I've found the version of R in the Ubuntu repository is almost always out of date. Here is the process I follow:
1) Add the R repository (see http://cran.r-project.org/bin/linux/ubuntu/). 2) Install R and the dev package: sudo apt-get install r-base r-base-dev 3) Install any packages needed to build a particular package. In this case something like sudo apt-get build-dep r-cran-rcmdr (I'm not on my ubuntu machine at the moment so I'm not sure the package name is correct). 4) Start R from the command line as root so I can install packages system-wide: sudo R 5) From the R command prompt, install Rcmdr: > install.packages("Rcmdr", dep=TRUE) 6) Start Rcmdr and install additional packages when prompted. I've never had this procedure fail to produce a working installation. Hope it helps, Ista On Sat, Feb 14, 2009 at 9:24 PM, Robert W. Hayden <[email protected]> wrote: > > Last weekend I visited my sister and her husband and installed R on > their Ubuntu 8.04 machine and tried to add Rcmdr. I had endless > trouble most of which seemed to be because R (or Rcmdr) seemed to want > a Fortran compiler (or a Fortran-to-C translator). A smaller number > of error mesages (out of many pages thereof) were removed by > installing what appeared to be a library of Fortran linear algebra > routines (lblas?). Even then Rcmdr complained about missing packages > when I ran it, and though it offered to install them, the installation > failed in every case, with no useful error messages. > > I have installed R and Rcmdr many times before to Windows and various > Linux distributions (it's on this Debian right now) and never had so > much trouble. Did I do something wrong? Is there a problem with R on > Ubuntu? I have programmed in Fortran so I don't mind adding a > compiler and I've taught linear algebra so I don't mind adding linear > algebra routines, but there is no way my students would ever figure > out that was needed. I also noted that Rcmdr had a MUCH longer list > of dependencies than I remember. All of this has me worried about > using R in an introductory course for folks who are not computer > science majors. > > Has anyone encountered a similar problem? I used whatever version of > R is in the Ubuntu repository. I seem to remember 2.4 though that > seems a bit old. > > -------> First-time AP Stats. teacher? Help is on the way! See > > http://courses.ncssm.edu/math/Stat_Inst/Stats2007/Bob%20Hayden/Relief.html > > Robert W. Hayden in the old library at 212 Main Street (P. O. Box 450) > North Troy, VT 05859 phone (802) 988-2587 web site http://statland.org/ > email bob statland.org (add your own "@" and save me some spam) > > _______________________________________________ > [email protected] mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching > _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-teaching
