How to interpret the .mat data files from the SciTools examples
---------------------------------------------------------------

The files in the examples folder may seem like binary glibber
at first sight. They are however regular files in the Matlab
v6 binary data format. Those can be edited with the free 
tool 'Octave', which is also available in the Debian distribution.

To amend those files, first make sure you have Octave installed.
Then copy the SciTools examples somewhere you've got write permissions:

  $ cp -r /usr/share/doc/python-scitools/examples ~/scitools-examples

Navigate into this folder:

  $ cd ~/scitools-examples

Fire Octave up. It will bring a clean working environment in Octave,
avoid of any data objects. From the Octave prompt load the
wind_matlab_v6 dataset:

  octave:1> load wind_matlab_v6.mat.gz

This will add variables to your Octave shell, You can then edit the data
with the Matlab-like interface that Octave offers. Then save the data
in Matlab's v6 binary data format:

  octave:2> save -mat-binary wind_matlab_v6.mat.gz

Next, to continue on other files while avoiding a merger of data,
clear the data

  octave:3> clear

and follow the same steps for mri_matlab_v6.mat.gz and
topo_matlab_v6.mat.gz.

Concerning the .gz suffix, please be aware that Octave can read
and write compressed files. Those can also be uncompressed with
gunzip, should that be demanded. Just be aware that their size
will increase about 10fold.
