Data Carpentry Workshop Setup Instructions

Requirements: Data Carpentry's teaching is hands-on, so participants are encouraged to bring in and use their own laptops to insure the proper setup of tools for an efficient workflow once you leave the workshop. (We will provide instructions on setting up the required software several days in advance) There are no pre-requisites, and we will assume no prior knowledge about the tools.

Contact: Please email admin@datacarpentry.org for questions and information not covered here.

Setup

To participate in a Data Carpentry workshop, you will need working copies of the software described below. Please make sure to install everything and try opening it to make sure it works before the start of your workshop. If you run into any problems, please feel free to email the instructor or arrive early to your workshop on the first day. Participants should bring and use their own laptops to insure the proper setup of tools for an efficient workflow once you leave the workshop.

This workshop will be using the software outlined in the install instructions below. Please see the section for your operating system for those directions.

Windows

Please go through all the installation steps below and make sure that you not only installed them, but start them up to make sure they're working. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to email the instructors to ask for help, or arrive early on the first day of the workshop to get help.

  1. A spreadsheet program
    For this workshop you will need a spreadsheet program. Many people already have Microsoft Excel installed, and if you do, you're set!
    If you need a spreadsheet program, there are a few other options, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Install instructions for LibreOffice, which is free and open source, are here.
    • Download the Installer
      Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Windows should automatically be selected. Click on the button below "Main Installer" Download Version x.y.z. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don't need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
    • Install LibreOffice
      Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and it should install.
    • To use LibreOffice, double click on the icon and it will open.

  2. R
    In the workshop, we will use RStudio. RStudio is a nice interface to the programming language R. To use RStudio, you need to install both R and RStudio.
    • Download R from here
    • Run the .exe file that was just downloaded
    • Go to the RStudio Download page
    • Under Installers select RStudio 0.98.1103 - Windows XP/Vista/7/8
    • Double click the file to install it
    • Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.

  3. SQLite

    For this workshop we're going to use the DB Manager for SQLite.
    • To install it, download the .exe file for Windows and open it. The installation wizard should automatically pop up.
    • Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

Mac

Please go through all the installation steps below and make sure that you not only installed them, but start them up to make sure they're working. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to email the instructors to ask for help, or arrive early on the first day of the workshop to get help.

  1. A spreadsheet program
    For this workshop you will need a spreadsheet program. Many people already have Microsoft Excel installed, and if you do, you're set!
    If you need a spreadsheet program, there are a few other options, like OpenOffice and LibreOffice. Install instructions for LibreOffice, which is free and open source, are here.
    • Download the Installer
      Install LibreOffice by going to the installation page. The version for Mac should automatically be selected. Click on the button below "Main Installer" Download Version x.y.z. You will go to a page that asks about a donation, but you don't need to make one. Your download should begin automatically.
    • Install LibreOffice
      Once the installer is downloaded, double click on it and it should install.
    • To use LibreOffice, double click on the icon and it will open.

  2. R
    In the workshop, we will use RStudio. RStudio is a nice interface to the programming language R. To use RStudio, you need to install both R and RStudio.
    • Go to CRAN and click on Download R for (Mac) OS X
    • Select the .pkg file for the version of OS X that you have and the file will download.
    • Double click on the file that was downloaded and R will install
    • Go to the RStudio Download page
    • Under Installers select RStudio x.yy.zzz - Mac OS X 10.6+ (64-bit) to download it.
    • Once it's downloaded, double click the file to install it
    • Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.

  3. SQLite
    For this workshop we're going to use the DB Manager for SQLite.
    • To install it, download the .dmg file for Mac and open it. The installation wizard should automatically pop up.
    • Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.

Linux

Please go through all the installation steps below and make sure that you not only installed them, but start them up to make sure they're working. If you have any problems, don't hesitate to email the instructors to ask for help, or arrive early on the first day of the workshop to get help.

  1. A spreadsheet program
    For this workshop you will need a spreadsheet program. LibreOffice comes preinstalled with several Linux distributions. If you don't already have it, use your package manager to install it: (e.g., sudo apt-get install libreoffice for Ubuntu and other Debian-based distributions).

  2. R
    In the workshop, we will use RStudio. RStudio is a nice interface to the programming language R. To use RStudio, you need to install both R and RStudio.
    • Follow the instructions for your distribution from CRAN. For most distributions, you can use your package manager (e.g. for Debian/Ubuntu run sudo apt-get install r-base, and for Fedora run sudo yum install R) but make sure that you have at least R 3.2.2 (as pre-packaged versions might be out of date).
    • To install RStudio, go to the RStudio Download page
    • Under Installers select the version for your distribution.
    • Once it's downloaded, double click the file to install it (or sudo dpkg -i rstudio-x.yy.zzz-amd64.deb at the terminal).
    • Once it's installed, open RStudio to make sure it works and you don't get any error messages.

  3. SQLite
    For this workshop we're going to use the DB Browser for SQLite.
    • To install the DB Browser, type the following commands in your terminal (Debian/Ubuntu):
      sudo apt-get update
      sudo apt-get install sqlitebrowser