Live GIS Disc

About
The aim of this project is to provide bootable ISO-Images and Virtual Machines which allow users to try out fully-operational versions of popular Free Geospatial Software without the need to install a thing. Everything is set up for you ready to go: just reboot into it, glance at the help pages on the desktop, and go. The existing hard drive and operating system will not be modified in any way, everything happens in temporary system memory. As such it will run a bit slower than the "real thing" and you may want to grab a USB flash drive to save or transfer files with. You can load and boot a live-image completely from a USB stick too if you prefer.

We do this in large part by maintaining automated build scripts which collect many OSGeo programs and sample data-sets together, and then combine them to form the Live disc or VM itself. By tweaking these scripts users are free to make their own custom distributions, for example localized in their own language and with local map data.


 * For the 2009 FOSS4G conference a snapshot of Free Geospatial software has been collected onto the Arramagong Live DVD and VM.
 * The Arramagong Live DVD & VM contains a collection of the best Geospatial Open Source software, pre-configured with sample data. The DVD and Virtual Machine are available for download at http://download.osgeo.org/livedvd. Refer to Live GIS Disc Quick Start to get started.

Contact Us

 * Mailing List: http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/live-demo
 * The mailing list is archived at Gmane and Nabble


 * IRC: irc://freenode.net#foss4g (until we get too busy and need a new channel)

Click2Try: run from browser
The Live DVD and Virtual Machine can be viewed from http://click2try.com from within a web browser.

All you need to do is:


 * Open this webpage: http://www.click2try.com/catalog/Web-Development/Geospatial/Arramagong-GISVM/details
 * Follow these steps:
 * 1) Click the big Try this application now button.
 * 2) Review the connection test results and fix, if necessary.
 * 3) Either wait for the application to launch or click the Launch App button.
 * Login to the Arramagong desktop using the login credentials in the Quick Start guide in the left pane of the window.
 * You should see the icons for the Geospatial applications on the desktop. You can start and try any application.
 * To save data, you'll need to apply for a free click2try account at http://www.click2try.com/component/user/?task=register.

Downloads

 * ISO hosting: See the SAC:ISO Mirroring page.
 * Downloads at: http://download.osgeo.org/livedvd
 * Members in good standing who require it may apply for ssh access to the download box. To do so create a user id, as described below, and then ask cameronDOTshorter.AT.lisasoftDOTcom to add you to the "Telascience" group.

Issue Tracker
Our bug and wish tracker is hosted at OSGeo's Trac system.
 * Please set the ticket's Component field to `LiveDVD` as we share the tracker with other OSGeo projects.


 * List of open tickets
 * List of tickets already fixed

OSGeo User Id

 * Create an OSGeo id: http://www.osgeo.org/osgeo_userid, which is required to edit the wiki, commit to svn and create an issue in the issue tracker.

Subversion
svn checkout https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd
 * Subversion: For config files and build scripts. You should always update from the server before editing a file, and always check the diff is as you intended before committing.
 * Repository: https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd and web view
 * On Linux systems: access Subversion using:

The first think you can do to test your svn install is update the users list: cd gisvm/trunk/ svn update contributors.csv svn diff contributors.csv svn commit contributors.csv
 * 1) to edit a file
 * 1) edit contributors.csv
 * 1) optionally check to see what has changed.
 * 1) check the file back into subversion

cd svn add svn propset svn:mime-type  svn commit
 * 1) to add a file
 * 1) create a file

svn move svn commit
 * 1) to move or rename a file

On windows, it is even easier, using Tortoise SVN which plugs directly into Windows Explorer.

To get commit access, you need to create yourself a user id, as explained below, then ask cameronDOTshorter.AT.lisasoftDOTcom to add you to the "osgeo" user group.

Press Releases

 * FOSS4G 2009 Press Releases
 * 27 August 2009, FOSS4G 2009 Press Release 28 - Simple steps to get your project on the FOSS4G Live DVD
 * 6 September 2009, FOSS4G 2009 Press Release 29 - What Windows installers should be on the FOSS4G Live DVD + Live DVD Status.
 * 16 October 2009, FOSS4G 2009 Press Release 35 - LiveDVD/VM on click2try Cover Email
 * 16 December 2009, Live GIS Disc Press Release 1 - Defining the next LiveDVD/VM

Use Cases
There are multiple use cases for this product:

This will contain a wide variety of applications, preconfigured with some sample data and containing introductory tutorials. It should be able to function completely offline, at least within the scope of the tutorials, and should provide an introduction to many products. This is very much a Live DVD, and as such should be conservative with regards to size (it will be run from RAM). This seems to be a more involved version than the Demo DVD, including more involved material, including train-the-trainer style material. This is targeted at those who will be teaching others, be it in workshops or university classes/labs. My expectation (mleslie: feel free to correct me) is that this is more likely to be installed on machines and used as a teaching resource, as opposed to a toy to play with, as with the Demo DVD. This will require material developed through the. This need was seen in Cape Town, where the bandwidth seems to be a very limiting factor. Using the DVD to install either a complete OS, a set of packages to an existing Linux, or Windows installers completely offline is of great value in the developing world. Would it be of greater value to lose the Edu or demo material and put in complete application documentation?
 * Demo DVD that can be handed out at conferences.
 * Education DVD
 * Workstation Install DVD

Passwords
The disk username=user, password=user

Right now https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd/gisvm/trunk/doc/passwords.txt is copied to the Desktop when main.sh is run to build the live image. If you want users to have access to an applications user/password please place it there.

Wiki pages

 * Live GIS Disc Quick Start
 * Live GIS Build instructions
 * Live GIS Disc Packages
 * Live GIS Disc Schedule
 * Live GIS Disc Testing
 * Live GIS Disc for Click2Try
 * Live GIS Disc FAQ
 * Live GIS Disc FAQ

Links to related projects

 * Arramagong Live DVD home page
 * GISVM home page (GIS Virtual Machine by Ricardo Pinho)
 * The Arramagong LiveDVD and VM is based on and shares much of its build process with the GISVM project.


 * DebianGIS Live Image
 * Build scripts in DebianGIS's SVN


 * Omniverdi LiveCD project
 * List of live CDs from the GRASS download site
 * Gfoss.it live DVD
 * Portable GIS - Zero-install GIS for MS Windows on a USB stick
 * Poseidon Linux
 * GISLive - LiveDVD project from FOSSGIS e.V. (German language)

Links to Build tool options

 * The live-helper package - DebianLive home page
 * How-to for Ubuntu/Hardy


 * Gnewsense method
 * Remastersys
 * Debian\Ubuntu Tricks
 * Ubuntu Help Way