I'm a fellow (K)Ubuntu user, although I'm waiting for KK to be released before upgrading. I just wanted to point out that presumably this advertisement can be avoided by installing R as instructed at http://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu/ rather than using Ubuntu's version. I usually do this anyway because it's usually more up-to-date.
-Ista On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 9:38 AM, David M Smith <da...@revolution-computing.com> wrote: > Andrew is correct: the upcoming release of Ubuntu (Karmic Koala) will > feature the REvolution R distribution. (I am a REvolution Computing > employee.) Our developers have been working with Canonical's > representatives over the past several months to upgrade R in Ubuntu to > 2.9.2 and to include the REvolution R extensions. > >> My question(s) for the community is this (pick any question(s) you like to >> answer: >> Should I install the REvolution Computing packages? >> Do these packages really make R faster? >> Are these packages stable? >> What are your experiences with REvolution Computing software? > > Whether you install the REvolution Computing packages is up to you. > When you upgrade to KK, the only change made to stock R is the > .Rprofile.site file, adding the message about how to install the > extensions. (You can edit the .Rprofile.site file if you prefer.) > > If you do install the extensions, no changes are made to the core R > language (it is 100% compatible with stock R). R will be linked to > multi-threaded math libraries, which will improve performance for some > mathematical operations (particularly on a multi-core system, where > more than 1 processor will be used). So you should expect it to make R > faster. > > Installing the extensions also installs some additional packages from > REvolution Computing, including foreach and iterators, and Simon > Urbanek's multicore package from CRAN. The REvolution packages have > been in use for over a year, and are very stable. In any case they are > not attached by default. But if you do load these packages, you can > use the "foreach" function to parallelize loops, making R run faster > on multicore systems. > > I'll leave others to speak of their experiences of REvolution > Computing software (our contributions to the community include the > packages nws, foreach, iterators, doSNOW and doMC and REvolution R > itself). But from my personal perspective, I'm proud to have been able > to extend awareness and use of R to new domains, and to improve the > performance of R for many users. > > # David Smith > Director of Community, REvolution Computing > > On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 8:40 PM, Andrew Choens <andy.cho...@gmail.com> wrote: >> For those who don't follow Ubuntu development carefully, the first Beta for >> the >> next Ubuntu was recently released, so I took my home system and upgraded to >> help out with filing bugs, etc. >> >> Just to be clear, I am not looking for help with the upgrade process. I've >> had >> R, and a few miscellaneous CRAN packages installed on this computer for >> years. >> Today, when I loaded an R session I had developed before the upgrade, I saw >> something new in my R "welcome message". >>> >>>R version 2.9.2 (2009-08-24) >>>Copyright (C) 2009 The R Foundation for Statistical Computing >>>ISBN 3-900051-07-0 >>> >>>R is free software and comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. >>>You are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions. >>>Type 'license()' or 'licence()' for distribution details. >>> >>>R is a collaborative project with many contributors. >>>Type 'contributors()' for more information and >>>'citation()' on how to cite R or R packages in publications. >>> >>> >>>This is REvolution R version 3.0.0: >>>the optimized distribution of R from REvolution Computing. >>>REvolution R enhancements Copyright (C) REvolution Computing, Inc. >>> >>>Checking for REvolution MKL: >> >- REvolution R enhancements not installed. >>>For improved performance and other extensions: apt-get install revolution-r >> >> The last part, about this being the "enhanced" version of R was . . . >> unexpected. I have heard of this company before and now I've spent some time >> on their website. Looking at my installation, Ubuntu did not install any of >> the REvolution Computing components, although R now basically thows a warning >> every time I start it. >> >> My question(s) for the community is this (pick any question(s) you like to >> answer: >> Should I install the REvolution Computing packages? >> Do these packages really make R faster? >> Are these packages stable? >> What are your experiences with REvolution Computing software? >> >> I am interested in hearing from members of the community, REvolution >> Computing >> employees/supporters (although please ID yourself as such) and most anyone >> else. I can see what they say on their website, but I'm interested in getting >> other opinions too. >> >> Thanks! > > -- > David M Smith <da...@revolution-computing.com> > Director of Community, REvolution Computing www.revolution-computing.com > Tel: +1 (206) 577-4778 x3203 (San Francisco, USA) > > Check out our upcoming events schedule at www.revolution-computing.com/events > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@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. > -- Ista Zahn Graduate student University of Rochester Department of Clinical and Social Psychology http://yourpsyche.org ______________________________________________ R-help@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.