Prerequisites

…things that need to be in place before the R course.
Author

Søren O’Neill

Published

January 10, 2024

1 Prerequisites

You’r going to need a computer …

  • A somewhat modern computer
    • Sufficient storage (+500 Mb) on your harddisk for the installation
    • Sufficient memory (+1 Gb) - the more, the better
  • A somehwat modern operating system
    • Linux (Ubuntu 18+, Debian 9+, OpenSuse 15+, Fedora 19+, Redhat 7+, etc)
    • Windows 10+
    • MacOS10.15+
  • A working internet connection

If you are in doubt or your computer was issues by the SDU, SLB, or OUH, please see below:

If you already have a working installation of R, you can use this script to list all the relevant information about your computer and its software.

If you do not, the links below will guide you how to get glean the relevant information for your operating system:

1.0.1 Debian based distributions

If you’re running Linux, you probably know all this stuff already, down to the clock speed of your RAM and the block size of ext4, but if not:

Run the following in a terminal, to get information about your operating system (uname), your hardware (lscpu) and disk space (df):

$ uname -a
$ lscpu
$ df -h

1.0.2 Red Hat based distributions

Run the following in a terminal, to get information about your operating system (hostnamectl), your hardware (lscpu) and disk space (df):

$ hostnamectl
$ lscpu
$ df -h

1.0.3 Gentoo, Arch, or similar?

You definitely do not need any assistance here…

If your computer is an older model, we recommend that you get someone to help you install R well in time before the R-course.

Otherwise, you risk spending all your class time wrangling your computer instead of playing with R.

The R-ecosystem is constantly developing and new functionality is added all the time, which may be unavailable to you with an older R installation.

Your computer doesn’t have to be brand spanking new, but if in doubt, contact the teachers before the R course starts.

At the time of writing (summer 2022) we recommend you use R version4.x.x and RStudio version 2022.x.x

Note, that if your computer is set up to use an institutional network drive (such as Microsoft OneDrive) as opposed to its local harddisk, it may slow things down somewhat … it will still run, but slower due to the net-traffic overhead.

Be aware that the local IT department on the Regional Hospitals and the Universiy may impose certain restrictions on your ability to install software on your computer:

  • Access to some webpages (e.g. CRAN) may be restricted, as may access to download some files from the internet.
  • Installation of software may require particular administrative rights which you do not have as standard.

If this is the case, it will impede and slow down your installation of R.

It is therefor a good idea, to get all of this sorted out before the start of classes. Again, otherwise you risk spending all your class time wrangling your computer rather than playing with R.

…and we (the teacher) will gladly help you with the R-ecosystem, but not necessarily your computer or your operating system.

On an SDU issued computer, your best bet is to install software via the SDU IT Software Center.

Be aware that the local IT department on the Regional Hospitals and the Universiy may impose certain restrictions on your ability to install software on your computer:

  • Access to some webpages (e.g. CRAN) may be restricted, as may access to download some files from the internet.
  • Installation of software may require particular administrative rights which you do not have as standard.

If this is the case, it will impede and slow down your installation of R.

It is therefor a good idea, to get all of this sorted out before the start of classes. Again, otherwise you risk spending all your class time wrangling your computer rather than playing with R.

…and we (the teacher) will gladly help you with the R-ecosystem, but not necessarily your computer or your operating system.

Some OUH employees in the past, have been advised to use a server-based R/RStudio solution, in place of a local installation on your computer – that does not work well. We highly recommend a local installation on your own hard drive.

Be aware that the local IT department on the Regional Hospitals and the University may impose certain restrictions on your ability to install software on your computer:

  • Access to some webpages (e.g. CRAN) may be restricted, as may access to download some files from the internet.
  • Installation of software may require particular administrative rights which you do not have as standard.

If this is the case, it will impede and slow down your installation of R.

It is therefor a good idea, to get all of this sorted out before the start of classes. Again, otherwise you risk spending all your class time wrangling your computer rather than playing with R.

…and we (the teacher) will gladly help you with the R-ecosystem, but not necessarily your computer or your operating system.