Launching Mathematica on Unix and Linux
Launching Mathematica Locally
To run
Mathematica using a network license, both the client machine and the license server must be on the network and
MathLM must be running.
To Launch Mathematica:
Make sure that you are running
MathLM. Then, from a shell, type
mathematica and press
Enter.
Alternatively, if you are running X, an additional menu folder named has already been added to the desktop menu. In the folder, an item named points to the most recently installed version of
Mathematica. File associations have also been modified such that .nb files now associate with the most recently installed version of
Mathematica.
To Launch Only the Mathematica Kernel:
From a shell, type
math and press
Enter.
Launching Mathematica from a File Server
Rather than installing
Mathematica on every client machine, you can install
Mathematica on a file server and export the installation directory to the clients. To display the front end, the clients must have access to the
Mathematica fonts. For information about configuring the X server on the client machines to find the
Mathematica fonts, see
"Fonts on Unix and Linux". Once the fonts are properly configured, the client machines can run
Mathematica as though it were a local installation.
Mathematica Command-Line Options
math
The
math command starts the kernel from within a shell. The kernel is the part of
Mathematica that handles calculations. This is also used by the front end.
Command-Line Options
| -initfile file | specify the name of a file containing startup commands |
| -lmverbose | print diagnostic information to stderr |
| -mathlink | specify that the kernel should be run in MathLink mode |
| -noinit | specify that no initialization file should be read at startup |
| -password str | specify a password to use instead of the password or passwords stored in the mathpass file |
| -pwfile file | specify the name of a file that has a valid password |
| -run | specify a command to be run on startup as an argument |
math command-line options.
The option
-lmverbose is useful for debugging problems related to the license server.
The option
-mathlink can also be used as a command-line option for the
Mathematica front end. See
www.wolfram.com/solutions/mathlink for additional information about
MathLink.
The string for
-password should have the form "
!servername" or "
machinename mathid licensenumber password".
mathematica
The
mathematica command runs the X front end. In order for the front end to run, the
DISPLAY environment variable must be set and the front end must be able to locate the fonts included with
Mathematica.
Command-Line Options
| -backgroundTaskDelay n | specify the time (in milliseconds) that the front end delays background tasks while waiting for input |
| -cleanStart | ignore stored caches and rebuild the front end preferences file |
| -copyright | display copyright information on the command line |
| -dontUpdatePrefs | prevent changes to the user's preference settings |
| -font f | specify the font used in menus, buttons, etc. |
| -help | display a list of all command-line options |
| -lmverbose | print diagnostic information to stderr when connecting to MathLM |
| -mathlink | make the front end run as a child process that is capable of accepting MathLink packets |
| -nogui | prevent the display of any kind of window or dialogs |
| -noSplashScreen | prevent the splash screen from being displayed on startup |
| -noTrueTypeFont | prevent the use of TrueType font in the display |
| -preferencesDirectory dir | specify the location where preference settings are stored |
| -primaryModifierMask mask | specify the primary mask to be used as the command key |
| -pwfile file | specify a file in which to look for Mathematica passwords |
| -pwpath p | specify the search path for a password file |
| -secondaryModifierMask mask | specify the secondary mask to be used as the command key |
| -singleLaunch | allow only one copy of the front end per display |
| -stderrWindow | send stderr to a popup window instead of a terminal |
| -style s | specify the widget style used by the front end |
| -topDirectory dir | specify the location of the Mathematica installation directory |
| -version | print the current version of the front end on the command line |
mathematica command-line options.
The default for
-backgroundTaskDelay is 100 milliseconds.
The option
-cleanStart will ignore the caches stored in the directory
$UserBaseDirectory/FrontEnd/7.0_Caches, and will rebuild the front end preferences file,
$UserBaseDirectory/FrontEnd/init.m. This option can also be abbreviated as
-clean.
When using
-font, a list of possible font names can be found by using
xfontsel. The name can be expressed either as an X Logical Font Description or as a valid font alias.
The option
-lmverbose is useful for debugging problems related to the license server.
The option
-mathlink may be useful when the front end is used as a typesetting or graphics rendering service. See
www.wolfram.com/solutions/mathlink for additional information about
MathLink.
The default directory for
-preferencesDirectory is
~/.Mathematica.
The option
-singleLaunch will prohibit multiple front end launches only if the current front end was launched with the
-singleLaunch option.
Valid styles for
-style are
motif,
motifplus,
windows,
cde,
platinum,
sgi, and
compact.
The default location for
-topDirectory is
/usr/local/Wolfram/Mathematica/7.0.
