RStudio

RStudio provides an easy to work with graphical interface to R, and its format should feel familiar to Stata and Matlab users.

Installing RStudio for Mac Users

We can install RStudio with Homebrew:

1	brew cask install rstudio

To see if it installed correctly, try and open RStudio from spotlight - there's not simple verification from the terminal.

Installing RStudio for Linux Users

Download the Latest Version of RStudio:

1	wget https://download1.rstudio.org/desktop/bionic/amd64/rstudio-1.2.5033-amd64.deb

Install it:

1	sudo gdebi rstudio-1.2.5033-amd64.deb

To see if it installed correctly, try and open RStudio from the GNOME menu - there's not simple verification from the terminal.

Installing RStudio for Windows Users

Using RStudio together with the R that we installed into our WSL Ubuntu setup is a little trickier - because we don't have access to a graphical interface.

The trick will be to install the server version of RStudio. It may sound slightly daunting - but it is actually quite easy!

First, we download the most recent version of RStudio Server for Ubuntu 18 (see here). Enter the following into your terminal and press Return:

1	wget https://download2.rstudio.org/server/bionic/amd64/rstudio-server-1.2.5033-amd64.deb

Now install it by entering this command and hitting Return:

1	sudo gdebi rstudio-server-1.2.5033-amd64.deb

Now that we have RStudio installed on our subsystem, how can we use it?

In the Ubuntu terminal enter the following text and press Return:

1	sudo rstudio-server start

Now open a web browser, and go to the following address:

1	http://localhost:8787/

which will take you to a log in page.

Log in using the username and password for your Ubuntu terminal that we set up at the beginning.

After logging in successfully you have access to the RStudio that you installed in your Ubuntu subsystem.

To log out, click on the log out button in the top right corner.

To stop the RStudio server from running (logging out doesn't stop it), enter rstudio stop into your terminal.