system is the way to go. "It doesn't work" does not allow to understand, what you have done, what you see and what you want instead. Please explain the problem and your observations with more details.
But if system does not work, remember, that Matlab is Matlab, not a Linux shell. If you want a Linux shell, use the Linux shell. Trying to use Matlab as a general purpose GUI for all activities on the computer is not efficient.