[R] installing R on Ubuntu

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Sun, 8 Feb 2009, Paul Heinrich Dietrich wrote:

>
> I would really like to see a good introduction to Emacs, and will check out
> that link.  I know that Emacs and ESS are supposed to be the best, and are
> the most customizable.  The reason I put the R Commander GUI instead of
> Emacs/ESS is because in my first attempt to get R on Ubuntu Linux, I did
> successfully get Emacs/ESS working (sadly, I don't remember how exactly),
> but found it too frustrating.  Again, I'm sure it's the best in the end, but
> here's what was driving me nuts:
>
> Copy/Paste is not Ctrl-c and Ctrl-v...I figured it out, but don't remember
> what it is.

That's optional -- you can set CUA if you like that (an item on the 
Options menu, at least in the Emacs version I looked at).  But on an 
X11 interface, selecting copies and right-click pastes. (Beware, your 
Windows Manager may also have a separate clipboard.)

> Entering a _ automatically creates a <-, and you must enter __ to get _.

That's optional (and I realy think should be off by default now _ as 
an addignment operator is ancient history).  Add

(ess-toggle-underscore nil)

to your .emacs.

> There is no "stop" button (hopefully there is one in R Commander, haven't
> explored yet).

You'll soon find that buttons are slow compared to keystrokes.

> It kept trying to establish a working directory, and was inconsistent in
> when it would accept what directory.

'It' being ESS, I guess,  There is an ess-help list on which to 
discuss what you mean there.

> I was also looking at the JGS GUI.  Online screenshots look incredible, but
> I didn't go with it because it depends on Java, which is not open-source,
> and I'm really liking that philosophy, but to each his own.

I presume you mwan JGR.  Lots of Java is Open Source, and I beieve JGR 
may run under OpenJDK.

> Thanks for the link, I'm anxious to try to figure out Emacs/ESS. I'll go
> look at it now.  Cheers.


-- 
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