matlab bug. We are currently looking into this issue. Fortunately, this problem only occurs if you right-click in an Iode window while a computation is in progress (you can tell because the mouse pointer looks like an hour glass). If you don't right-click in any Iode windows while the mouse pointer looks like an hour glass, you'll be fine.

[Matlab] Even though I'm using Matlab 6.0 or later, I don't see the new graphical user interface after typing iode at the Matlab prompt. What's wrong?

This problem may occur if you're using Matlab on different platforms in a heterogenous network (e.g., if you use a Linux box at an EWS lab after using a Sun workstation). The latest version of Iode anticipates this kind of problem, so that you'll probably be fine if you just download and install the latest version of Iode. If that doesn't help, you should cd into your home directory and type rm -rf .matlab.

[GUI] I want to print the plot from my current Iode window -- how can I suppress the other elements of the user interface, in my printout?

Click on the print menu, then click on the button labeled Options. In the printing options dialog, check the box labeled Suppress printing of user interface controls, then click on OK.

[GUI under Windows] Why are the GUIs for Fourier series as well as partial differential equations taller than the screen?

Unfortunately, the same code creates windows of different size under different operating systems. In particular, GUIs under Microsoft Windows turn out to be much larger than the same windows under Linux. The current size is a compromise that looks rather big under Windows yet smallish under Linux... You can always resize the window if it takes up too much space.

[Octave + GNUplot] After a long session with Iode, the GNUplot windows appears to freeze up. What gives?

Octave communicates with GNUplot through lots and lots of temporary files. After a long session, the number of temporary files may overwhelm the system. In order to get rid of those files, you can enter the command purge_tmp_files at the Octave prompt, or choose the corresponding menu item in the main menu of Iode.

[Octave] Octave reports an error in the function inline.m when I try to launch any of the modules of Iode. How can I fix this?

You are probably using a buggy version of the function inline.m from octave-forge. There are two ways to fix this. You can type which inline at the Octave prompt in order to find the offending file, and then you can delete it. In this case, when you restart Octave, Iode's own implementation of inline will take over. This may generate some warnings (because Iode's version of inline is only included for compatibility with older versions of Octave and generates warnings in more recent versions), but it'll work just fine. Or, you can download the latest version of inline.m and replace the offending file.

[UIUC Math Courses] Can I make a remote connection to a lab machine if I want to do my Iode work at home?

If you are using Linux or some other Unix-like operating system, you can make an ssh connection to a lab machine and use Matlab and Iode as you would in the lab (except you probably don't want to issue any print commands because the printout would go to the printer in the lab). The EWS Linux machines are called ehlnx1.ews.uiuc.edu up to ehlnx32.ews.uiuc.edu, and you can choose any of them to log into. If you are using Windows, you need a tool like Hummingbird Exceed in order to connect to one of the lab machines and use Iode.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.