R + Linux
Any of the three distros mentioned are sure to be fine. Personally, I find the sysadmin tool in opensuse to be fantastic for a novice. It comes down to preference. Try some live versions of the distros to see what you like best.
Douglas Bates wrote:
On Fri, Jun 6, 2008 at 1:13 PM, steven wilson <swpt07 at gmail.com> wrote:
Dear all;
I'm planning to install Linux on my computer to run R (I'm bored of W..XP). However, I haven't used Linux before and I would appreciate, if possible, suggestions/comments about what could be the best option install, say Fedora, Ubuntu or OpenSuse which to my impression are the most popular ones (at least on the R-help lists). The computer is a PC desktop with 4GB RAM and Intel Quad-Core Xeon processor and will be used only to run R.
Ah yes, we haven't had a good flame war for a long time. Let's start discussing the relative merits of various Linux distributions. That should heat things up a bit. I can only speak about Ubuntu. I have used it exclusively for several years now and find it to be superb. In my opinion it is easy to install and maintain and has very good support for R (take a bow, Dirk).
Kevin E. Thorpe Biostatistician/Trialist, Knowledge Translation Program Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto email: kevin.thorpe at utoronto.ca Tel: 416.864.5776 Fax: 416.864.6057