The following instructions assume that the remote computer is running in a Linux Environment, is available to the outside world with an IP address, has an ssh server installed and IS running (I installed openssh-server), and of course has a version of EMACS 24 installed.
On the local machine, open a terminal and enter the command:
ssh -X user@hostipaddress
... then go through prompts for passwords and passkeys.
On the first log-in, activate the emacs-daemon and start emacs buffers
emacs --daemon
emacsclient -nw
The daemon is what allows processes to keeping running after disconnection and to resume the session later when you log back in. The second line will open EMACS while displaying the buffers in the ssh terminal. One can proceed to open R scripts and start R sessions, etc., using familar commands suggest as M-x R-mode, etc.
Now, you can simply exit EMACS (C-x C-c) and logout of the remote computer (logout), but the buffers and processes will persist! To reconnect simply restart ssh access to the remote computer and redo the emacsclient -nw.
ssh -X user@hostipaddress
emacsclient -nw
... R should still be running :) For some reason, my C-space and C-S space keybindings do not work (though all other customized keybindings do), so be prepared to C-c C-n and C-c C-j.
Reconnecting a remote R session (without EMACS)
For those of you who don't use EMACS, I found tmux to serve as an easy alternative way to disconnect and reconnect to R sessions. While in a remote ssh session, one must simply start the tmux session by typing the command "tmux", then type "R" to initialize an R instance (This assumes the remote computer has installed tmux). When you want to disconnect the ssh connection, type "CTRL-b d" to exit tmux (while the R session nonetheless persists), then you're free to logout and close the remote connection. Later, when you want to re-connect to R, reestablish the ssh connection and type "tmux attach" to re-enter tmux. Your R session will still be there, chugging along as if nothing happened.
