Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Matlab interface to USRP

[Matt Ettus]

I think the problem is that there are basically 2 separate cultures 
here.  There are those coming from the CS and free software world, and 
those coming from the radio, engineering, academic, industry, hardware, 
etc. worlds.  Those in the free software world often don't understand 
how truly separate the two cultures are.  While everybody has heard of 
Linux, they usually haven't heard of GNU, RMS, GPL, or freedom as 
applied to software.  For example, I often have people talk to me about 
"the GNU Project", when they really mean the GNU Radio Project, so I 
take the time to explain that the GNU project is actually much bigger 
than just GNU Radio.


When someone comes here from that second world, where the lingua franca 
is Matlab, and we immediately hit them with a moral argument without any 
background, it doesn't help anybody, it just scares them off.  I think a 
better response would be something along the lines of:

----

   If you are very comfortable in the Matlab world, then perhaps you 
should try Octave, which has a high degree of compatibility with 
Matlab.  A link between GNU Radio and Octave would not be difficult at 
all.  However, there are many other free programs which might also 
function in a similar manner and be even easier to work with, like 
scipy, matplotlib, and scilab.  Most people here just use GNU Radio 
without all that other stuff because it fits their needs without 
anything else added on.  Is there any particular reason that you need to 
use Matlab?  Is GNU Radio missing any particular features? 

   For a number of reasons, many people here choose not to use 
proprietary software.  Some of those reasons are outlined here:

            http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.html

----

I know that a lot of GNU Radio users and even contributors started out 
using Matlab, Simulink, LabView, or other proprietary packages.  If they 
are scared off before they get to that point we all lose.

Matt