[PLUG] Minitab dilemna...

[Tim Wescott]

Add Scilab - http://www.scilab.org - to the list.  It's _not_ specifically
for statistics, but if you can get by with a normal number cruncher
program it may be the way to go.

I've heard good things about R from folks who are in the know.  I would
get a copy, but the control and communications systems work that I do is a
very good fit for Scilab; statistics are either peripheral to what I do,
or are vary narrowly focused on control and communications problems, not
'general' statistics.

You may want to investigate the class a bit -- if the course content is
"to find out the conditional distribution with x2 = 5 just type in this
here Minitab command and see the result" then you probably need to get
Minitab (or find a course that actually teaches the subject, not the
tool).  OTOH if the course content is the math, and Minitab is just used
as a way to get there, and if you're happy with getting _no_ support from
your prof with R or whatever, one of the alternatives may be just fine.

Talk to the prof, too -- I could see a department head who's used to a
commercial program demanding it's use.  The prof may have a favorite
open-source program already, and may be willing to help you on the side. 
OTOH, if his head turns around three times and he barfs green slime at the
mention of open source, you may want acquiesce to Minitab for the
duration, and get something better later.

On Thu, October 1, 2009 1:02 pm, Aaron Jorbin wrote:
> I'm not familiar with Minitab or it's feature set ( I used SPSS in
> college), but there are plenty of free alternatives.
>
> R - http://www.r-project.org/ - is a stats programming language.
> Gretyl - http://gretl.sourceforge.net/ - is more for econ regressions,
> but might work
> PSPP - http://www.gnu.org/software/pspp/ - is built as a free
> alternative to spss
>
> http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Free_statistical_software lists many
> more alternatives.
>
> On 10/1/09, Michael Robinson <plug_1 at robinson-west.com> wrote:
>> It looks like it is atrociously expensive to buy a licensed copy and
>> worse than that, it requires from what I can tell a Windows XP system
>> that has 512 megs of ram.  I don't have that.  I have my Linux system
>> with 512 megs of ram.
>>
>> What is the ultimate alternative to using Minitab 15?  I'm needing
>> to use it for a stats course.  Unfortunately, I don't know of any
>> way to use it remotely.  Do the Windows computers at PSU have any
>> means of being accessed remotely?
>>
>> I have the demo version of Minitab 15 which I dowloaded last night,
>> but that is only a 30 day solution and then I guess I have to rent
>> 2 more months.  Man this Minitab outfit is ridiculous.
>>
>> Will Crossover Linux, the most recent version perhaps, run Minitab 15?
>>
>> I suppose I have a laptop that is in use now by my father with 512 megs
>> of ram and Windows XP, but it's in use.  I actually have a Pentium 4
>> desktop computer with a 1.80 Ghz processor and 256 megs of ram, but
>> that isn't enough ram to run Minitab and I don't know what kind of
>> DIMMs it takes.  It's an SIS micro atx board.
>>
>> So I'm stuck either grabbing a copy of XP somehow and dual booting on
>> my Linux system, running Minitab via Wine, or using something else.
>>
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>
>
> --
> aaron.jorbin at gmail.com
> http://aaron.jorb.in
> Twitter: @aaronjorbin
> 971-231-3499
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-- 
Tim Wescott
Control systems and communications consulting
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Land line: 503.631.7815
Cell: 503.349.8432