multi-g.manuals; concurrency locking

[Frank Davis 912/386-3889]

Mark,

>> I tried to open another window in X (I think that's the right terminology),
>> so I could view the on-line GRASS manual in one window and enter commands
>> in another window.  Unfortunately, GRASS gives a "concurrent use not
>> allowed" error message.
>
>I assume you're entering commands in an 'xterm' window. You start GRASS in
>that window with 'grass4.1', enter the directory stuff in the entry mask,
>and press ESCAPE to leave the mask. You can now enter commands such as
>'g.manual'. All you have to do now is enter
>
>    xterm &
>
>to start a *second* 'xterm' window as a background subprocess of your
>ongoing GRASS session. In the second xterm window (or the first, it
>doesn't matter), you can now start 'g.manual' and just leave it running.
>You can even start a third xterm window to run g.help permanently during
>your session.

Thank you very much for your help.  Entering 'xterm &' at the grass4.1
prompt does exactly what I want - open another window for g.manual and
g.help.

Oh, well.  I warned you that I was learning impaired.  I never thought of
using the simple 'xterm &'.

....

>One difference between GRASS and some other large systems with which you
>might be familiar is that GRASS relies heavily on functionality already
>existing in the platform. A better way of stating this is that GRASS does
>not redundantly implement functionality that's already provided by its
>platform. So, instead of a proprietary macro language (that I decline to
>name) that always has a forty-million-entry wish list for extensions and
>improvements, GRASS is designed to interoperate with standard Unix shells
>and other powerful utilities that are likewise subject to international
>standards.

Sorry, but, I just don't understand this paragraph.  Is this another
way to open a g.manual or g.help window?  I just started learning GRASS
a couple of months ago and I don't know anything about others GISs.

Again, thank you very much for the 'xterm &' help.  It is one of the
most useful hints I've read.

Best Regards,
Frank Davis
fmd at tifton.cpes.peachnet.edu