[GRASSLIST:8881] Off Topic (Somewhat): Most commonly supported Linux Distro for Gr ass usage?

[Patton, Eric]

This is somewhat off-topic, I apologize. I am seriously considering
partitioning my hard drive to be able to run Linux on my workstation. Can
anyone who has done this recommend the 'best' method (i.e., least likely to
destroy my hard drive) of doing this? Partition Magic seems to get high
scores when Googled. But I would prefer using an open-source tool for doing
this, I'm just apprehensive about software stability.

Secondly, I was wondering what flavor of Linux is (I hate using the word
best, because everyone has their own preferences, not trying to start a
flame war) optimal for using Grass. I should rephrase that - which Linux
flavor is the most supported, if that question even makes sense. Or, which
version do the developers and other old hands use? 

I want to be able to do away with Cygwin altogether and be able to
download/compile the latest cvs releases. Aside from trying out the latest
and greatest, I want to help out with some Grass documentation (most likely
man pages - am I crazy ;^)  ? ), and to do this I'll need to have the latest
programs. I know from reading the messages in this list that there have been
many improvements made since Sept 2, the date of my Cygwin binary.
Additionally, I want to be able to utilize the full potential of QGIS (Grass
plugins don't exist on windows version of QGIS), so it only makes sense to
use the OS with the more robust tools. And it just would be really
refreshing to get out from under the M$ thumb.

I'm aware that before partitioning I need to backup all my files - we have a
1TB drive for this - and I've been tarring and zipping for about a week now.
Tedious, but necessary. I will probably try out partitioning my home PC
first (as I don't really have too much worth losing on it) as a trial run
before attempting my work PC.

Any and all comments and suggestions are most welcome.

Regards,

~ Eric.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Eric Patton
 
Technologist, Geo-Spatial Data Services
Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic)
Natural Resources Canada
Bedford Institute of Oceanography
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada B2Y 4A2
 
Postal address: P.O. Box 1006
Courier address: 1 Challenger Drive
 
Telephone: (902)426-7732
Facsimile:  (902)426-4104
E-mail:       epatton at NRCan.gc.ca