Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Matlab interface to USRP

[Eric Blossom]

On Wed, Apr 09, 2008 at 10:38:08AM -0700, Matt Ettus wrote:
>
>
> 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

Very nicely put.

Thanks,
Eric