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

Wed Nov 23 13:42:54 PST 2011

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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