[GRASS-user] tips on GRASS Mac users

[William Kyngesburye]

On Jul 22, 2008, at 5:29 AM, maning sambale wrote:

> By the end of this week we will have a new imac as a GIS workstation,
> I am familiar with GRASS on linux and windows, but not on a mac.  I
> know GRASS and QGIS install OK on a mac, so that won't be a problem.
> Any other advise/caveats/warning as we do the migrate?  We will still
> be using our linux machine for GRASS in parallel with mac,
> specifically:

Overall, OSX is much like *nix, since it's unix-based.

>
> 1. all GRASS database files should be accessible on both machines, I'm
> thinking of using the mac as the GRASS database repo (since it has a
> larger Hdd capacity) and have linux read/write access

OSX should have Unix file sharing, but you may have to dig around to  
configure and enable it.  Easiest on the Mac side would be Appleshare  
(AFP), and I think there is Linux client software for that.  Or you  
could use Windows file sharing on the Mac (it uses Samba), and it  
would also be available to Windows machines.

Watch out for lots of network activity, though.  You probably don't  
want to write data over the network, lots of temp file usage in  
GRASS.  I'd say symlink common data mapsets to your linux  
workstation's GRASS data dir, and only do active work directly on the  
linux ws, then copy to the Mac when done.

mac mount
     grassdb
         location
linux grassdb
     readonly loc -> mac mount/grassdb/location
     working loc

>
> 2. Shell scripts are usable on both machines

FYI the default shell on OSX is bash.  AND, sh IS bash.  Other shells  
are available if you prefer another.

>
> 3. Remotely access linux machine on the mac
>
No problems there.  I use ssh all the time for shell access between  
Macs.  VNC would be nice for GUI access.  OSX Leopard, which you will  
get on a new Mac, includes a nice builtin VNC client, and there are  
other free ones available.


-----
William Kyngesburye <kyngchaos*at*kyngchaos*dot*com>
http://www.kyngchaos.com/

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