on Mon, May 07, 2001 at 11:30:07AM -0700, barsi ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote: > hello, I am a graduate student in molecular biology and I AM SICK OF > MS WINDOWS! I am installing your debian Linux os on my IBM 600x > laptop, but I still need a couple statistical packages currently only > available for MS windows.
What packages?
For general programming, Python, Perl, C, and other systems exist. My
own preference is Python, for clarity, ease of learning, and available
tools, in particular the "NumPy" (numerical python) package, designed
for very large scale numerical analysis in nuclear physics.
For specialized statistics, there are R (the r-base and r-cran packages
under Debian) and gnuplot, as well as others.
R is the GNU version of the S language, developed at AT&T. It includes
most of the functionality of S-Plus. For high-end stats, R almost
certainly has what you're looking for. R is particularly popular in the
pharmaceutical industry among academic associates.
I believe there's an SPSS version for GNU/Linux, though I won't swear to
it. There is a GNU project, PSPP, attempting to emulate it. I don't
know its status.
SAS has a GNU/Linux port, pricing AFAIK is $3300/workstation, with
possibly lower rates for academic work, though SI are doing their
typical boneheaded thinking WRT licensing. A colleague has found that
it isn't possible to extend from his (academic) site's existing AIX
license to get academic per-seat licensing for his GNU/Linux
workstation. Typically, and academic SAS seat runs about $100.
For other information on scientific computing under GNU/Linux, see the
Scientific Applications for Linux (SAL) page:
http://sal.kachinatech.com/A/3/index.shtml
What specific packages are you using or do you need?
Bio note:
I have ten years' experience with SAS in academic, healthcare, electric
utility, banking, credit card, finance, biotech, and pharmaceutical
settings, on a range of platforms including various flavors of Legacy MS
Windows, VMS, MVS, and multiple flavors of Unix. I was one of several
SAS users strongly advocating a port to GNU/Linux, though I no longer
use SAS in daily work. I'm project lead on the Gestalt System, which is
aimed at providing integration among existing free software tools for
statistical and reporting purposes.
Cheers.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? There is no K5 cabal
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ http://www.kuro5hin.org
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