[R] Portable R?

[David Mitchell]

Thanks guys,

Dirk: I generally resort to using my laptop for R analysis, but it
usually involves dragging loads of data multiple times between a
customer system and my laptop.  Moving large amounts of data in this
fashion can be a problem, particularly when there's sensitivity issues
about the data itself.

I've used Quantian in the past, and I've customised my own Knoppix
CDs, but ideally I'd like to run *my* tools (i.e. R) on *their* system
so I'm not having to deal with the logistical and security issues that
come with moving data around between systems.

I didn't realise that the Windows version of R was "relocatable" that
easily - I just assumed the install did something more complex than
that.  I'll try copying the R files to a USB key later today.

Thanks again

Dave M.


On 11/17/05, Dirk Eddelbuettel <edd at debian.org> wrote:
>
> On 17 November 2005 at 14:16, David Mitchell wrote:
> | Hello list,
> |
> | A short time ago, I found
> | http://johnhaller.com/jh/useful_stuff/portable_apps_suite/, which
> | contains basically a complete set of office tools that can be run
> | *entirely* from a USB key.  The concept is:
> | - find a Windows PC
> | - put in your USB key
> | - run OpenOffice, Firefox, Gaim, Nvu, Thunderbird, ... directly from
> | your USB key, with no app installation required
> | - save your files wherever
> | - remove your USB key and leave, with nothing installed on the original PC
> |
> | As a consultant who battles regularly with limited toolsets at
> | customer sites, this strikes me as an extremely handy way of working.
> |
> | Has anyone managed to setup a base R configuration that runs entirely
> | from USB key?  Being a regular user, but no expert, with R, it'd be
> | very helpful for me if such a mechanism existed, but I've got no idea
> | where to begin in building such a thing.
>
> Short answer:
>         Yes but using Linux, requiring a larger USB stick and some fiddling.
>
> Longer answer:
>         Quantian (http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/quantian) is a "everything,
> the kitchen sink and some" Linux distribution running off a DVD. Quantian is
> focussed on quantitative / numeric apps, and tends to include R plus related
> goodies -- the last release had an almost complete set of CRAN and
> BioConductor packages. The raw size of the last release is around 2 GB,
> corresponding to 6.6 GB expanded.  Marco Caliari, who often contributes
> improved boot code to Quantian, has managed to boot Quantian off a USB
> stick. I didn't manage to do that with my laptop, possibly because of
> limitations in its bios. Some of this was discussed in past threads on the
> quantian-general mailing list.
>
> Lots-o-work suggestion:
>         To not require a huge USB stick, you could try to shrink a given live
> cdrom such as Knoppix or Ubuntu, then add R and other goodies such that
> you're left with around 512 MB compressed. Then throw it onto a USB stick and
> make it bootable.
>
> Shortcut:
>         Order a Quantian DVD. Some folks sell them pre-made for less than $5.
> Experiment with that, If you like it, consider making your own mini-distro.
> Or stick with the DVD and use it directly with the USB stick for your
> configuration, data, demos, ...
>
> Even shorter:
>         R is perfectly "relocatable". If you install the Windows binary onto
> the USB drive, it will run fine. You'll probably need to add editors and
> other tools.
>
> Hope this helps, Dirk
>
> --
> Statistics: The (futile) attempt to offer certainty about uncertainty.
>          -- Roger Koenker, 'Dictionary of Received Ideas of Statistics'
>