R devel - Mar 2011 - problem with png() and large dimensions on some 32-bit Windows machines

Hello,

I encountered this:
> png(file=tempfile(), width=1165, height=12983)
Error in png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
  unable to start png() device
In addition: Warning messages:
1: In png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
  Unable to allocate bitmap
2: In png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
  opening device failed
>
On the following system:
> sessionInfo()
R version 2.13.0 alpha (2011-03-18 r54865)
Platform: i386-pc-mingw32/i386 (32-bit)

locale:
[1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
[2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
[3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
[4] LC_NUMERIC=C
[5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base

This is a Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 2 system
with 3GB of RAM.

On another system, the command works fine. Info from that system:
> sessionInfo()
R version 2.13.0 alpha (2011-03-27 r55091)
Platform: i386-pc-mingw32/i386 (32-bit)

locale:
[1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
[2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
[3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
[4] LC_NUMERIC=C
[5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with 4GB of RAM.

The command also worked fine on a system with only 2GB of RAM, but I don't
have further information about that system at the moment. It suggests though
that the amount of RAM is not the sole factor involved.

Sorry this may not be the most reproducible problem, but I hope this is
useful nonetheless.
Dan

	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

I forgot to mention, on the machine where the png() command below does not
work, the output of capabilities() is:
> capabilities()
    jpeg      png     tiff    tcltk      X11     aqua http/ftp  sockets
    TRUE     TRUE     TRUE     TRUE    FALSE    FALSE     TRUE     TRUE
  libxml     fifo   cledit    iconv      NLS  profmem    cairo
    TRUE    FALSE     TRUE     TRUE     TRUE     TRUE    FALSE

Also, I checked to make sure that tempfile() returns something writable, and
that does not seem to be the issue.
> t <- tempfile()
> png(file=t)
> png(file=t, width=1165, height=12983)
Error in png(file = t, width = 1165, height = 12983) :
  unable to start png() device
In addition: Warning messages:
1: In png(file = t, width = 1165, height = 12983) :
  Unable to allocate bitmap
2: In png(file = t, width = 1165, height = 12983) : opening device failed

In fact, to narrow it down some more, it works if I specify either height or
width but not both.

Thanks
Dan


On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 6:10 PM, Dan Tenenbaum <dtenenba@fhcrc.org> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I encountered this:
>
> > png(file=tempfile(), width=1165, height=12983)
> Error in png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
>   unable to start png() device
> In addition: Warning messages:
> 1: In png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
>   Unable to allocate bitmap
> 2: In png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
>   opening device failed
> >
>
> On the following system:
> > sessionInfo()
> R version 2.13.0 alpha (2011-03-18 r54865)
> Platform: i386-pc-mingw32/i386 (32-bit)
>
> locale:
> [1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
> [2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
> [3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
> [4] LC_NUMERIC=C
> [5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
>
> This is a Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 2 system
> with 3GB of RAM.
>
> On another system, the command works fine. Info from that system:
>
> > sessionInfo()
> R version 2.13.0 alpha (2011-03-27 r55091)
> Platform: i386-pc-mingw32/i386 (32-bit)
>
> locale:
> [1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
> [2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
> [3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
> [4] LC_NUMERIC=C
> [5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
>
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
> Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with 4GB of RAM.
>
> The command also worked fine on a system with only 2GB of RAM, but I
don't
> have further information about that system at the moment. It suggests
though
> that the amount of RAM is not the sole factor involved.
>
> Sorry this may not be the most reproducible problem, but I hope this is
> useful nonetheless.
> Dan
>
>
>
>
	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]

Dan,

the Windows build of R has no back-end choices, so the error essentially comes
from a system call which means that Windows simply cannot provide the resources.
Have you tried let's say Cairo alternative on the same machine? [If you want
to test it, please use
install.packages("Cairo",,"http://rforge.net") ] That
doesn't depend on the OS resources, only on RAM so it may be in theory more
scalable.

Cheers,
Simon



On Mar 29, 2011, at 9:10 PM, Dan Tenenbaum wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I encountered this:
> 
>> png(file=tempfile(), width=1165, height=12983)
> Error in png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
>  unable to start png() device
> In addition: Warning messages:
> 1: In png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
>  Unable to allocate bitmap
> 2: In png(file = tempfile(), width = 1165, height = 12983) :
>  opening device failed
>> 
> 
> On the following system:
>> sessionInfo()
> R version 2.13.0 alpha (2011-03-18 r54865)
> Platform: i386-pc-mingw32/i386 (32-bit)
> 
> locale:
> [1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
> [2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
> [3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
> [4] LC_NUMERIC=C
> [5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
> 
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
> 
> This is a Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition Service Pack 2 system
> with 3GB of RAM.
> 
> On another system, the command works fine. Info from that system:
> 
>> sessionInfo()
> R version 2.13.0 alpha (2011-03-27 r55091)
> Platform: i386-pc-mingw32/i386 (32-bit)
> 
> locale:
> [1] LC_COLLATE=English_United States.1252
> [2] LC_CTYPE=English_United States.1252
> [3] LC_MONETARY=English_United States.1252
> [4] LC_NUMERIC=C
> [5] LC_TIME=English_United States.1252
> 
> attached base packages:
> [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base
> Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with 4GB of RAM.
> 
> The command also worked fine on a system with only 2GB of RAM, but I
don't
> have further information about that system at the moment. It suggests
though
> that the amount of RAM is not the sole factor involved.
> 
> Sorry this may not be the most reproducible problem, but I hope this is
> useful nonetheless.
> Dan
> 
> 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]
> 
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> 
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