I've used Microsoft Azure when I've been worried about people getting everything set up right on their own machines. With a free Microsoft/Hotmail account you get a Jupyter notebook, Python preloaded with all the packages we teach (and ability to install more), a unix shell, and git. It includes R and other languages as well (but I haven't used those much so I can't speak to those). It requires steady internet access but you don't need to worry about installing anything on your local machine.
Once they leave the workshop, they don't have stuff installed on their local machines but they still have their Microsoft account so they can still access everything they did and continue working and learning. https://notebooks.azure.com/ Maneesha Sane *Program Manager* *Instructor and Trainer* Software Carpentry: https://software-carpentry.org/ Data Carpentry: http://www.datacarpentry.org/ ----- *While I may be sending this email outside my normal office hours, I have no expectation to receive a reply outside yours. Your time, personal and professional, is valued.* On Sun, Sep 16, 2018 at 2:18 PM Katrin Tirok via discuss < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > I am thinking about good and easy 'backup' options for R and/or python > that workshop participants could use when they have technical issues with > their computer that take longer to sort out. Most of my previous workshops > ran smoothly, but I remember one workshop with R this year, where we had a > number of problems with packages that did not install or did not load > properly, it was a mix of too old R versions and missing rights on machines. > > In South Africa we have additional challenges, like old and and very slow > computers, which can take minutes to generate a plot in R, or very slow > internet connection, making it difficult to install packages on the fly. > > I just discovered RStudioCloud https://rstudio.cloud providing full > Rstudio setup in the web and the service is offered for free at the moment. > I also started experimenting with Rstudio Server on my workgroup's server, > however this would only work within my institution. > And I know that under Windows one can run Rstudio from a usb drive ... > > I would like to hear what other people do in such situations ... > > Thanks > > Katrin > *The Carpentries <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/latest>* / discuss / > see discussions <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss> + > participants <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/members> + > delivery > options <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/subscription> > Permalink > <https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/T963f4b806cda01a2-M07cc926167b30ab018eef307> > ------------------------------------------ The Carpentries: discuss Permalink: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/T963f4b806cda01a2-M63b418048a883daaba339dbc Delivery options: https://carpentries.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/subscription
