[R] Linux Distribution Choice

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

Graham,

On 19 February 2006 at 15:59, Graham Smith wrote:
| I am making some tentative steps into using Linux (Mandriva at the moment)
| and notice that not all the Linux binaries on CRAN are the latest release.
| 
| As R (plus Grass) will be key programs for me on Linux, is there a preferred
| Linux distribution that people in the R communiuty use?

Picking your preferred distribution is a fairly complex undertaking that will
invariably reflect a lot of your personal preferences.  Just like we may all
pick a different desk, chair or desk lamp for our work environment, we also
often end up with different computing choices. [1]

That said, if you are looking for R and Grass pre-built you could consider
either Debian, or the Ubuntu/Kubuntu derivatives.  We work fairly hard at
keeping the packages in Debian timely, and you'd get R and some 50 or so CRAN
packages already prebuilt and ready to use, as well as goodies like ESS,
Ggobi and more.  Likewise, my personal Quantian project may well be unique in
containing all that plus essentially all of CRAN and BioConductor (and lots
more) in a single DVD.

But at the end of the day you need to decide what you are comfortable with
installing and administrating. If you have friends or colleagues that use a
particular flavour then that may be reason enough to go with that flavour.
Finally, R and Grass don't care and you can always carry your scripts over to
another variant.

Hth, Dirk


[1] Provided they all run an Emacs flavour and ESS. Just kidding.

-- 
Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something. 
                                                  -- Thomas A. Edison