Useful Software
This is some software that you will probably find useful. Only items used and recommended by two or more Duke Statistics faculty members, and free (to academics) or site-licensed by Duke, are included here. You might find more (e.g. Maple, Mathematica, Matlab, S-PLUS, SAS) at the OIT Site License website.
Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Description
- a viewer for PDF files
- Installation
- Download it and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/
- Note
- Duke Computer Store has site-license for a more advanced product, Adobe Acrobat 6.0 Pro, to generate and manipulate PDF files.
BUGS
Cygwin
- Description
- a linux-like environment for windows, based on GNU, distributed free by Red Hat. Includes development tools (gcc etc), most Unix shells and tools.
- Installation
- Download the latest version from cygwin and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.cygwin.com/
Emacs
- Description
- a very popular Unix text editor, ported to Windows
- Installation
- If you're not running Windows XP, install WinZip. Open the emacs zip file (just click on the link). Extract its contents into C:\ so that the C:\emacs directory is created. Right-click on your desktop and click New -> Shortcut. Browse to C:\emacs\bin and select runemacs. Click Next. You may name the shortcut anything you wish; I suggest "emacs".
- Website
- http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/windows/ntemacs.html
F-Secure SSH
- Description
- an SSH and SFTP client (for Unix logins and secure file transfer)
- Installation
- Download it and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.f-secure.com/
- Note
- You might prefer to use the free, fast, and spartan PuTTY SSH cilent and WinSCP SFTP client instead.
Firefox
- Description
- The leading multi-platform web browser
- Installation
- Download the latest version from mozilla.org and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.mozilla.org/
GSview and Ghostscript
- Description
- a viewer for PostScript files
- Installation
- Download the latest versions of AFPL Ghostscript and GSview. Run them in that order; installtion is mostly automatic. You will be prompted for an installation directory. It doesn't really matter what you choose, but I suggest C:\Program Files\Ghostscript for both.
- Website
- http://www.ghostscript.com/ and/or http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/
McAfee VirusScan
- Description
- anti-virus software
- Installation
- Download it and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.mcafee.com/
MiKTeX
- Description
- a TeX and LaTeX compiler system
- Installation
- Download the latest version from miktex.org and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.miktex.org/
OpenBUGS
- Description
- Open-source multi-platform non-GUI version of Bayesian Inference Using Gibbs Sampling
- Installation
- Download the latest version from here and follow installation instructions from here; installation varies somewhat for Windows, Linux, and other platforms.
- Website
- http://mathstat.helsinki.fi/openbugs/Home.html
OpenOffice
- Description
- a free office suite, the successor to StarOffice, (mostly) compatible with Microsoft Office
- Installation
- Download the latest version from openoffice.org and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.openoffice.org/
PROPA
- Description
- software for Bayesian analysis in biological pathway annotation models for matching gene expression (and other genomic) signature gene sets to biological database lists of pathways
- Installation
- Download the latest version from PROPA home and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.stat.duke.edu/research/software/west/propa/index.html
PuTTY SSH
- Description
- an SSH client (for Unix logins), smaller and simpler than F-Secure (listed above)
- Installation
- Just save this file somewhere convenient, such as your desktop.
- Website
- http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
R
- Description
- a free open-source implementation of the S language and environment for statistical computing and graphics, similar to S-Plus
- Installation
- Download the setup program from r-project.org and run it; installation is automatic. If you plan to download emacs (listed above), make sure you install R in the default location.
- Website
- http://www.r-project.org/
Thunderbird
- Description
- The leading multi-platform e-mail client
- Installation
- Download the latest version from mozilla.org and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.mozilla.org/
WinBUGS
- Description
- Windows-only GUI version of Bayesian Inference Using Gibbs Sampling
- Installation
- Download the latest version from here and run it; installation is automatic. To create a shortcut, right-click on your desktop and click New -> Shortcut. Browse to C:\Program Files\WinBUGS14 and select WinBUGS14. Click Next. You may name the shortcut anything you wish; I suggest "WinBUGS".
- Website
- http://www.mrc-bsu.cam.ac.uk/bugs/
WinEdt
- Description
- a LaTeX editor and compiler interface
- Installation
- Install MiKTeX first. Download the newest version of WinEdt from here and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.winedt.com/
WinSCP
- Description
- an SCP / SFTP client (for secure file transfer), similar to F-Secure (above)
- Installation
- Download the newest version from here and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://winscp.sourceforge.net/eng/
WinShell
- Description
- a LaTeX editor and compiler interface
- Installation
- Install MiKTeX first. Download the newest version of WinShell from here and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.winshell.de/
WinZip
- Description
- a tool for manipulating "Zip" archive files
- Installation
- Download it and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.winzip.com/
X-Win32
- Description
- displays graphical windows from a Unix machine on Windows
- Installation
- Download it and run it; installation is automatic.
- Website
- http://www.starnet.com/
- Note
- Duke's free download works only from Duke IP addresses (starting 152.3 or 152.16); those who work from home or travel may wish to purchase the full version at academic price from the publisher, Starnet.