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<font face="Comic Sans MS" size="3">All, </font> </p>
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<font face="Comic Sans MS" size="3">Well if Windows gets one, then MAC (and maybe Android) should too. :c)</font> </p>
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<font face="Comic Sans MS" size="3">On the topic of Windows, would one go with XP or Windows 7 at this time. I think I would have a hard time deciding this from my personal experiences. I'm still exposed to 60-70% XP vs Windows 7.</font> </p>
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<font face="Comic Sans MS" size="3">bobb</font> </p>
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>>> Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter@lisasoft.com> wrote:<br> </p>
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Johan,<br>I agree that it would be hugely valuable to extend the osgeolive packaging and marketing to windows. And osgeo4w has done much of the hard packaging work. We just need a few people to drive the packaging and qa process.<br> </p>
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On 24/11/2011 7:56 AM, "Johan Van de Wauw" <<a href="mailto:johan.vandewauw@gmail.com">johan.vandewauw@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"> </p>
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Very interesting to read this experience. In fact it makes me doubt<br>whether we should not also focus on providing a live dvd for windows,<br>where one could test different programs without having to install<br>them, and which can use the same documentation and quickstarts as the<br>linux version.<br>I know many people who would definitely use such a disk; and continue<br>using it, but much less people who would actually do so with the linux<br>version.<br><br>Johan<br><br>On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 3:14 AM, Cameron Shorter<br><<a href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com">cameron.shorter@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>> osgeo-live people,<br>><br>> Erik, CCed, has provided valuable feedback describing his experience using<br>> OSGeo-Live. Thanks Erik.<br>><br>><br>> On 9/11/2011 12:12 PM, Erik Lash wrote:<br>><br>> Hi Cameron,<br>><br>><br>><br>> Please feel free to post my comments to the list.<br>><br>><br>><br>> Sincerely,<br>><br>> Erik Lash<br>><br>><br>><br>> From: Cameron Shorter [mailto:<a href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com">cameron.shorter@gmail.com</a>]<br>> Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 2:46 AM<br>> To: Helena Mitasova<br>> Cc: Hamish; Erik Lash<br>> Subject: Re: Fwd: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing<br>><br>><br>><br>> Thanks for the feedback Helena and Erik,<br>> Do you mind if we forward this email onto our osgeo-live email list so that<br>> we can share this feedback with others, which hopefully can lead to an<br>> improved osgeo-live?<br>><br>> On 7/11/2011 3:50 PM, Helena Mitasova wrote:<br>><br>> Cameron,<br>><br>><br>><br>> I am not sure whether this would be useful for the next version of<br>> OSGEO-Live, but I gave the USB<br>><br>> that I got in Denver to one of my students (MS Windows user) to try it out<br>> on his own as is.<br>><br>> (he knows GDAL and GRASS but not much linux).<br>><br>> Below is summary of his experience (he might not have used it the way it was<br>> indented to be used),<br>><br>> but note #6 which worked very well.<br>><br>> <snip><br>><br>><br>><br>> Feel free to contact Eric Lash directly if you have any questions,<br>><br>><br>><br>> Helena<br>><br>><br>><br>> Begin forwarded message:<br>><br>> From: "Erik Lash" <<a href="mailto:elash@ncsu.edu">elash@ncsu.edu</a>><br>><br>> Date: October 10, 2011 9:12:32 AM EDT<br>><br>> To: "Helena Mitasova" <<a href="mailto:hmitaso@unity.ncsu.edu">hmitaso@unity.ncsu.edu</a>><br>><br>> Cc: <<a href="mailto:elash@ncsu.edu">elash@ncsu.edu</a>><br>><br>> Subject: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing<br>><br>><br>><br>> Hi Dr. Mitasova,<br>><br>><br>><br>> I’ve spent some time playing around with the OSGEO Live system this weekend.<br>> (learning a lot about Linux)<br>><br>><br>><br>> I’ve installed it on my 64 bit Windows server as a virtual drive and on my<br>> Windows laptop as a dual boot operating system and attempted to use the use<br>> the USB distribution. I’ll be doing my homework for this week on it.<br>><br>><br>><br>> The USB installation has proved too cumbersome for easy use alongside my<br>> current implementations of Windows and Windows Server and needs to be<br>> tweaked a bit before it’s something that will be readily accessible to the<br>> normal student.<br>><br>><br>><br>> Six significant issues of feedback that I’ve noted so far are:<br>><br>><br>><br>> 1) Documentation is not well formatted or easy to find if one is not<br>> already familiar with Linux. I spent much time searching online forums this<br>> weekend to find answers to basic use questions like -> “how does one tweak<br>> display settings in XFce?” and “how does one connect to a network drive”. A<br>> good set of instructions and a useful FAQ that addresses basic computer<br>> integration tasks needs to be included on the desktop with the USB<br>> distribution (and the other ones as well).<br>><br>><br>><br>> 2) Network drives are not easily supported and the auto-mount features<br>> don’t seem to work without significant tweaking over the network. I keep my<br>> data and documents on a separate network drive (for security and backup<br>> purposes) at home just like at the University. Setting up the OSGEO Live<br>> distribution to work with my network seems an almost insurmountable task (to<br>> this Linux novice/newbie) and I’ve had to move my documents to a portable<br>> USB stick to do my homework.<br>><br>> a. What would be great would be to have a feature that allows for the<br>> installation to remember and automatically mount network directories after<br>> reboot. Instead all I can figure out is how to set them up manually each<br>> time I start the system…not efficient and somewhat time consuming.<br>><br>><br>><br>> 3) Monitors – Monitors – Monitors : Still don’t have this one figured<br>> out…I use multiple monitors with all my computers. I’ve tried to install and<br>> use some of the add on packages and have followed the directions from OSGEO<br>> for this but I still cannot get the OSGEO Live distribution to extend my<br>> desktop onto a second monitor (or resize correctly on one screen). The<br>> default seems to be for it to mirror to a second monitor which is almost<br>> useless for someone like me who uses the space on the second monitor for<br>> other programs.<br>><br>> a. This is probably the most annoying issue of all…I can’t function<br>> without multiple monitors. It’s how I prefer to work.<br>><br>><br>><br>> 4) Among its other problems the USB drive installation is too big for<br>> the USB drive. Can’t update it, add data, or add features because its native<br>> distribution fills up the USB drive almost completely. It’s just too<br>> cumbersome and bulky for ease of use. Not very much use for a class like MEA<br>> 792 where we create and use a lot of data and often need to add features to<br>> software à I’ve given up trying to use the USB installation and have found<br>> that the both the dual boot and virtual installs work much better.<br>><br>><br>><br>> 5) Installing OSGEO Live to dual boot with Windows is really really<br>> really buggy and not easily accomplished without significant<br>> effort. Documentation is not adequate and it took me several attempts and<br>> system restores to get it right. Now that I have it working, though, it’s<br>> great.<br>><br>> a. Primary problem in setup was that the user login is incorrect -><br>> calls for lowercase letters only but the OSGEO Live default uses uppercase<br>> letters. It gets stuck in a loop and a hard boot is required to interrupt<br>> the setup process.<br>><br>> i. Had<br>> to install it once, hard boot out of the error, then was presented with a<br>> user login screen during the next attempt that allowed me to create a new<br>> user for the install with lowercase lettering. That allowed me to finish the<br>> installation.<br>><br>> b. Secondary problems included conflicts with Windows disk management<br>> when trying to manually configure partitions (both existing partitions and<br>> new ones).<br>><br>> i. Solution<br>> was to make the entire hard drive a single Windows partition in windows then<br>> install using the “alongside windows” feature that automatically<br>> repartitions windows space.<br>><br>> ii. This<br>> would have been a real BIG issue if I had data on another hard drive for<br>> example a standard configuration: [ c:\Install, d:\Data ]. Instead I have a<br>> local network that I use so I was afforded the luxury of only having a<br>> single partition on my laptop. However, I usually do multi-partition my<br>> drives for organization, backup, and security reasons.<br>><br>> c. A tertiary problem was that the OSGEO installation sets Unbuntu as<br>> the default OS and I didn’t want that. I still plan to use Windows first and<br>> select the OSGEO drive primarily for doing my homework.<br>><br>> i. I<br>> used a recovery to restore the MBR to Windows default and EasyBCD to<br>> configure a second boot option to manually select the GRUB menu…now it<br>> automatically boots Windows unless I select the OSGEO install.<br>><br>><br>><br>> 6) Installing OSGEO Live to VirtualBox was super easy with both the<br>> vmdk and ISO. It works super good as a virtual machine. ISO installation of<br>> a new OS seems to work better than the vmdk as it allows for custom<br>> installation from scratch. The only major issue was getting the network<br>> drives mounted (these include drives on the local machine because a virtual<br>> drive acts as a separate machine) and shares had to be set up. But now I can<br>> remote to it from my laptop and even from out of my house through my home<br>> VPN…can even connect to it from campus if I want…just like an NCSU VCL<br>> installation but hosted at my own house.<br>><br>><br>><br>> - Erik<br>><br>><br>><br>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------<br>><br>> I just thought you might be interested in this.<br>><br>><br>><br>> I run OSGEO as a headless installation for remoting in from my laptop<br>> attached to a second monitor (OSGEO L 5 gets a monitor by itself and Windows<br>> stays on the other monitor for access to all my Windows softare)…was a bit<br>> tricky to figure out how to do it but it turned out to be quite simple in<br>> the end. There are other ways to do this but the vbs method fit my needs<br>> perfectly.<br>><br>><br>><br>> I use a vbs script on the server…<br>><br>> '=====================================<br>><br>> Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")<br>><br>> obj = WshShell.Run("C:\Progra~1\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxHeadless.exe -s<br>> OSGEO_L5_Standard", 0)<br>><br>> set WshShell = Nothing<br>><br>> '=====================================<br>><br>><br>><br>> Voila…use Windows standard remote desktop interface to connect to the<br>> process from any Windows machine (or another remote desktop interface from<br>> some other OS).<br>><br>><br>><br>> -Erik<br>><br>><br>><br>><br>> --<br>><br>> Cameron Shorter<br>><br>> Geospatial Solutions Manager<br>><br>> Tel: <a href="tel:%2B61%20%280%292%208570%205050" value="+61285705050">+61 (0)2 8570 5050</a><br>><br>> Mob: <a href="tel:%2B61%20%280%29419%20142%20254" value="+61419142254">+61 (0)419 142 254</a><br>><br>><br>><br>> Think Globally, Fix Locally<br>><br>> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source<br>><br>> <a href="http://www.lisasoft.com" target="_blank">http://www.lisasoft.com</a><br>><br>> --<br>> Cameron Shorter<br>> Geospatial Solutions Manager<br>> Tel: <a href="tel:%2B61%20%280%292%208570%205050" value="+61285705050">+61 (0)2 8570 5050</a><br>> Mob: <a href="tel:%2B61%20%280%29419%20142%20254" value="+61419142254">+61 (0)419 142 254</a><br>><br>> Think Globally, Fix Locally<br>> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source<br>> <a href="http://www.lisasoft.com" target="_blank">http://www.lisasoft.com</a><br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Live-demo mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:Live-demo@lists.osgeo.org">Live-demo@lists.osgeo.org</a><br>> <a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/live-demo" target="_blank">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/live-demo</a><br>> <a href="http://live.osgeo.org" target="_blank">http://live.osgeo.org</a><br>> <a href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc" target="_blank">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Disc</a><br>><br>
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