[GRASS-user] Problem with Nviz : first post

[Jesse Hamner]

Professor Maddy,

>>OK, I'm just about ready to call time on this Linux experiment!  The list of
>>"it nearly works" items seems endless.

Linux can be insanely frustrating at times. You shouldn't have to learn 
the intricacies of an OS to get your work done. On the other hand, once 
y'all get Linux set up, your students will be able to use GRASS without 
having to know those intricacies.

>>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!

I'm running GRASS on Gentoo and Mac OS X and haven't had the tcl 
problems you report, but I echo Michael's and Hamish's suggestion that 
you move to 6.1-cvs. It's not perfect, but it's much better and more 
feature-rich than 6.0. You will probably need to compile it yourself, 
which can also be daunting. I'm sure many of us (myself included) would 
be happy to post our configure scripts should you request it.

>>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!

GRASS needs evangelists, but not self-sacrificial ones. If you try 
version 6.1-cvs and still have doubts, remember that if the GRASS 
install goes poorly, you'll bear some of the blame. Perhaps you would be 
better served to have a machine in your office running GRASS so you can 
learn at a slower pace, track the improvements, and be better prepared 
to recommend--and support--GRASS in the future.

Bottom line: if you think supporting Linux will be too troublesome, it's 
best to wait. I support Windows and Mac OS X in my center, and I don't 
push GRASS. People generally use Maptitude and Arc/GIS, and they can get 
their work done. Support-wise, it's also fairly easy to integrate a 
bunch of Windows PCs into a Windows-centric network and run an ESRI 
license server. It's a lot tougher to integrate Macs and Linux PCs into 
Active Directory. I would prefer things were less Microsoft-dominated, 
but I'd prefer a higher salary too...

Please let us know your decisions and how we can help.

Regards,

Jesse

-- 
Jesse Hamner
Coordinator, Social Sciences Computing Center
Emory University
+011 404.727.6929