Hi Duncan,
Duncan Murdoch wrote:
On 28/10/2009 5:54 PM, Ross Boylan wrote:
I just installed 2.10 on XP; ESS is my primary interface.
I seem to be able to access all the help files; under 2.8.1 I was having
seemingly random problems accessing some help topics (including one day
I could and a few days later I couldn't, and vice-versa). That's good.
I noticed a few glitches.
First, the installer asks if you want text, CHM, or HTML help, but
offers only text or HTML. I understand CHM has been removed; I guess
this is just an old message.
Yes, already fixed in the patched version.
Second, install.packages("intervals") produced the usual line about
selecting a mirror, but no selection list popped up. It just sat there
until I interrupted the session and reentered the command with a
pre-specified repos. I selected custom install but took the defaults; I
noticed there was some optional tk/tcl stuff (which I did not select);
I'm guessing it's required for these selections. Perhaps it should be
installed by default?
That's something I haven't seen before. I do get the mirror dialog, and
it doesn't use tcl/tk, so I'd appreciate hearing if you can spot any
pattern here (including the pattern "I never get it"). (The install
option is about installing the tcl/tk help files: mainly useful if
you're developing with tcl/tk, not necessary for most users. The Tcl/tk
code itself is always installed.) It could be that R is being blocked
by your anti-virus software; what it's trying to do is to read a list of
mirrors from
This is a longstanding problem for R under ess/emacs on Windows (and
maybe Xemacs as well, but I don't know for sure).
This problem manifests itself in install.packages(), but the real
problem comes from the line
if (.Platform$OS.type == "windows" | .Platform$GUI == "AQUA")
return(.Internal(select.list(list, preselect, multiple,
title)))
in select.list(). If you run R under ess/emacs and do something as
simple as
select.list(letters)
it will freeze and you have to use C-g, C-c C-c to 'unfreeze'.
Paradoxically, after doing so, select.list() will then function correctly.
You can get around this problem by first loading the tcltk package, if
that is of any help.
This problem only occurs under emacs/ess; if you run R from a DOS prompt
or via the GUI then select.list() works correctly the first time.
Best,
Jim
http://cran.r-project.org/CRAN_mirrors.csv
using the code in getCRANmirrors(). If that download fails or is
delayed forever, you won't get the selection list.
Third, every time one asks for help on a new topic there is a
considerable delay (seemed like forever, probably c 15 seconds) before
the help comes up. My first thought was that the on-demand help was
being assembled, but I didn't see much CPU use. It might be latency in
talking to MSIE, and this latency might even be from my (Sophos)
antivirus software, which kept warning me about a program suspiciously
launching MSIE. If you ask for help you already requested there is no
delay (good) and it does not focus on the tab with the relevant help
(which strikes me as the ideal behavior, though it may be hard to do).
When you ask for help the first time, it starts the internal server, but
that should be fast. Then it passes the URL to Windows to open, and
Windows needs to open the browser to show it, which tends to be slow.
When you ask subsequently, it will send the request to Windows again,
but if the browser is open, that should be quick. I'd guess this is
your antivirus checking out the URL; when I do it (with no antivirus
checking on such things) it's pretty slow on the first occurence
(because it needs to start Firefox), then pretty fast after that.
Fourth, I read the previous comments about how more beta testers would
be useful :)
Yep.
Duncan Murdoch
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--
James W. MacDonald, M.S.
Biostatistician
Douglas Lab
University of Michigan
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