I've read some of R's literature on Linux, including the R Admin manual, and didn't find it very useful, which is probably my own limitation. But I did finally manage to get it working well. I'm posting this to help others. The following worked when installing R 2.8.1 on Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. Here are truly step-by-step instructions for those who don't know Linux (like me):
Installation and Initial Set-Up of R for Ubuntu Linux 1. Open the Bash terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) 2. Type these lines to add the security key to access the latest version of the R Ubuntu package: u...@computer:~$ gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-key E2A11821 u...@computer:~$ gpg -a --export E2A11821 | sudo apt-key add - 3. Use the Bash terminal to open your sources.list file with gedit (text editor) for editing: u...@computer:~$ sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list 4. Add this line to the bottom of the sources.list file: deb http://rh-mirror.linux.iastate.edu/CRAN/bin/linux/ubuntu hardy/ 5. Save the file and go back to the Bash terminal. 6. Type this to update apt-get's database before you install R: u...@computer:~$ sudo apt-get update 7. Install R with this command: u...@computer:~$ sudo apt-get install r-base 8. Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager, and download the build-essential package. 9. To use R, simply enter R in the Bash terminal. To quit, enter q(). Additional programs will be needed to install other packages or work with other programs: 1. Install compilers for C++ and Fortran u...@computer:~$ sudo apt-get install g++ gfortran 2. Install the developer versions of Blas and Lapack (what are these?) u...@computer:~$ apt-get install libblas-dev liblapack-dev Updating Packages in R 1. Open the Bash terminal and start R with root permissions u...@computer:~$ sudo R 2. Type > update.packages() Installing the R Commander GUI 1. Open the Bash terminal and type: u...@computer:~$ apt-get install r-cran-rcmdr Using the R Commander GUI library(Rcmdr) ...or once the library is open and Commander has been shut down, type: commander() Notes It looks like most of R has been put here: /etc/R (Rprofile.site is here) /usr/lib/R Downloaded Packages seem to go here: /usr/local/lib/R/site-library/ -- View this message in context: http://www.nabble.com/installing-R-on-Ubuntu-tp10025949p21894865.html Sent from the R help mailing list archive at Nabble.com. ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.