Workshop

Understanding file systems

There is no formal workshop this week but I recommend setting yourself up to work from home

💻 Set up the Virtual Desktop. I recommend working on the University computers for this work. Installing R and RStudio is almost always straightforward but many people are still developing their computing skills. If you sometimes have difficulty updating and or installing software on your own machine, wouldn’t know what what versions of R and RStudio you are using or don’t realise there is a difference between R and RStudio you will likely avoid trouble by using the university machines. The uni machines always have up-to-date R and R packages and all the packages that appear in teaching materials. You can still work from home by using the Virtual Desktop Service. The VDS allows you to log on to a university computer from your own computer. It means you can access all software and filestores. When using the VDS for R and RStudio, it usually makes sense to use other software - such as a browser or file explorer - also through the VDS. Go to the Virtual Desktop Service for set up instructions.

However, If you are confident in your ability to set up your own machine, you need:
- to know there is a difference between R and RStudio
- Install R and Rstudio
- to us R 4.4 and RStudio 2024.09.0 Build 375 (“Cranberry Hibiscus”)
- to be certain you are actually using R 4.4 - it is written in the top edge of the console window. By default RStudio uses the latest version on R on your machine.
It is possible to access all your files on your university account without using the VDS. For example, if you want to work on uni machines at uni and your machine at home. You can best do this by mapping a drive. If you store everything on google drive you can also read/write to that like any other drive using google drive app.

Even if you plan to use your own machine I really recommend you take the time to set the VDS up now while you’re not time pressured so you always have that option ready.