[GRASS-user] Problem with Nviz : first post

[Michael Barton]

We also have GRASS working fine with Fedora Core 4. We haven't yet upgraded
to 5. Given that Fedora is the open/cutting edge/kind of experimental
version of Red Hat, I've been reluctant to upgrade right away until others
with more time and experience have had a chance to work out the bugs.

If you want stable, I'd recommend Red Hat, FC4, Debian or others. Being on
the cutting edge can be fun and frustrating.

For different reasons, I also strongly recommend using 6.1 cvs version of
GRASS. Many things have been upgraded and fixed between 6.0 and 6.1. GRASS
tends to be very conservative in releasing stable versions. 6.1 may be more
reliable on current systems than 6.0 for this reason. It certainly works
better in most respects.

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



> From: Prof Darrel Maddy <darrel.maddy at ncl.ac.uk>
> Date: Fri, 9 Jun 2006 12:19:39 +0100
> To: <grassuser at grass.itc.it>
> Subject: RE: [GRASS-user] Problem with Nviz : first post
> 
> 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 
> 
> 
>