Difference between revisions of "Live GIS Disc FAQ"

Latest revision as of 18:46, 23 August 2014

For the public good and for your own future reference please record any FAQs here, even if you can only supply the Q

Getting help

Q: How can I find the answer to a question which isn't here?
A: Use the search tool in the mailing list archives, or put it here and wait for someone else to fill in the A:.

Usage

Getting started

Q: What's the live user's name and password?
A: user/user. See the passwords.txt file on the desktop for application specific database user/passwords.

Hardware Drivers

Q: How do I get my Wifi working?
A: Due to licensing issues a number of proprietary firmwares can not be included on the disc, you must download them yourself. We don't have the right to redistrubute them.

You will probably need a wired network connection to download the drivers.

Start button → Preferences → Aditional Drivers

It will search for available drivers ... this will take a little while.

Select the driver if you wish, and hit "Apply Changes". If you do not have a working network connection this will likely fail without telling you why.

After the drivers are installed you can look in /var/cache/apt/archives/ for the deb packages, copy them over to another USB drive, then upon a fresh boot copy them back there and use 'apt-get' to install them. If you mount the other USB drive and the OSGeoLive USB drive on another computer, you can even copy these files into a directory in the Live's USB. These will then be available in the (for example) /cdrom/extra_debs directory. You could even stash a little script in there to install it all automatically.

Customizing

Q: How do I set the drive volume name on the live USB drive?
A: From a Linux computer, plug it in and mount it, then:

# limited to 11 single byte characters
IMAGE_NAME=OSGeoLive80

# find devivce and mount name
# for me it is /dev/sdd1 and /media/0FB5-AA29
df -h

# unmount it
umount /media/0FB5-AA29

# check the label
mlabel -i /dev/sdd1 -s ::

# set the label
mlabel -i /dev/sdd1 ::"$IMAGE_NAME"

Administration

Q: What's the root password?
A: There isn't one. To run commands as root type `sudo <command>` in a terminal. To become root type `sudo - su`. Enter the user's password when prompted.

Q: How do I get my dual monitors to span instead of mirror with xUbuntu?
A: Go to the Applications → Settings menu and use the `arandr` program to drag them apart, then click the tick/check button to apply (once you start the program it's pretty obvious, the program name on the other hand is not so obvious :) For the OSGeo 5.5 Live DVD and earlier you'll have to install it yourself via Synaptic or the Ubuntu Software Center.

ARandR screenshot

Q: How do I ssh into the Live Disc?
A: You must first install the openssh-server package:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Because of a bug in Ubuntu 12.04 you may also need to run:

sudo initctl reload-configuration
sudo service ssh restart

Important: If enabling remote login access you really should change the user account's default password with the passwd command.

Building the disc

Q: How do I roll my own version of the disc?
A: See the Live GIS Build wiki page

Q: This app is great! How do I install it on my Ubuntu system without installing everything else?
A: All the install scripts can be found in the ~/gisvm/bin/ directory on the disc.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 * '''''Q''''': How can I find the answer to a question which isn't here?
 * '''''A''''': Use the search tool in the [http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.gis.osgeo.livedemo mailing list archives], or put it here and wait for someone else to fill in the '''''A:'''''.
+See also [[Live GIS Disc/Errata/8.0]]
 == Usage ==
@@ Line 13: / Line 15: @@
 * '''''Q''''': What's the live user's name and password?
 * '''''A''''': user/user. See the passwords.txt file on the desktop for application specific database user/passwords.
+== Hardware Drivers ==
+* '''''Q''''': How do I get my Wifi working?
+* '''''A''''': Due to licensing issues a number of proprietary firmwares can not be included on the disc, you must download them yourself. We don't have the right to redistrubute them.
+:* You will probably need a wired network connection to download the drivers.
+ Start button &rarr; Preferences &rarr; Aditional Drivers
+It will search for available drivers ... this will take a little while.
+Select the driver if you wish, and hit "Apply Changes". If you do not have a working network connection this will likely fail without telling you why.
+* After the drivers are installed you can look in /var/cache/apt/archives/ for the deb packages, copy them over to another USB drive, then upon a fresh boot copy them back there and use 'apt-get' to install them. If you mount the other USB drive and the OSGeoLive USB drive on another computer, you can even copy these files into a directory in the Live's USB. These will then be available in the (for example) /cdrom/extra_debs directory. You could even stash a little script in there to install it all automatically.
+== Customizing ==
+* '''''Q''''': How do I set the drive volume name on the live USB drive?
+* '''''A''''': From a Linux computer, plug it in and mount it, then:
+ # limited to 11 single byte characters
+ IMAGE_NAME=OSGeoLive80
+ # find devivce and mount name
+ # for me it is /dev/sdd1 and /media/0FB5-AA29
+ df -h
+ # unmount it
+ umount /media/0FB5-AA29
+ # check the label
+ mlabel -i /dev/sdd1 -s ::
+ # set the label
+ mlabel -i /dev/sdd1 ::"$IMAGE_NAME"
 == Administration  ==
@@ Line 21: / Line 58: @@
 * '''''Q''''': How do I get my dual monitors to span instead of mirror with xUbuntu?
-* '''''A''''':  Go to the Settings menu and use the <tt>`Arandr`</tt> program to drag them apart, then click the tick/check button to apply (once you start the program it's pretty obvious, the program name on the other hand is not so obvious :) For the OSGeo 5.5 Live DVD and earlier you'll have to install it yourself via Synaptic or the Ubuntu Software Center.
+* '''''A''''':  Go to the Applications &rarr; Settings menu and use the <tt>`arandr`</tt> program to drag them apart, then click the tick/check button to apply (once you start the program it's pretty obvious, the program name on the other hand is not so obvious :) For the OSGeo 5.5 Live DVD and earlier you'll have to install it yourself via Synaptic or the Ubuntu Software Center.
-: [http://screenshots.debian.net/screenshots/a/arandr/2238_large.png axrandr screenshot]
+: [http://screenshots.debian.net/screenshots/a/arandr/2238_large.png ARandR screenshot]
@@ Line 28: / Line 65: @@
 * '''''A''''': You must first install the openssh-server package:
   sudo apt-get install openssh-server
+[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-meta/+bug/1015348 Because of a bug in Ubuntu 12.04] you may also need to run:
+ sudo initctl reload-configuration
+ sudo service ssh restart
 <!-- now disabled by default:
 * '''''A''''': You must first generate unique RSA/DSA keys for your machine. For security reasons this has not been done automatically.
@@ Line 36: / Line 77: @@
         sudo ssh-keygen -t dsa -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
         sudo ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
 -->
-: If enabling remote login access you really should change the user account's default password with the <tt>passwd</tt> command.
+: '''Important''': If enabling remote login access you really should change the user account's default password with the <tt>passwd</tt> command.
 == Building the disc ==
@@ Line 44: / Line 84: @@
 * '''''Q''''': How do I roll my own version of the disc?
 * '''''A''''': See the [[Live GIS Build]] wiki page
+* '''''Q''''': This app is great! How do I install it on my Ubuntu system without installing everything else?
+* '''''A''''': All the install scripts can be found in the ~/gisvm/bin/ directory on the disc.
 [[Category: Live-demo]]