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Ideal Computer and Software (A bit off topic)

2 messages · KKThird@Yahoo.Com, Don MacQueen

KKThird@Yahoo.Com
# 
Hello everyone.

This question might be a bit off topic, but I thought
that (a) there couldn't be a better group to address
my questions and (b) that others might find it useful
too; It also might start an interesting discussion
thread.  

I use R often for simulation purposes (which generally
involve a lot of for() loops) and for most of my
general work. I will be purchasing a new computing
system soon, and I'm wondering the best way to go. I'm
a Windows user now, and from what I know and have read
about Linux, it is what I should be using (or possibly
a Unix machine). I'm not wedded to a Windows system
and I'm willing to put in the time to learn Linux if
it would truly be beneficial. Is it the case that
Linux offers so much more than Windows that it is
definitely worth the switch?

For the hardware issue, is it generally better to run
R on a server and then connect to the server or on a
stand alone computer (Obviously the performance would
be related to the specific hardware, but if the
hardware was essentially equal, would there be any
advantage to either?). 

What seems to be better for using R on, an Intel, AMD,
Unix, or Mac (which I suppose is now a Unix)
processor? In terms of speed, again given the
analogous hardware, is there an advantage to one of
these? 

Does it make sense to get a 64 bit AMD processor, or
is that just an overkill? Would R even make use of the
64 bit processing power?

I'm very interested on any thoughts people have on
this. I'm a big user of computers, but I'm not overly
knowledgeable about their inner workings. 

Thanks and have a nice day,
Ken
Don MacQueen
# 
I'd like to mention that if using the desktop applications such as MS 
Word, Excel, Powerpoint, email software, Acrobat Reader, etc. is 
important to you, then the Mac may be a better choice than a Linux 
box. Mac OS X lets you use all of those, and also work at the unix 
level, side by side and simultaneously, on the same machine.

On a Mac you can run R either with a GUI analagous to that of R for 
Windows, or you can run it as a command line app, as on Linux.

I can't help with performance comparison questions, or the 64 bit 
issue, I'm sorry to say.

-Don
At 11:41 AM -0800 3/17/05, KKThird at Yahoo.Com wrote:
A server might have other users using competing with you for cpu cycles.
A server might have a more reliable backup policy (or might not!).
A server might or might not have security patches and OS upgrades 
done more promptly.
If you need to transfer content from R (text output or graphics 
files) into reports or presentations,
it might be easier with a local machine, depending on whether the 
server shares file systems.