Comment 17 for bug 153045

For 32-bit matlab installed on x86-64 environment (e.g. student version), you need 32-bit java installed:

sudo apt-get install ia32-sun-java6-bin

Then modify the above shortcut to:

bash -c "export MATLAB_JAVA=/usr/lib/jvm/ia32-java-6-sun-1.6.0.03/jre; matlab -glnx86 -desktop &"

Thanks to this thread for the pointers!

I'm working on the Mathematica redundant window problem now...