Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple, this is software that is possible to install and run on some type of USB memory, a stick or one of these hard disks. I can think of a number of situations where this could be handy. In addition memory sticks are getting cheaper and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these sticks? I am also informed that it is possible to run Latex in this manner. Tom
Is R portable?
15 messages · Tom Backer Johnsen, Bert Gunter, Roland Rau +10 more
On Windows anyway, R can be located in any directory including one on a flash drive). R can also be set up to make no use of the registry (again -- Windows only), so AFAICS the answer is yes, and it's trivial to do. I would be surprised if this were not true in other OS's, too. R is just an executable with supporting libraries that can be located and run from anywhere. Of course, various configuration details (file locations, language environment, graphics options,...) must be set to agree with the particular computer hardware and software on which the flash drive runs, but that is inevitable (if R was told it should use a cyrillic character set for Russian, it won't automatically switch to French when the flash drive is stuck into a French computer). If I am wrong about any of this, **PLEASE CORRECT** Bert Gunter Genentech Nonclinical Statistics -----Original Message----- From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Tom Backer Johnsen Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 8:03 AM To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Subject: [R] Is R portable? Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple, this is software that is possible to install and run on some type of USB memory, a stick or one of these hard disks. I can think of a number of situations where this could be handy. In addition memory sticks are getting cheaper and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these sticks? I am also informed that it is possible to run Latex in this manner. Tom ______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Hi Tom, did you check the R for Windows FAQ? http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/rw-FAQ.html#Can-I-run-R-from-a-CD-or-USB-drive_003f Hope this helps, Roland
Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple, this is software that is possible to install and run on some type of USB memory, a stick or one of these hard disks. I can think of a number of situations where this could be handy. In addition memory sticks are getting cheaper and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these sticks? I am also informed that it is possible to run Latex in this manner. Tom
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Yes, it is indeed true for other systems as well, although some configuration problems might arise, at least on Linux. It is also true that there are several small Linux distributions which easily fit into a flash drive, and then you can boot from the flash drive. I used to use SLAX, this is module based, ie. you can choose which packages to install into the flash drive, and it has an R package, although R version 2.2, so it is outdated. But i'm sure there are more options, eg. Damn Small Linux is popular, i believe it is desktop oriented, so might not contain R by default. I used to install my whole Linux system into a small (ie. notebook) USB harddisk, this is very comfortable, you just boot from the harddisk and wehereever you are you get the same system (assuming you can find a PC, but usually this is not a problem). It was a bit slower, but much more comfortable than bringing a notebook with me all the time. Until i accidentally kicked down the harddisk from the desk... Gabor
On Tue, Dec 04, 2007 at 08:46:29AM -0800, Bert Gunter wrote:
On Windows anyway, R can be located in any directory including one on a flash drive). R can also be set up to make no use of the registry (again -- Windows only), so AFAICS the answer is yes, and it's trivial to do. I would be surprised if this were not true in other OS's, too. R is just an executable with supporting libraries that can be located and run from anywhere. Of course, various configuration details (file locations, language environment, graphics options,...) must be set to agree with the particular computer hardware and software on which the flash drive runs, but that is inevitable (if R was told it should use a cyrillic character set for Russian, it won't automatically switch to French when the flash drive is stuck into a French computer). If I am wrong about any of this, **PLEASE CORRECT** Bert Gunter Genentech Nonclinical Statistics -----Original Message----- From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org] On Behalf Of Tom Backer Johnsen Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 8:03 AM To: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Subject: [R] Is R portable? Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple, this is software that is possible to install and run on some type of USB memory, a stick or one of these hard disks. I can think of a number of situations where this could be handy. In addition memory sticks are getting cheaper and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these sticks? I am also informed that it is possible to run Latex in this manner. Tom
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Csardi Gabor <csardi at rmki.kfki.hu> MTA RMKI, ELTE TTK
I simply installed R onto a USB stick, downloaded my normal packages to it and it works fine under Windows.
--- Roland Rau <roland.rproject at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tom, did you check the R for Windows FAQ?
http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/rw-FAQ.html#Can-I-run-R-from-a-CD-or-USB-drive_003f
Hope this helps, Roland Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple,
this is software that
is possible to install and run on some type of USB
memory, a stick or
one of these hard disks. I can think of a number
of situations where
this could be handy. In addition memory sticks
are getting cheaper
and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these
sticks?
I am also informed that it is possible to run
Latex in this manner.
Tom
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Roland Rau wrote:
Hi Tom, did you check the R for Windows FAQ? http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/rw-FAQ.html#Can-I-run-R-from-a-CD-or-USB-drive_003f
Puh. My apologies. I should have done so before I asked the question. Sorry. Tom
Hope this helps, Roland Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple, this is software that is possible to install and run on some type of USB memory, a stick or one of these hard disks. I can think of a number of situations where this could be handy. In addition memory sticks are getting cheaper and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these sticks? I am also informed that it is possible to run Latex in this manner. Tom
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Tom Backer Johnsen, Psychometrics Unit, Faculty of Psychology | | University of Bergen, Christies gt. 12, N-5015 Bergen, NORWAY | | Tel : +47-5558-9185 Fax : +47-5558-9879 | | Email : backer at psych.uib.no URL : http://www.galton.uib.no/ | +----------------------------------------------------------------+
On Tue, 4 Dec 2007, John Kane wrote:
I simply installed R onto a USB stick, downloaded my normal packages to it and it works fine under Windows.
Yes, on Windows, but 1) There are other OSes, 2) This didn't just happen: it needed some careful design, including some caching to make it run fast from a USB disk. Unix-alike ports of R are not completely portable, as the path to R_HOME is encapsulated in the R and Rscript front ends. So if on, say, Linux you want to plug in a USB disc then it will only work if you installed R to that USB disk mounted at the same location in the file system, or are prepared to edit the copies of the R script (which had therefore better be mounted read-write). The standard MacOS build has standard paths encapsulated in many places.
--- Roland Rau <roland.rproject at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tom, did you check the R for Windows FAQ?
Hope this helps, Roland Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple,
this is software that
is possible to install and run on some type of USB
memory, a stick or
one of these hard disks. I can think of a number
of situations where
this could be handy. In addition memory sticks
are getting cheaper
and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these
sticks?
I am also informed that it is possible to run
Latex in this manner.
Tom
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
Brian D. Ripley, ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk Professor of Applied Statistics, http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/ University of Oxford, Tel: +44 1865 272861 (self) 1 South Parks Road, +44 1865 272866 (PA) Oxford OX1 3TG, UK Fax: +44 1865 272595
Well, yesterday I put a linux version of R 2.6.0 in a USB stick of 2Gb and it runs very well... Bernardo Rangel Tura, MD,MPH,Phd National Cardiology Institute ---------- Original Message ----------- From: John Kane <jrkrideau at yahoo.ca> To: Roland Rau <roland.rproject at gmail.com>, Tom Backer Johnsen <backer at psych.uib.no>Cc: Sent: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 12:22:36 -0500 (EST) Subject: Re: [R] Is R portable?
I simply installed R onto a USB stick, downloaded my normal packages to it and it works fine under Windows. --- Roland Rau <roland.rproject at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tom, did you check the R for Windows FAQ?
http://cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/base/rw-FAQ.html#Can-I-run-R- from-a-CD-or-USB-drive_003f
Hope this helps, Roland Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple,
this is software that
is possible to install and run on some type of USB
memory, a stick or
one of these hard disks. I can think of a number
of situations where
this could be handy. In addition memory sticks
are getting cheaper
and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these
sticks?
I am also informed that it is possible to run
Latex in this manner.
Tom
Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
On Tue, 4 Dec 2007, John Kane wrote:
I simply installed R onto a USB stick, downloaded my normal packages to it and it works fine under Windows.
Yes, on Windows, but 1) There are other OSes, 2) This didn't just happen: it needed some careful design, including some caching to make it run fast from a USB disk.
Nice to discover good planning. Am I then correct in my understanding: Installing R under Windows does not require any registry entries, the installation is essentially to unpack the necessary files in the correct directories? Tom
Unix-alike ports of R are not completely portable, as the path to R_HOME is encapsulated in the R and Rscript front ends. So if on, say, Linux you want to plug in a USB disc then it will only work if you installed R to that USB disk mounted at the same location in the file system, or are prepared to edit the copies of the R script (which had therefore better be mounted read-write). The standard MacOS build has standard paths encapsulated in many places.
--- Roland Rau <roland.rproject at gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Tom, did you check the R for Windows FAQ?
Hope this helps, Roland Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Recently I came across an interesting web site: http://portableapps.com/. The idea is simple,
this is software that
is possible to install and run on some type of USB
memory, a stick or
one of these hard disks. I can think of a number
of situations where
this could be handy. In addition memory sticks
are getting cheaper
and more powerful by the day. So: Is it possible to run R off one of these
sticks?
I am also informed that it is possible to run
Latex in this manner.
Tom
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide
http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. ______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
+----------------------------------------------------------------+ | Tom Backer Johnsen, Psychometrics Unit, Faculty of Psychology | | University of Bergen, Christies gt. 12, N-5015 Bergen, NORWAY | | Tel : +47-5558-9185 Fax : +47-5558-9879 | | Email : backer at psych.uib.no URL : http://www.galton.uib.no/ | +----------------------------------------------------------------+
On 04/12/2007 5:25 PM, Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
On Tue, 4 Dec 2007, John Kane wrote:
I simply installed R onto a USB stick, downloaded my normal packages to it and it works fine under Windows.
Yes, on Windows, but 1) There are other OSes, 2) This didn't just happen: it needed some careful design, including some caching to make it run fast from a USB disk.
Nice to discover good planning. Am I then correct in my understanding: Installing R under Windows does not require any registry entries, the installation is essentially to unpack the necessary files in the correct directories?
Yes. It does record some information in the registry, but that's purely optional. The only problem you're likely to run into is using external software with R, that might look in the registry to find where R was installed. Duncan Murdoch
Tom Backer Johnsen <backer <at> psych.uib.no> writes:
I am also informed that it is possible to run Latex in this manner.
http://finzi.psych.upenn.edu/R/Rhelp02a/archive/107419.html refers to http://at-aka.blogspot.com/2006/06/portable-emacs-22050-on-usb.html which can give you a portable emacs + auctex installation for windows. Michael Research Officer, Queensland Health
I opened this hoping someone had installed R on windows mobile or simbian.... :( ________________________________ From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org on behalf of Duncan Murdoch Sent: Tue 04/12/2007 10:54 PM To: Tom Backer Johnsen Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch Subject: Re: [R] Is R portable?
On 04/12/2007 5:25 PM, Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
On Tue, 4 Dec 2007, John Kane wrote:
I simply installed R onto a USB stick, downloaded my normal packages to it and it works fine under Windows.
Yes, on Windows, but 1) There are other OSes, 2) This didn't just happen: it needed some careful design, including some caching to make it run fast from a USB disk.
Nice to discover good planning. Am I then correct in my understanding: Installing R under Windows does not require any registry entries, the installation is essentially to unpack the necessary files in the correct directories?
Yes. It does record some information in the registry, but that's purely optional. The only problem you're likely to run into is using external software with R, that might look in the registry to find where R was installed. Duncan Murdoch ______________________________________________ R-help at r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
michael watson (IAH-C) wrote:
I opened this hoping someone had installed R on windows mobile or simbian.... :(
I think that's Symbian with a 'y'. The toolchain availability tends to get in the way. Linux-based gadgets could prove easier. I do wonder from time to time whether there really is a market for R on cellphones...
________________________________
From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org on behalf of Duncan Murdoch
Sent: Tue 04/12/2007 10:54 PM
To: Tom Backer Johnsen
Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
Subject: Re: [R] Is R portable?
On 04/12/2007 5:25 PM, Tom Backer Johnsen wrote:
Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
On Tue, 4 Dec 2007, John Kane wrote:
I simply installed R onto a USB stick, downloaded my
normal packages to it and it works fine under Windows.
Yes, on Windows, but
1) There are other OSes,
2) This didn't just happen: it needed some careful design, including
some caching to make it run fast from a USB disk.
Nice to discover good planning. Am I then correct in my
understanding: Installing R under Windows does not require any
registry entries, the installation is essentially to unpack the
necessary files in the correct directories?
Yes. It does record some information in the registry, but that's purely
optional. The only problem you're likely to run into is using external
software with R, that might look in the registry to find where R was
installed.
Duncan Murdoch
______________________________________________
R-help at r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
______________________________________________
R-help at r-project.org mailing list
https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
O__ ---- Peter Dalgaard ?ster Farimagsgade 5, Entr.B c/ /'_ --- Dept. of Biostatistics PO Box 2099, 1014 Cph. K (*) \(*) -- University of Copenhagen Denmark Ph: (+45) 35327918 ~~~~~~~~~~ - (p.dalgaard at biostat.ku.dk) FAX: (+45) 35327907
Peter Dalgaard wrote:
The toolchain availability tends to get in the way. Linux-based gadgets could prove easier. I do wonder from time to time whether there really is a market for R on cellphones...
As soon as someone writes library(ringtone) there might be :) And I think you'd have to turn off predictive text. Can someone with a mobile/cellphone tell me what 'hist(runif(100))' comes up as? [1] Barry [1] No, I haven't got one.
On 05-Dec-07 18:57:58, Barry Rowlingson wrote:
Peter Dalgaard wrote:
The toolchain availability tends to get in the way. Linux-based gadgets could prove easier. I do wonder from time to time whether there really is a market for R on cellphones...
As soon as someone writes library(ringtone) there might be :) And I think you'd have to turn off predictive text. Can someone with a mobile/cellphone tell me what 'hist(runif(100))' comes up as? [1] Barry [1] No, I haven't got one.
I have a very old cellphone whose display, when I switch it on, looks very much like what one would expect from 'hist(runif(100))'. I'm not using it any more. Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding at manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 05-Dec-07 Time: 19:32:42 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------