Problem with R rendering base Graphics in CentOS 4

Question

Hi we're trying to get R with the standard gui loaded onto CentOS 4, and under certain users R will not render certain graphics. When logged in as root the graphics render, but under the restricted user they don't. The graphics don't render with the error:

> testdata <- rbind(c(1,2,3,4,5,6),c(3,4,5,4,6,2),c(3,6,7,2,2,1),c(5,4,9,8,9,1))
> pairs(testdata)
Error in text.default(x, y, txt, cex = cex, font = font) : 
 X11 font -adobe-helvetica-%s-%s-*-*-%d-*-*-*-*-*-*-*, face 1 at size 16 could not be loaded

Anyone come across this one or have any ideas?

Thanks

Answer 1

Sounds like something is wrong with your system setup -- I don't expect this to be an R issue.

Answer 2

I had just about the exact same thing with ubuntu 12.04 and R 2.14.1 I installed the ubuntu packages

xfonts-100dpi

xfonts-75dpi

Instant fix.

Answer 3

You should try "xset fp rehash" to tell X to rescan and rehash installed fonts. (worked for me)