[Live-demo] Re: Fwd: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing

Thu Nov 24 00:47:15 EST 2011

It would not include the OS, it would be binaries that run inside a 
user's existing windows install.

FYI, there was a project that accomplished much of this a few years ago 
by Jo Cook called Portable GIS. However it required quite a bit of 
registry and dll tweaking to get everything to work without install and 
didn't necessarily work without admin permissions on the guest system. I 
have never seen the notes on how it was done publicly available. The 
mailing list has also been silent for more than a year.

I've also attempted what Tyler mentioned but never got Qemu or 
VirtualBox working without admin permission either, and was under the 
less stringent XP security.

I don't consider the install of most FOSSGIS applications on windows to 
be hard, that is unless you want them integrated. Postgis is 
straightforward, standalone QGIS, anything JAVA, all the small stuff...

I'd also want osgeo4w up'd to python 2.7 and a 64 bit port available 
before something like we're discussing.

That said, I encourage any project that wants, to create a portableapps 
compatible build of their application.

Thanks,
Alex

On 11/23/2011 01:42 PM, Bob Basques wrote:
>
> All,
>
> Well if Windows gets one, then MAC (and maybe Android) should too.  :c)
>
>
> On the topic of Windows, would one go with XP or Windows 7 at this
> time.  I think I would have a hard time deciding this from my personal
> experiences.  I'm still exposed to 60-70% XP vs Windows 7.
>
>
> bobb
>
>
>
>>>> Cameron Shorter<cameron.shorter at lisasoft.com>  wrote:
>
>
> Johan,
> I agree that it would be hugely valuable to extend the osgeolive
> packaging and marketing to windows. And osgeo4w has done much of the
> hard packaging work. We just need a few people to drive the packaging
> and qa process.
>
> On 24/11/2011 7:56 AM, "Johan Van de Wauw"<johan.vandewauw at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Very interesting to read this experience. In fact it makes me doubt
> whether we should not also focus on providing a live dvd for windows,
> where one could test different programs without having to install
> them, and which can use the same documentation and quickstarts as the
> linux version.
> I know many people who would definitely use such a disk; and continue
> using it, but much less people who would actually do so with the linux
> version.
>
> Johan
>
> On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 3:14 AM, Cameron Shorter
> <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>  wrote:
>> osgeo-live people,
>>
>> Erik, CCed, has provided valuable feedback describing his experience
> using
>> OSGeo-Live. Thanks Erik.
>>
>>
>> On 9/11/2011 12:12 PM, Erik Lash wrote:
>>
>> Hi Cameron,
>>
>>
>>
>> Please feel free to post my comments to the list.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Erik Lash
>>
>>
>>
>> From: Cameron Shorter [mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com]
>> Sent: Monday, November 07, 2011 2:46 AM
>> To: Helena Mitasova
>> Cc: Hamish; Erik Lash
>> Subject: Re: Fwd: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks for the feedback Helena and Erik,
>> Do you mind if we forward this email onto our osgeo-live email list
> so that
>> we can share this feedback with others, which hopefully can lead to
> an
>> improved osgeo-live?
>>
>> On 7/11/2011 3:50 PM, Helena Mitasova wrote:
>>
>> Cameron,
>>
>>
>>
>> I am not sure whether this would be useful for the next version of
>> OSGEO-Live, but I gave the USB
>>
>> that I got in Denver to one of my students (MS Windows user) to try
> it out
>> on his own as is.
>>
>> (he knows GDAL and GRASS but not much linux).
>>
>> Below is summary of his experience (he might not have used it the way
> it was
>> indented to be used),
>>
>> but note #6 which worked very well.
>>
>> <snip>
>>
>>
>>
>> Feel free to contact Eric Lash directly if you have any questions,
>>
>>
>>
>> Helena
>>
>>
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>> From: "Erik Lash"<elash at ncsu.edu>
>>
>> Date: October 10, 2011 9:12:32 AM EDT
>>
>> To: "Helena Mitasova"<hmitaso at unity.ncsu.edu>
>>
>> Cc:<elash at ncsu.edu>
>>
>> Subject: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi Dr. Mitasova,
>>
>>
>>
>> I’ve spent some time playing around with the OSGEO Live system this
> weekend.
>> (learning a lot about Linux)
>>
>>
>>
>> I’ve installed it on my 64 bit Windows server as a virtual drive and
> on my
>> Windows laptop as a dual boot operating system and attempted to use
> the use
>> the USB distribution. I’ll be doing my homework for this week on it.
>>
>>
>>
>> The USB installation has proved too cumbersome for easy use alongside
> my
>> current implementations of Windows and Windows Server and needs to
> be
>> tweaked a bit before it’s something that will be readily accessible
> to the
>> normal student.
>>
>>
>>
>> Six significant issues of feedback that I’ve noted so far are:
>>
>>
>>
>> 1) Documentation is not well formatted or easy to find if one is not
>> already familiar with Linux. I spent much time searching online
> forums this
>> weekend to find answers to basic use questions like ->  “how does one
> tweak
>> display settings in XFce?” and “how does one connect to a network
> drive”. A
>> good set of instructions and a useful FAQ that addresses basic
> computer
>> integration tasks needs to be included on the desktop with the USB
>> distribution (an
> d the other ones as well).
>>
>>
>>
>> 2) Network drives are not easily supported and the auto-mount
> features
>> don’t seem to work without significant tweaking over the network. I
> keep my
>> data and documents on a separate network drive (for security and
> backup
>> purposes) at home just like at the University. Setting up the OSGEO
> Live
>> distribution to work with my network seems an almost insurmountable
> task (to
>> this Linux novice/newbie) and I’ve had to move my documents to a
> portable
>> USB stick to do my homework.
>>
>> a. What would be great would be to have a feature that allows for
> the
>> installation to remember and automatically mount network directories
> after
>> reboot. Instead all I can figure out is how to set them up manually
> each
>> time I start the system…not efficient and somewhat time consuming.
>>
>>
>>
>> 3) Monitors – Monitors – Monitors : Still don’t have this one
> figured
>> out…I use multiple monitors with all my computers. I’ve tried to
> install and
>> use some of the add on packages and have followed the directions from
> OSGEO
>> for this but I still cannot get the OSGEO Live distribution to extend
> my
>> desktop onto a second monitor (or resize correctly on one screen).
> The
>> default seems to be for it to mirror to a second monitor which is
> almost
>> useless for someone like me who uses the space on the second monitor
> for
>> other programs.
>>
>> a. This is probably the most annoying issue of all…I can’t function
>> without multiple monitors. It’s how I prefer to work.
>>
>>
>>
>> 4) Among its other problems the USB drive installation is too big
> for
>> the USB drive. Can’t update it, add data, or add features because its
> native
>> distribution fills up the USB drive almost completely. It’s just too
>> cumbersome and bulky for ease of use. Not very much use for a class
> like MEA
>> 792 where we create and use a lot of data and often need to add
> features to
>> software à I’ve given up trying to use the USB installation and have
> found
>> that the both the dual boot and virtual installs work much better.
>>
>>
>>
>> 5) Installing OSGEO Live to dual boot with Windows is really really
>> really buggy and not easily accomplished without significant
>> effort. Documentation is not adequate and it took me several attempts
> and
>> system restores to get it right. Now that I have it working, though,
> it’s
>> great.
>>
>> a. Primary problem in setup was that the user login is incorrect ->
>> calls for lowercase letters only but the OSGEO Live default uses
> uppercase
>> letters. It gets stuck in a loop and a hard boot is required to
> interrupt
>> the setup process.
>>
>> i. Had
>> to install it once, hard boot out of the error, then was presented
> with a
>> user login screen during the next attempt that allowed me to create a
> new
>> user for the install with lowercase lettering. That allowed me to
> finish the
>> installation.
>>
>> b. Secondary problems included conflicts with Windows disk
> management
>> when trying to manually configure partitions (both existing
> partitions and
>> new ones).
>>
>> i. Solution
>> was to make the entire hard drive a single Windows partition in
> windows then
>> install using the “alongside windows” feature that automatically
>> repartitions windows space.
>>
>> ii. This
>> would have been a real BIG issue if I had data on another hard drive
> for
>> example a standard configuration: [ c:\Install, d:\Data ]. Instead I
> have a
>> local network that I use so I was afforded the luxury of only having
> a
>> single partition on my laptop. However, I usually do multi-partition
> my
>> drives for organization, backup, and security reasons.
>>
>> c. A tertiary problem was that the OSGEO installation sets Unbuntu
> as
>> the default OS and I didn’t want that. I still plan to use Windows
> first and
>> select the OSGEO drive primarily for doing my homework.
>>
>> i. I
>> used a recovery to restore the MBR to Windows default and EasyBCD to
>> configure a second boot option to manually select the GRUB menu…now
> it
>> automatically bo
> ots Windows unless I select the OSGEO install.
>>
>>
>>
>> 6) Installing OSGEO Live to VirtualBox was super easy with both the
>> vmdk and ISO. It works super good as a virtual machine. ISO
> installation of
>> a new OS seems to work better than the vmdk as it allows for custom
>> installation from scratch. The only major issue was getting the
> network
>> drives mounted (these include drives on the local machine because a
> virtual
>> drive acts as a separate machine) and shares had to be set up. But
> now I can
>> remote to it from my laptop and even from out of my house through my
> home
>> VPN…can even connect to it from campus if I want…just like an NCSU
> VCL
>> installation but hosted at my own house.
>>
>>
>>
>> - Erik
>>
>>
>>
>>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I just thought you might be interested in this.
>>
>>
>>
>> I run OSGEO as a headless installation for remoting in from my
> laptop
>> attached to a second monitor (OSGEO L 5 gets a monitor by itself and
> Windows
>> stays on the other monitor for access to all my Windows softare)…was
> a bit
>> tricky to figure out how to do it but it turned out to be quite
> simple in
>> the end. There are other ways to do this but the vbs method fit my
> needs
>> perfectly.
>>
>>
>>
>> I use a vbs script on the server…
>>
>> '=====================================
>>
>> Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
>>
>> obj = WshShell.Run("C:\Progra~1\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxHeadless.exe
> -s
>> OSGEO_L5_Standard", 0)
>>
>> set WshShell = Nothing
>>
>> '=====================================
>>
>>
>>
>> Voila…use Windows standard remote desktop interface to connect to
> the
>> process from any Windows machine (or another remote desktop interface
> from
>> some other OS).
>>
>>
>>
>> -Erik
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Cameron Shorter
>>
>> Geospatial Solutions Manager
>>
>> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050 ( tel:%2B61%20%280%292%208570%205050 )
>>
>> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254 ( tel:%2B61%20%280%29419%20142%20254 )
>>
>>
>>
>> Think Globally, Fix Locally
>>
>> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
>>
>> http://www.lisasoft.com
>>
>> --
>> Cameron Shorter
>> Geospatial Solutions Manager
>> Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050 ( tel:%2B61%20%280%292%208570%205050 )
>> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254 ( tel:%2B61%20%280%29419%20142%20254 )
>>
>> Think Globally, Fix Locally
>> Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
>> http://www.lisasoft.com
>>
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>>
>
>
>
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>
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