[R] RODBC ERROR on Rcmdr install

[John Fox]

Dear Vittorio,

Thanks for the clarification. This raises two questions: (1) If a *nix
system has an ODBC driver, can one then read Excel, Access, and dBase data
sets via RODBC (which is what the Rcmdr menu item in question provides for)?
(2) If so, is there a way for me to detect whether unixODBC is present, or
would I have to rely, e.g., on a user-set option?

I'm moving this message to the r-devel list.

Regards,
 John

--------------------------------
John Fox
Department of Sociology
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8S 4M4
905-525-9140x23604
http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/jfox 
-------------------------------- 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch 
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of vittorio
> Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 12:40 PM
> To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> Subject: Re: [R] RODBC ERROR on Rcmdr install
> 
> Alle 22:55, venerdì 29 settembre 2006, John Fox ha scritto:
> > As I understand it, RODBC isn't useful on non-Windows 
> systems, since 
> > the necessary ODBC drivers aren't available. (Someone will 
> correct me, 
> > I'm sure, if I don't have that entirely straight.) The 
> RODBC package 
> > is used in the Rcmdr to read Excel and some other files 
> under Windows; 
> > in the latest version of the Rcmdr, you won't even see this 
> menu item 
> > in non-Windows systems.
> 
> As a matter of fact RODBC can be profitably used under *nix 
> OS together with unixODBC to connect to many DBs.
> I've been using RODBC with unixODBC on linux, freebsd and win 
> xp  to connect smoothly to postgresql, mysql  and oracle 
> (somewhat tricky to me under *nix, you need ** to buy ** a 
> driver) and I know that connections are possible to many 
> other *nix DBs under *nix itself. 
> 
> Ciao
> Vittorio
> 
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