R help - Mar 2007 - getting ess/emacs to link with a remote instance of R

I am running ess/emacs on Linux and have an R instance running on a 
remote Unix server. I would like to be able to direct input from my ess 
buffer to R (hope I am using the right lingo, I am new to emacs).

The ess manual contains a section describing how to do just that, but a 
prerequisite is to install a lisp file ssh.el , which can be found at 
ftp://ftp.splode.com/pub/users/friedman/emacs-lisp/ssh .

I have downloaded the file but can nowhere find exactly what directory I 
should put the file into and, what, if any, entry I might need to make 
in my .emacs file.

One reference says to put the file in the "lisp emacs" directory, but 
there are actually several directories that have names similar to this. 
I tried them all without success. Whenever I try M-x ssh, I get [no match].

Can an experienced ess/emacs Unix user give me a hand?

As a client, I am running openSuse 10.2 Linux and the latest versions of 
both ess and emacs, which both installed without problems.

Thanks,
Mark
-- 


Mark W. Kimpel MD
Neuroinformatics

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Hi Mark,

[I've cc'd the ess-help list and any further discussion should probably
happen there with r-help removed]

Mark W Kimpel <mkimpel at iupui.edu> writes:
> I am running ess/emacs on Linux and have an R instance running on a 
> remote Unix server. I would like to be able to direct input from my ess 
> buffer to R (hope I am using the right lingo, I am new to emacs).
>
> The ess manual contains a section describing how to do just that, but a 
> prerequisite is to install a lisp file ssh.el , which can be found at 
> ftp://ftp.splode.com/pub/users/friedman/emacs-lisp/ssh .
In my experience, ssh.el doesn't do anything all that great.  Instead
I would try:

1. Start a shell inside Emacs using 'M-x shell'.  In this shell, ssh
   to your remote host and start R.

2. In the remote R session do: 'M-x ess-remote'.  At the Emacs
   mini-buffer prompt type 'r'.

3. In a buffer containing R code, you should be able to send code to
   the remote session as usual (choose the shell buffer when
   prompted).

Note:

  * C-c C-c will kill your ssh session (and R).  IOW, you can't easily
    interrupt an R process running remotely.

  * I have never had success getting help to work via ESS when running
    R remotely.  YMMV.

  * You may find that sending commands to the remote session without
    echoing is much faster.  So you might try C-u C-c C-r to send a
    region.


+ seth

-- 
Seth Falcon | Computational Biology | Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
http://bioconductor.org