3.2 Before you Install… Posit (RStudio) Cloud?
Before venturing into downloading and installing R and RStudio, you should ask yourself a series of questions.
Do you have a Chromebook? The following section is intended for installation on either a PC or a Mac. For those of you using Chromebooks (which uses a Linux operating system), you will not be able to install these programs unless you partition your hard drive to run purely in Linux. If you don’t know what that means, then I don’t suggest you go down that route.
Do you have a rather old PC or old MAC? Installation of R and RStudio can be complicated on older computers. For example, if you have a PC with Windows 9 or earlier, you would need to download additional Microsoft programs to get R to install. If you have earlier MAC operating systems, you would need to install the specific version of R suitable for your OS.
Are you planning to use a work computer with a high level of security? Work computers are commonly shielded from the outside world with rather strong security firewalls. Being open source, R likes to regularly communicate with a Mirror server (explained below), and computers with high levels of security tend to prevent this.
If you answered yes to any of the above questions (or if you simply do not feel like installing more software on your computer), then the solution for you is the Posit Cloud.
The website is https://posit.cloud/
Figure 3.1: Welcome to Posit Cloud!
Signing up for a free account with the Posit Cloud has it’s benefits…
You will be able to do everything for this class on the cloud-based version of the software without ever having to download anything.
Everything will be on your Cloud account, so any security firewalls will no longer be an issue.
You can run the most up-to-date version of R and RStudio no matter what operating system you have.
Of course, the Posit Cloud also has a few drawbacks…
The Posit Cloud requires an active internet connection when in use.
Your free account comes with limited usage time.5 If you require more time, you are able to purchase additional usage time for a minimal fee.6
The bottom line is that the cloud-based version of RStudio is an excellent alternative to installing your own version of the course software. Students who have gone this route in the past have had zero issues with the time limit.
Note: If you decide to go with the Posit Cloud option, you can skip the following section entitled Downloading and installing R and proceed to the section entitled Taking Stock and all remaining sections of the chapter. These sections are relevant for all students regardless of their version of RStudio.