[GRASSLIST:8617] Re: Recommended OS

Michael Barton michael.barton at asu.edu
Fri Oct 14 02:39:19 EDT 2005


David,

I've been using GRASS on a Mac for a couple years now, and just set up a
Fedora Core 4 Linux workstation with GRASS in my research lab. The Mac OS
(current is OS X 10.4) is based on BSD Unix now, so there is considerable
similarity 'under the hood' of both systems.

The way GRASS 6.x is currently, my feeling is that GRASS binaries
(maintained by Lorenzo Moretti) are easier to install on a Mac OS than any
other platform currently supported by GRASS.

>From admittedly limited experience, it seems that GRASS is somewhat easier
to compile from source under Linux--especially Fedora/Redhat or Debian
(these seem best supported by the GRASS community at present).

When operational, I can see no difference whatsoever between the
functionality of GRASS on Mac OS X and Linux. I think file management and
networking is somewhat easier on a Mac--but that may be because I'm more
used to it.

Currently, GRASS on Windows XP is a little slower (but not obviously much)
than either Mac or Linux platforms due to the requirement of running under
the Cygwin emulator. It is also more difficult to compile and the binaries
are more complicated to install (though MUCH helped by Cygwin/Windows binary
maintainer Huidae Cho's very nice www installer).

Hope this is helpful.

Michael
__________________________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution and Social Change
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-2402

phone: 480-965-6213
fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton



> From: "David Van Vliet (personal)" <dvanvliet at gto.net>
> Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 08:20:47 -0400
> To: <GRASSLIST at baylor.edu>
> Subject: [GRASSLIST:8601] Recommended OS
> 
> hello GRASS community!
> 
> I am planning to implement GRASS on a workstation, but I can't decide if I
> should use Linux/Fedora or MacOS on a PowerMac.  Can anybody recommend
> something?  I have some UNIX experience in the distant past, but do not have
> experience with either of these OS's.
> 
> Thanks,
> Dave Van Vliet (Guelph, Ontario, Canada)
> 
> David Van Vliet, M.A.Sc., P.Eng.
> AquaResource Inc.
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> 
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