[R] Communicating with R through a named pipe: display refresh problem

[Parker Jones]

Hello,

On a linux system I'm trying to send commands to R through a named pipe and am *nearly* successful.  I can send R commands and can plot graphs.  The only problem I have is getting the x11 display to refresh - it appears to hang because of the pipe.

The R server:
$ mkfifo R_pipe
$ R --no-save < R_pipe

The R client:
$ cat>> R_pipe

Now, I can send R commands down the pipe:

Client side:
x <- seq(1,10)
x

Server side:
> x <- seq(1:10)
> x
 [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10

This is perfect.

Now if I try to create a plot, e.g. plot(1:100), the server shows
> plot(1:100)
and the plot appears.  However, if a window briefly obscures the graphical output, the x11 device won't refresh the display.  It would appear the pipe is blocking the refresh.

Can anyone else confirm this happens and any suggestions how to get the display to refresh?

Thanks in advance,
PJ