[Mapserver-users] Pre-basics of a Linux install?

[Pericles S. Nacionales]

Dale,

In addition to Tyler's excellent suggestions, the best place to find all
things Linux is http://www.tldp.org.  This is the Linux Documentation
Project's web site.  Look at the guides first and when you start feeling
good about Linux, the howtos.  There's a guide called "Introduction to
Linux" which I should also be reading.  MapServer will come much easier
when you get past all that operating system and shell stuff.

I hope the weather's warmer in Michigan. :)

-Perry

On Mon, 2004-06-28 at 10:26, Tyler Mitchell wrote:
> Hi Dale, glad to see you are ambitious and interested.  It's not clear how 
> low you want to get into the operating system.  "Newbie" to me implies you 
> would like to avoid compiling source code and running command line/shell 
> setup stuff - but I've been wrong before.
> 
> With that assumption in mind I suggest you seek out a linux distribution 
> that will help provide you with easily installable packages, with a 
> graphical package manager, like SuSE linux and it's YAST system tool. That 
> would take care of getting Apache running (and help to keep it patched 
> with security updates!!).
> 
> Then when you have Apache running, it's a matter of configuring 
> Mapserver...that's another matter and most likely will drop you to the 
> command line and require some source code compiling.  However, the end 
> goal of a recent project is to help provide an easily  "installable" 
> package for Mapserver and related utilities.  MapServer isn't ready in 
> that package yet, though.
> More info at: http://harmeny.com/twiki/bin/view/Fgs
> 
> Tyler
> 
> mapserver-users-admin at lists.gis.umn.edu wrote on 06/28/2004 08:53:21 AM:
> 
> > Hello folks,
> > 
> > I've decided to take the plunge and learn to use not only MapServer,
> > but also Linux as the OS. (I'm already rather familiar with ESRI
> > products in Windows, and I'm anxious to learn some alternatives,
> > especially for making spatial data available online.) I've been
> > listening to the mapserver-users list for about a week and I've been
> > reading about Linux and related topics from various sources for longer
> > than that. But I remain confused! I am getting the sneaking suspicion
> > that in order to really understand what is going on, I need to learn
> > how to program in C.
> > 
> > The MapServer web page, wiki, and mailing list archives have been very
> > informative, but I still have a lot of simple newbie questions that
> > I'd like to ask, but which would end up swamping out this mailing
> > list - especially questions that aren't directly related to MapServer
> > itself. So, to start, I'd like to ask one main question:
> > 
> > "Where can I find good tutorials on Linux, Apache, and the basics of
> > installing software that are newbie-friendly?"
> > 
> > By newbie-friendly, I mean things like NOT reverting to exclusive use
> > of acronyms or abbreviations immediately after the first use of a new
> > term (wouldn't it be nice if we all COULD learn a new language by
> > simply hearing each word defined once?); a glossary would be helpful,
> > especially if linked via hypertext in the tutorial; attempts to use
> > "plain English" wherever possible, making the fewest assumptions
> > possible about the background knowledge of the reader; a preference
> > for conceptual descriptions of basic components and how they go
> > together, rather than detailed information about specific components
> > and their multitudes of possible settings.
> > 
> > I'm making progress in my own installation, but it would be nice to
> > have answered such simple questions as "Does it matter which directory
> > I un-tar my source code in?" and "Ok, I went through the ./configure,
> > make, make install, but how do I know it worked, and how do I know
> > where stuff went?" and "How do I tell what version of program/library
> > X is installed?" etc., ad nauseum.
> > 
> > Thanks!
> > 
> > Dale Trexel
> > Conservation Biology Program
> > University of Minnesota
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Mapserver-users mailing list
> > Mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
> > http://lists.gis.umn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-users
> 
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-- 
Pericles S. Nacionales

Conservation Biology Program
University of Minnesota
URL:    http://hypnos.cbs.umn.edu/~pnaciona/
E-Mail: nacional at cbs.umn.edu
Phone:  612 624 6713