[GRASS-dev] GRASS and QGIS on Win32, testing etc.

[Gerald Nelson]

About a year ago, we discovered that cygwin conflicted with something else on a win xp machine I have. I can't remember what, but we had to uninstall cygwin to get the other thing to run. The only way I discovered it was that I had the other thing installed on a computer that didn't have cygwin and it worked ok. This kind of problem makes users and IT administrators gray. 

I suspect that with Windows Vista the problem will only get worse, unless cygwin has gotten better in the meantime. 

Jerry

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 07:59:13 -0700
>From: Michael Barton <michael.barton at asu.edu>  
>Subject: Re: [GRASS-dev] GRASS and QGIS on Win32, testing etc.  
>To: Hamish <hamish_nospam at yahoo.com>, <grass-dev at grass.itc.it>
>
>
>
>
>On 5/22/07 12:22 AM, "Hamish" <hamish_nospam at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> 
>> I can't help with negotiations with afraid-of-the-unknown IT staff, but
>> the Cygwin 6.2.1 package should be much easier to install than previous
>> versions, so try again if you haven't in a while. It's nothing like a
>> grass_setup.exe, but it is much smoother than it was.
>> 
>
>I agree with your sentiment about making a useable, stable version availble
>to people. GRASS under Cygwin is indeed a complete Linux version running
>under Windows.
>
>However, in addition to the problem of Lab IT managers (not insubstantial if
>I want to use a university computer classroom to teach GIS), Cygwin seems to
>run into repeated permissions issues under  Windows. It is especially
>difficult if it is on a machine that more than one person uses (i.e.,
>multiple accounts). I've worked with very cooperative IT people who have yet
>to be able to solve this sufficiently.
>
>Another issue is that the installation is fairly easy for a single user
>(though it remains complicated), but does not lend itself to installation on
>a bunch of lab workstations. If Cygwin and GRASS could come as a single
>*.exe file on a CD, it would be a LOT better for many users and lab
>managers.
>
>Finally, using GRASS under Cygwin, puts the user into an unfamiliar
>environment. This is understandably confusing for many Windows users. GRASS
>may work just fine, but it is working under Linux/Unix, which simply offers
>a different user experience than stock Windows.
>
>We definitely need to keep the Cygwin installation because it IS a
>full-featured version of GRASS that is EXACTLY the same as the *nix
>versions. However, there are a number of important reasons to place a high
>priority on getting a Windows-native version out the door too.
>
>Michael
>
>__________________________________________
>Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
>School of Human Evolution & Social Change
>Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
>Arizona State University
>
>phone: 480-965-6213
>fax: 480-965-7671
>www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton
>
>
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Gerald Nelson
Professor, Dept. of Agricultural and Consumer Economics
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
office: 217-333-6465 
cell: 217-390-7888
315 Mumford Hall
1301 W. Gregory
Urbana, IL 61801