[R] R, RStudio, and a server for my iPad.

Steve Lianoglou lianoglou.steve at gene.com
Fri Apr 11 23:51:36 CEST 2014


I see. You might indeed be over thinking it ... since everything is
installable by the package manager for the flavor of linux you choose,
it should actually be relatively straightfoward (although if this is
your first time setting up a linux box, it can take a few tries).

I'll assume you are using an ubuntu server. There are two things you
can do to get one

(1) Get yourself a "spare" CPU. Blow out the OS on it, and setup
"vanilla" ubuntu; or
(2) Rent an ubuntu server from somewhere like linode.com

Then:

(a) Install R on it, by following the instructions here:
http://cran.rstudio.com/bin/linux/ubuntu/README.html

Which boils down to basically:
(i) adding the appropriate line to your `/etc/apt/sources.list` given
the version of ubuntu you installed (saucy, quantal, etc) ; and
(ii) Running the following from the terminal:

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install r-base
   sudo apt-get install r-base-dev

(b) Install RStudio Server. Start from the "Download and Install"
section here (since you already installed R):
https://www.rstudio.com/ide/download/server

Then go here:
https://www.rstudio.com/ide/docs/server/getting_started

If you've set this up on your own machine (option (1) from above) then
you have to figure out how to connect it to the internet if you want
to use it from anywhere outside of your LAN.

It might seem like a lot of work, but as mentioned above -- since
these packages are available by the system's package manager, all of
the dependencies (like apache (if you need it)) will be installed for
you if you follow the (presumably correct) installation instructions
from RStudio.

=== An even easier setup ===

Just realized that there is  3rd route. You can save yourself a lot of
time by using an already built amazon machine instance that the
bioconductor folks have setup for you. Look at the instructions here:

http://www.bioconductor.org/help/bioconductor-cloud-ami/

If you follow along (you'll need an amazon account), you can rent a
machine and have it loaded w/ RStudio Server as well as some
bioconductor-specific libraries to get you started (by using the
bioconductor AMI). Once you have that up, you can connect to the
server running on Amazon's cloud via your web browser on both your CPU
(to make sure it all worked) then using an iOS device.

This would be a very easy way for you to see if taking one of the 2
avenues of setting up RStudio Server yourself would be worth the pain.

HTH,
-steve

On Fri, Apr 11, 2014 at 2:34 PM, John Sorkin
<JSorkin at grecc.umaryland.edu> wrote:
> Steve,
> Thank you for your help.
> I have seen the material you have sent me to, but do not fully
> understand it. Do I have to build a linux server first? If so does it
> have to run Apache or some other web server? Is RStudio server run under
> Apache, if so how? On the other hand, do I simply need a box running a
> flavor of Linux (without Apache)., and then simply download RStudio
> server? Perhaps I am over thinking this . . .
> Thanks,
> John
>
>
> John David Sorkin M.D., Ph.D.
> Professor of Medicine
> Chief, Biostatistics and Informatics
> University of Maryland School of Medicine Division of Gerontology and
> Geriatric Medicine
> Baltimore VA Medical Center
> 10 North Greene Street
> GRECC (BT/18/GR)
> Baltimore, MD 21201-1524
> (Phone) 410-605-7119
> (Fax) 410-605-7913 (Please call phone number above prior to faxing)
>>>> Steve Lianoglou <lianoglou.steve at gene.com> 4/11/2014 5:23 PM >>>
> Hi,
>
> On Fri, Apr 11, 2014 at 2:00 PM, John Sorkin
> <JSorkin at grecc.umaryland.edu> wrote:
>> I bemoan the fact that I can not run R or Rstudio on my iPad.
>
> I feel like this is something I'm not missing much, at all, but
> different strokes ... :-)
>
>> A possible work around would be to set up a server (probably under
> Linux), and get the server to present a web page that to would allow me
> to run R on the server. I have searched the web for a clear, simple
> answer on how to do this but can not find one. There are answers, but
> not for someone who has not built a Linux server. Can someone provide
> either a reference to, or a short explanation of how I can build the
> server, get R or RStudio to run on it, and get the server and its R or
> RStudio program available to me on my iPad? I can probably find guidance
> on how to build an Apache server under Linux.
>
> You might try to follow the instructions to get RStudio Server
> running:
>
> https://www.rstudio.com/ide/docs/server/getting_started
>
> It seems like they have packages built for many popular linux distros:
>
> https://www.rstudio.com/ide/download/server
>
> Once your linux server is set up, you should be able to access the
> server with any client via a web browser, although I have no idea if
> any of the iOS browsers are up to the task of dealing with the RStudio
> web interface, but you can try and find out. RStudio's support forum
> is more likely to be helpful here, for instance:
>
> https://support.rstudio.com/hc/en-us/search?utf8=✓&query=ios&commit=Search
>
> HTH,
> -steve
>
> --
> Steve Lianoglou
> Computational Biologist
> Genentech
>
>
> Confidentiality Statement:
> This email message, including any attachments, is for ...{{dropped:21}}




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