[Live-demo] Re: Fwd: OSGEO Live 5 USB Distribution testing
Johan Van de Wauw
johan.vandewauw at gmail.com
Wed Nov 23 12:55:44 PST 2011
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 (and 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 boots 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
>
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>
>
>
> 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
> Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
>
> 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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