[Qgis-user] QGIS windows v's linux from a newbie perspective

[Darren Norris]

Thanks Augustin and Andreas,
Due to apparent incompatibilities at the moment with some of the 
functionality I need under windows ( mainly from GRASS ) I am strongly 
leaning towards linux (openSUSE for me). Seems a safer bet in the mid to 
long term. I will go for a couple of days of pain and try on a virtual 
machine to see how it goes.

Just for anyone who's interested - found a guide on how to add  
ECW/Mrsid support in QGIS (for Ubuntu - in Portuguese but doesn't affect 
linux syntax and of course take due care with licensing issues!): 
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Instalar_Grass_e_Qgis_em_Ubuntu_8.04_(com_ECW_e_MrSID). 

For those who don't speak Portuguese here's googles English translation:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwiki.osgeo.org%2Fwiki%2FInstalar_Grass_e_Qgis_em_Ubuntu_8.04_(com_ECW_e_MrSID)&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=pt&tl=en 
.
Not that I'd really know but it doesn't look too bad - guess the process 
would be similar under openSUSE (I think so but have limited linux 
experience)?

Thanks for all the comments and help,
Darren

Agustin Lobo wrote:
> Darren,
>
> If you need ECW/Mrsid support (which is important here as most 
> official imagery is freely distributed
> as MrSid and many (excellent) hiking maps as ECW, that in addition to 
> the Landsat imagery in the
> https://zulu.ssc.nasa.gov/mrsid/), then, I must sadly state that you 
> face the following alternative:
>
> You either use windows and qgis or use linux and not qgis
>
> (unless you are able to make an special compilation of gdal libraries 
> and the compile qgis with those libraries in linux)
>
> Also, as far as I have seen, using grass under windows is not as 
> straightforward as using it in linux, although it seems
> that this is improving.
>
> Agus
> (an ubuntu user forced to often use windows)
>
> Darren Norris wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> From a QGIS user (newbie) perspective which OS (Vista or openSUSE 
>> 11.1) will be easiest to install and maintain (put me in the same 
>> basket as one of the undergraduates with Agustin Loboto 
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-user/2009-March/004872.html ) .
>>
>> I need QGIS for visualising and also editing / creating vector data 
>> held in GRASS (QGIS must have GRASS / python plugin) / MySQL (via 
>> eVIS -I have instructions how to install eVIS from source on openSUSE).
>>
>> Apologies for a slightly general question (long winded email) but I 
>> am hoping there are users who can share experiences to enable me to 
>> decide which OS will meet my needs best.
>> I am starting a little GIS project with a tight deadline. I would 
>> like to do all this via open source. To deliver project results I 
>> would need GRASS, QGIS, MySQL and R to play nicely together.
>> However many recent discussions have left me unsure about
>> 1) whether using this combination of free software is a wise move at 
>> this time (based on a tight deadline and poor dial up connection I am 
>> not able to spend days reading forums or reinstalling / trying 
>> different installer settings / software versions) and
>> 2) on which OS will it be the simplest to install and maintain.
>>
>> Just a short outline of what I will be doing:
>> I can go 2 routes Vista or openSUSE. The work is for a single user 
>> (me) on a 32 bit laptop 2GB ram, 1.83 GHz processor.
>> I will be mapping vector data (points = species locations, lines / 
>> polygons = survey transects and hydrology - rivers etc) to classified 
>> landsat images.
>> I will probably use GRASS for the majority of GIS work (small scale)- 
>> one landsat scene at a time for image processing, hydrological 
>> analysis etc. Here I will also need R for additional spatial analysis 
>> so maybe windows isn't an option but that's for another list! 
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/grass-stats/2009-February/000919.html .
>>
>> Many thanks for taking the time to read this far and for any 
>> thoughts....
>> Darren
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>