[GRASS-user] Problem with Nviz : first post

[Prof Darrel Maddy]

OK, I'm just about ready to call time on this Linux experiment! I was
supposed to be evaluating this for possible deployment in a postgraduate GIS
suite. I have been using PC's for over 25 years (i.e. I am old enough to
have operated things via command line and done some machine code
programming!) and therefore I am not computer illiterate (at least compared
to our postgrads). I am not trying to upset those of you who like this sort
of challenge but this Linux thing frankly is not for general use. Few things
actually work - how can I recommend this when, for example, it talks to my
printers one minute and then decides they don't exist the next! The list of
"it nearly works" items seems endless. 

This also seems to apply to GRASS. Does anyone know how to get Grass60
working on Fedora Core 5? I tried a reinstall and a clean installation of
just the tcl/tk8.4 libraries to no avail (segmentation fault in nviz -
assuming these libraries are the problem - how would I know?). I also tried
to download the 8.3 libraries as suggested by Hamish BUT then when I install
the grass-bin libraries the "clever" installer software decides it needs
tcl8.4 and downloads it anyway!  

At present I am unlikely to recommend either Linux or GRASS for deployment.
It's a great idea but things need to be far more robust. I would however
VERY much like to see GRASS actually working. I am certain it has many
advantages over commercially available packages but it must be robust enough
to actually trust. I would be more than happy to admit that I have got this
wrong!

Yours in frustration.

Darrel

Prof Darrel Maddy
Chair of Quaternary Science
University of Newcastle, UK
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/geps/staff/profile/darrel.maddy 



-----Original Message-----
From: Hamish [mailto:hamish_nospam at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 11:51 AM
To: Darrel Maddy
Subject: Re: [GRASS-user] Problem with Nviz : first post

> Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere. Please also note that I 
> am new to Linux and GRASS (less than 4 days!!) - so it is safe to 
> assume that I know nothing!.
> 
> I have managed to get GRASS6 up and running on fedora core 5 (after 
> some "fun" installing tcl/tk libraries). When I enter Nviz and try to 
> display the elevation.dem from the Spearfish60 sample dataset the 
> visualisation appears for about 10 seconds and then disappears - no 
> error messages are reported to help sort the problem. The control 
> window is empty.
> 
> I may have confused the software with my tcl/tk installation antics - 
> I now have both tcl/tk 8.4 and 8.5 libaries in my /usr/lib directory 
> but only the 8.4 library is reported when I test the installation in 
> the command window. I do not know how to uninstall 8.5 (I could not 
> get GRASS to work with the 8.5 libraries). Is this the source of my 
> problem or am I completely missing the point?
> 
> Any help with what to try next would be greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Many thanks


others using FC5 have reported similar problems recently. 

TclTk 8.4 [threaded] only works with the latest versions of GRASS 
6.1-cvs. For GRASS 6.0 use tcltk 8.3 or a distribution that uses an 
untreaded version 8.4. (using 8.3 is easier) :) 


Hamish