Dear all; I'm planning to install Linux on my computer to run R (I'm bored of W..XP). However, I haven't used Linux before and I would appreciate, if possible, suggestions/comments about what could be the best option install, say Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSuse which to my impression are the most popular ones (at least on the R-help lists). The computer is a PC desktop with 4GB RAM and Intel Quad-Core Xeon processor and will be used only to run R. Thanks Steven
On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 1:13 PM, steven wilson <swpt07 at gmail.com> wrote:> Dear all;> I'm planning to install Linux on my computer to run R (I'm bored of > W..XP). However, I haven't used Linux before and I would appreciate, > if possible, suggestions/comments about what could be the best option > install, say Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSuse which to my impression are the > most popular ones (at least on the R-help lists). The computer is a PC > desktop with 4GB RAM and Intel Quad-Core Xeon processor and will be > used only to run R.Ah yes, we haven't had a good flame war for a long time. Let's start discussing the relative merits of various Linux distributions. That should heat things up a bit. I can only speak about Ubuntu. I have used it exclusively for several years now and find it to be superb. In my opinion it is easy to install and maintain and has very good support for R (take a bow, Dirk).
I have both Debian, Ubuntu, RedHat and CentOS systems, and primary run R on the Debian and RedHat machines. I have encountered few problems running R on RedHat/CentOS, but I do think the Debian/Ubuntu package management system, combined with the kind provision of packages, makes life a lot simpler. (Yes, many thanks to Dirk!). Also, the ease of installing and maintaining among with the highly useful user forums of Ubuntu would lead me to recommend that particular distribution. Regards, Markus On Fri, 2008-06-06 at 14:13 -0400, steven wilson wrote:> Dear all; > > I'm planning to install Linux on my computer to run R (I'm bored of > W..XP). However, I haven't used Linux before and I would appreciate, > if possible, suggestions/comments about what could be the best option > install, say Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSuse which to my impression are the > most popular ones (at least on the R-help lists). The computer is a PC > desktop with 4GB RAM and Intel Quad-Core Xeon processor and will be > used only to run R. > > Thanks > Steven > > ______________________________________________ > 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.-- Markus Jantti Abo Akademi University mjantti at abo.fi http://www.iki.fi/~mjantti
Dear all, a related follow up -- with the hope for some feedback from the specialists. Is the following general advice justified: ========================================================If one has not more than 4GB RAM and one wants to run primarily R on one's Linux machine, it is a good idea to install the 32bit version of the operating system. The reasons are: The machine has 4GB RAM which implies that the 32bit version can (theoretically) use the whole available memory address space. The advantage of addressing more memory using 64bit is in this instance of a 4GB computer lost. Furthermore, 64bit often runs slower than 32bit (see Section 8 of R Admin Manual) due to the larger pointer size. ======================================================== Thanks, Roland steven wilson wrote:> Dear all; > > I'm planning to install Linux on my computer to run R (I'm bored of > W..XP). However, I haven't used Linux before and I would appreciate, > if possible, suggestions/comments about what could be the best option > install, say Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSuse which to my impression are the > most popular ones (at least on the R-help lists). The computer is a PC > desktop with 4GB RAM and Intel Quad-Core Xeon processor and will be > used only to run R. > > Thanks > Steven >
steven wilson wrote:> > I'm planning to install Linux on my computer to run R (I'm bored of > W..XP). However, I haven't used Linux before and I would appreciate, > if possible, suggestions/comments about what could be the best option > install,Hi, I have used Linux since the early 1990s starting with the original slackware distribution, followed by various versions of Red Hat, Gentoo (compiled from source), Fedora and now Ubuntu. Ubuntu is my choice for having the least troublesome install and maintenance. It has a very nice package manager, and if your goal is to *use* a Linux system rather than tinker with it, you could do much worse than Ubuntu. I installed R via the package manger a month ago or so, very easy and trouble free. Hope that helps, Esmail
FWIW, those who are curious about Linux but are not willing
or ready to abandon the Windows platform can now very easily
try out Ubuntu without having to repartition their hard drive.
Wubi is a project that installs Ubuntu under Windows so that it
can be uninstalled easily and requires no messing around with
hard drive partitions.
From the Wubi web site:
"Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that
can
bring you to the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install
and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe
way. Are you curious about Linux and Ubuntu? Trying them out has never been
easier!"
For more information see:
http://wubi-installer.org/
Esmail
I used Debian, Ubuntu, Mandrake etc., and use FreeBSD now. I like FreeBSD a bit more than Linux. R can run smoothly in FreeBSD as well. On Sat, Jun 7, 2008 at 2:13 AM, steven wilson <swpt07 at gmail.com> wrote:> Dear all; > > I'm planning to install Linux on my computer to run R (I'm bored of > W..XP). However, I haven't used Linux before and I would appreciate, > if possible, suggestions/comments about what could be the best option > install, say Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSuse which to my impression are the > most popular ones (at least on the R-help lists). The computer is a PC > desktop with 4GB RAM and Intel Quad-Core Xeon processor and will be > used only to run R. > > Thanks > Steven > > ______________________________________________ > 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. >-- HUANG Ronggui, Wincent http://ronggui.huang.googlepages.com/ Bachelor of Social Work, Fudan University, China Master of sociology, Fudan University, China Ph.D. Candidate, CityU of HK.