From B.Rowlingson at lancaster.ac.uk  Wed Jan  4 19:06:32 2006
From: B.Rowlingson at lancaster.ac.uk (Barry Rowlingson)
Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 18:06:32 +0000
Subject: [Rd] R on Thin Client with Win 2003
Message-ID: <43BC0EA8.3070404@lancaster.ac.uk>

I'm having some fun with R on a Windows 2003 Server talking to a Wyse 
Winterm running Thinstation Linux. The Winterm boots Linux from the 
network and then runs rdesktop to a Dell 1750 server (dual 3G Xeon or 
somesuch).

The first problem I noticed was that R (and the terminal) ground to a 
near halt during demo(graphics). Further investigation showed that it 
seemed to be due to having par(ask=TRUE) set. So:

  par(ask=TRUE);plot(1:10);plot(1:10)

would cause the Windows session to become unresponsive. Usually it would 
recover, but sometimes not.

  This was odd, because I have had a similar setup servicing a lab for 
over a year without problems. Similar, except this old lab has R 1.9.1 
installed and not shiny new 2.2.1. So I installed R 1.9.1 on the new 
server - and then there's no problem with par(ask=TRUE) stuff.

  Further R installs show the problem manifests itself in 2.1.1 and not 
2.0.1, coincidental with a change in the prompt from "Hit <Return> to 
see next plot" (2.0.1) to "Click or hit ENTER for next page" (2.1.1). 
Curious...

  Running rdesktop from my desktop Linux box and connecting to the same 
server doesn't show any of these problems. So I can't blame the network.

  Possible reasons for the change:

  * Difference in rdesktop versions (1.4.1 on Wyse, 1.3 on my machine)

  * Difference in X version (Xorg 6.9.0 on Wyse, XFree86 4.2.1 on mine)

I think the next thing to try is to put R 2.2.1 on the old lab and see 
how that copes. Has anyone else any experience running R from Win2003 
servers or on Wyse Winterm X-terminals or using Thinstation Linux?

Barry



[Rd] R on Thin Client with Win 2003
Barry Rowlingson