Writing scripts, Matlab, Fluent

[dave00001]

I was wondering if anyone out there has experience with writing linux scripts which can call upon other programs. More specifically, I'm looking to write a script to link together Gambit, Fluent and Matlab iteratively in a fluid / structural mechanics problem. I'm not terribly familiar with linux scripts but am totally willing to put in a few weeks and learn. Optimally I could be pointed towards some tutorials that anyone may have seen which could make my life easier

I also have a few questions regarding the performance or compatibility of these programs in linux or ubuntu environments:

Matlab
Fluent
Gambit
EES (engineering equation solver)

Any advice that comes to mind would be helpful also. I'm a student/researcher so linux is a cost effective and easy solution - I'd be happy to finally be rid of my xp partition if the above programs are well supported!

Cheers,
dave

EDIT: I've come across Octave and Scilab. Are these comparable to Matlab?

[xadder]

Well, I don't know about the others. MATLAB works fine as far as I know, but I gave it up for matplotlib years ago, at least for producing graphics. The plots from matplotlib are better than MATLAB imho and it is all part of python. In fact I use the combination ipython+matplotlib to write and tests the python scripts doing the plotting. And it's free in all senses

[omegavirus]

Matlab - There are a lot o similar programs like scilab
Fluent - openfoam is the best, I have a windows partition to work whit fluent or gambit
EES (engineering equation solver) - try wine