Live GIS Disc

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Revision as of 23:28, 30 March 2010 by Wiki-HamishBowman (talk | contribs) (+faq)
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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.

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.

Key Links

Quick Start

FAQ

Build Process

Package List

Schedule

Contact Us

The mailing list is archived at Gmane and Nabble

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:

  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.

See also: Live GIS Disc for Click2Try

Run from browser development Virtual Machine

We have a Virtual Machine used during development for testing the LiveDVD which allows you to view the LiveDVD from within a browser without having to download gigabytes of the image.

The VM image is shared with everyone else who is logged on, so you may see applications open unexpectedly, or see mouse actions happening. If you are using this VM, please also log onto irc://freenode.net#foss4g to contact others who may be trialling the image at the same time as you.

The VM sometimes gets itself in a strange state, requiring you to log in again, or to reboot the system. Cameron Shorter has root access and can reboot the computer.

Log in details:

  • Once logged in, select the virtual machine you wish to run from the "Inventory" pane: camilla -> arramagong-version
  • If the VM is not running yet, click the green "Play" icon to start the VM
  • Select the "Console" tab
  • Then click on the Console main pain where it states "click anywhere to open the Virtual Machine"
  • This will open a new browser window. If this is your first time, you may need to allow your browser to open popup windows for this site. You may also need to download the vmware browser plugin.

Downloads

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. To distinguish the LiveDVD project from other OSGeo projects, use the following conventions:

Component field
Set to `LiveDVD`
Keywords
Version: Set to base arramagong release version: eg: 2.0 or 3.0 or 4.0 (not 3.0alpha1)
Application: Set to application with issue (use lower case): eg: "geoserver"
List of open tickets

OSGeo User Id

Subversion

  • 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. 
svn checkout https://svn.osgeo.org/osgeo/livedvd/gisvm/trunk

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

The first think you can do to test your svn install is update the users list: 

# to edit a file
svn update contributors.csv
# edit contributors.csv

# optionally check to see what has changed.
svn diff contributors.csv

# check the file back into subversion
svn commit contributors.csv

# to add a file
cd <dir>
# create a file
svn add <file>
svn propset svn:mime-type <mime.type> <file>
svn commit <file>

# to move or rename a file
svn move <file>
svn commit <file>

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

Press Releases

Google Summer of Code

The LiveDVD project participates in the Google Summer of Code:

Conference Participation

FOSS4G 2008
Handed out Live DVDs from the OSGeo stand
FOSS4G 2009
Handed out Live DVDs is every delegate's show bag
FOSS4G 2010
  • Authors: Cameron Shorter, Jody Garnett
  • Abstract

This presentation will provide a lightening overview of all the applications on the OSGeo Live DVD.

The OSGeo Live DVD contains over 35 of the best Open Source GeoSpatial applications, bundled on an Xubuntu system. It is an excellent tool for demonstrating GeoSpatial Open Source, using with tutorials and workshops, or providing to potenial new users.

The presentation will be very useful for OSGeo evangillists looking for material to present at other conferences, or attendees wishing to report back to workmates when returning to work.

At FOSS4G 2009, attendees not familiar with the OSGeo stack noted that it would have been useful to attend an overview of the FOSS stack at the conference start to help select which presentations to attend. Hence, we suggest this presentation is presented early in the conference.

Use Cases

There are multiple use cases for this product:

  • Demo DVD that can be handed out at conferences.
    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).
  • Education DVD
    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.
  • Workstation Install DVD
    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?

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.

Links to related projects

The Arramagong LiveDVD and VM is based on and shares much of its build process with the GISVM project.
Build scripts in DebianGIS's SVN

Links to Build tool options

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