[R] quartz() on MAC OSX

[hadley wickham]

On 5/21/07, jiho <jo.irisson at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2007-May-21  , at 08:14 , Rolf Turner wrote:
>
> > I am (desperately) trying to get used to using a Mac here at my new
> > location. (Why *anyone* would ever use anything other than Linux,
> > except
> > under duress as I am, totally escapes me, but that's another story.)
> >
>
> Oh that's harsh, Mac OS X is quite a good citizen and probably one of
> the best Unices out there. It is true that it has "its own way of
> doing things" and that's actually why Mac users love their Mac (there
> is kind of a Mac way of life ;) ). If you try to fight against it,
> you'll loose, but if you try to do things the Mac way, it ends up
> being a very efficient desktop (there are several things I know I
> would really miss if I had to switch back to Linux: smart folders,
> nice antialiased graphics, very good font management etc.)
>
>
> > Fortunately much of the Mac OSX is actually Unix, so a civilized
> > person can
> > manage to carry on ... But there are some things.  (Like this
> > <expletive
> > deleted> mailer ... But that's another story.)
> >
>
> If you want OS X to be really unix like, use DarwinPorts (or Fink).
> But you need to install additional software and be able to sudo.
>
> OK back to R:
>
>
> > When I ``open'' R using the icon on the ``dock'' several things are
> > unsatisfactory; like I can't clear the screen using system
> > ("clear"), nor can
> > I use vi syntax in command line editing.  When I start R from the
> > command
> > line (as a civilized person would do) these unsatisfactory
> > circumstances go
> > away, but then a new one rears its ugly head:  I can't plot!!!  If
> > I try a
> > plot without explicitly opening a plotting device, a postscript
> > device with
> > file name ``Rplots.ps'' is silently opened.  If I try opening a
> > device with
> > quartz() to get an on-screen plot, I get a warning message
> >
> > quartz() device interactivity reduced without an event loop manager
> > in:
> > quartz()
> >
> > And a little coloured wheel spins round and round and the quartz()
> > window
> > that opens hides underneath the terminal window and appears to be
> > frozen to
> > the spot.
> >
> > Apparently ``it'' wants .Platform$GUI to be equal to "AQUA", but it is
> > (under the circumstances) "X11".
> >
>
> Yes, this is a known limitation: quartz() has to be started from RGUI
> (or JGR also I think) and can't be started from the terminal without
> some tinkering:
> https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-sig-mac/2004-September/001269.html

Not any more!  Check out the CarbonEL package by Simon Urbanek - this
has come up a few times on R-SIG-MAC.

Hadley