[GRASS-user] Best operating system for GRASS

[Nikos Alexandris]

Catlike wrote:

> What is your favorite OS for GRASS?

(K)Ubuntu Linux, 64-bit

> Please include your reasons.

randomely:

free, open source, stability + safety (=never lost data due to a system 
error), stimulation to active participation, keeps me running (=effective 
brain-jogging), reliable, no secrets (if I want to learn what, why, where, 
how) and much more...

> For your favorite OS, how hard is it to learn for a guy like me who has
> always used Windows?

In the end, it depends on the level you want to reach. It is as much hard as 
learning (sport-)climbing. And climbing is in itself a process of "learning 
how to learn". Here a few points from my perspective:

- Try it out: not less than 10 times before you get ( or you think you have 
got) a clear notion of liking it or not.

- Learning the basics is fun and not really difficult. You 'll be "climbing" 
basic/fun stuff within a short period of time (with a little help from friends 
some times = the community). It's like you get to know the materials and try 
them out. Let's say another 10 times to try setting up the system itself, 
install so _quickly_ and _easily_ apps from the repositories, try basic office 
and communication apps.

- Now you have an overview of the possibilities. If you like it and have this 
euphoric feelings of freedom, then your set for a bigger journey. Try out more 
stuff, invest time. You 'll get supposedly "secrets" revealed - a realistic 
view: there is no thing like "easy" or "difficult" climbing. It's a mixture of 
many things (you name them...).

- Now if after a month or a bit more you have this incomparable crazy feeling 
that you can do everything, given you really want to and spend the time on it, 
then your ready to go for it if you wish. And you also can

> Thank you.

Thank You ;-)

> Reason I am asking: I am going to learn GRASS. I have always used Windows,
> but reading on the web shows me that GRASS users, at least the ones who are
> active on line, tend to use other OSs than Windows.

For good or for bad I was bound to have strange, supposedly, friendly 
instructors (read programs) installed on my computer. They were really 
appearing to be clean and play nice. But the times they let me hung (blue 
screens) or made me feel like a potential criminal (illegal copies offered 
everywhere) were too many and frustrating.

It made me wonder why so much secrecy, why don't they let me know how things 
work. "How am I supposed to learn if I don't see how it is done?" I was asking 
myself (because asking them never gave me satisfying answers). I could not 
accept it to assume they are right, to assume they know and this is enough.

As somebody well known in this and in other related (g)foss lists notes: never 
assume, verify. So did I. I moved to linux (tried various distros) and never 
looked-back. I think the essence of linux is that it offers you the option to 
learn "how to learn", to understand. That's after all science, isn't it?

(
Oh, I really like climbing... linux I mean, so much, even if I get injured 
from time to time because of my carelessness ;-)
)

Greets from Greece, Nikos