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

Tue Feb 12 08:02:35 CET 2008

At 10:27 AM +1100 2/12/08, <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 ..."

Even if pre-built versions of R were not available, I think your IT 
staff is exaggerating -- or at least being overly cautious when faced 
with something unfamiliar.

Although I have used unix for many years, I am not a trained or 
experienced Solaris system administrator. Yet I have been able to 
install R from source on a modern Solaris using not more than a day 
or so. And most of that time was spent doing things that an 
experienced Solais sysadmin should be able to do relatively quickly.

-Don

>  From my experience with IT staff, it may take
>quite a long time for them to set up such project, let alone the
>installation.
>
>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.
>
>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.

-- 
---------------------------------
Don MacQueen
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Livermore, CA, USA
925-423-1062
macq at llnl.gov