You might already know about this. But I will say it anyway. There are various alternatives for matlab and maple in Debian Linux. You can use octave instead of matlab. It is probably not a 100% replacement but it is reasonably good. Instead of maple, you can use maxima inside texmacs. All the three maxima, texmacs, octave are available in Debian (apt-gettable). Give them a shot!
Also if you want a matlab similar feel and look, sci-lab is also available...
And, of course, there is Wine. Virtual machine would be my last resort.