[R] Linux, UNIX, XP32, Vista X64 or ...? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

Prof Brian Ripley ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Tue Feb 12 07:06:08 CET 2008 

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008, Jin.Li at ga.gov.au wrote:

> Thanks to all for your kind suggestions.
>
> After some discussion with our IT staff, I was told the UNIX system we have
> is Solaris and installation of R is very time consuming because "Given that
> this software is not standard, and given the amount of time required to
> compile the software (and potentially it's dependencies), it will need to be
> resourced as a project ..." From my experience with IT staff, it may take
> quite a long time for them to set up such project, let alone the
> installation.

Prebuilt versions of R are available for Solaris -- and the 'R 
Installation and Administration' manual told them so.

> Given that, I wonder if it is possible to install it myself. As I have
> mentioned before, I have no experience in using UNIX, but I will have an
> access to the UNIX system soon. Any suggestions and help are greatly
> appreciated.

It is easy to install R from the sources if you have the compilers and 
e.g. Tcl/Tk installed.  But a Solaris box quite possibly does not, and 
then a binary install is much easier.

>
> Regards,
> Jin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gabor Grothendieck [mailto:ggrothendieck at gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, 28 January 2008 11:38
> To: Li Jin
> Cc: r-help at r-project.org
> Subject: Re: [R] Linux, UNIX, XP32, Vista X64 or ...? [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
>
> On the PC there is a builtin GUI but not on UNIX and there are
> some packages that are OS specific in which case you might
> get more or less selection but probably more.  Also depending
> on the specific system you may have greater difficulty installing
> certain packages due to the need to compile them on UNIX
> and the possibility exists that you don't quite have the right
> libraries.  On Windows you get binaries so this is not a problem.
> I have repeatedly found that common packages that I took
> for granted on Windows had some problem with installation
> on UNIX and I had to hunt around and figure out what the problem
> was with my UNIDX libraries or possibly some other problem.
> For all R packages this won't be a problem but for packages
> that use C and FORTRAN this can be.  Although I am lumping
> all UNIX systems together I think this varies quite a bit from
> one particular type/distro of UNIX/Linux to another and I suspect if you
> are careful in picking out the right one (if you have a choice) you
> will actually have zero problems.
>
> On Jan 23, 2008 6:08 PM,  <Jin.Li at ga.gov.au> wrote:
>> Dear All,
>> I am currently using R in Windows PC with a 2 GB of RAM. Some pretty large
>> datasets are expected soon, perhaps in an order of several GB. I am facing
> a
>> similar situation like Ralph, either to get a new PC with a bigger RAM or
>> else. I am just wondering if R is getting faster in other systems like UNIX
>> or Linux. Any suggestions are appreciated.
>> Regards,
>> Jin
>> --------------------------------------------
>> Jin Li, PhD
>> Spatial Modeller/
>> Computational Statistician
>> Marine & Coastal Environment
>> Geoscience Australia
>> Ph: 61 (02) 6249 9899
>> Fax: 61 (02) 6249 9956
>> email: jin.li at ga.gov.au
>> --------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On
>> Behalf Of Prof Brian Ripley
>> Sent: Thursday, 24 January 2008 12:05
>> To: Ralph79
>> Cc: r-help at r-project.org
>> Subject: Re: [R] Problems with XP32-"3GB-patch"?/ Worth upgrading to Vista
>> X64?
>>
>> On Wed, 23 Jan 2008, Ralph79 wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Dear R-Users,
>>>
>>> as I will start a huge simulation in a few weeks, I am about to buy a new
>>> and fast PC. I have noticed, that the RAM has been the limiting factor in
>>> many of my calculations up to now (I had 2 GB in my "old" system, but
>>> Windows still used quite a lot of virtual memory), hence my new computer
>>> will have 4 GB of fast DDR2-800 RAM.
>>>
>>> However, I know that 1.) Windows 32 bit cannot make use of more than
> about
>>> 3,2 GB RAM and 2.) it is normally not allowed to allocate more than 2 GB
> of
>>> RAM to one single application (at least under XP, I don't know if that
> has
>>> changed under Vista?).
>>>
>>> I remember from the R-FAQ that you can manually adjust XP so that it
>>> allocates up to 3 GB to one application ("the 3GB patch"), but I read in
> a
>>> PC-magazine and some message boards that this may cause problems. Does
>>> anybody of you successfully use this "trick" without any problems?
>>
>> Yes, many people: most 32-bit Exchange servers use it.  Please don't rate
>> the advice in the R documentation below tittle-tattle you read on the web.
>>
>>> Would it be wise to use a 64bit OS, as e.g. Vista X64? I think, under
> Vista
>>> X64 it should be no problem to allocate 4 GB of RAM to R. Any experiences
>>> with that?
>>
>> That's what the rw-FAQ says, and we do write answers based on experience!
>>
>>> Thanks in advance,
>>> Ralph Wirth
>>>
>>>
>>> -----
>>> Ralph Wirth
>>> University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Statistics
>>> GfK Group, Department of Methods and Product Development
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
>> Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
>> University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
>> 1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
>> Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595

More information about the R-help mailing list