Live GIS Disc Quick Start

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The Live image can be run in a number of different formats:

Download DVD ISO or Virtual Machine

Download the latest livedvd image from http://download.osgeo.org/livedvd.

On linux use: 

wget http://download.osgeo.org/livedvd/<image name>.iso

Note: if your image stops half way through, you can restart with: 

wget -c http://download.osgeo.org/livedvd/<image name>.iso

If the image is to be downloaded in multiple parts, then you can put it together again with 7zip on MS-Windows, or on Mac or Linux with: 

cat image.iso.1 image.iso.2 > image.iso

Another way to put these together on MS-Windows without 7zip is:

Open a Command-Prompt (cmd.exe), navigate to the parts folder and type "copy /B image.iso.1 + image.iso.2 image.iso"

Boot from physical DVD

System Requirements

  • RAM: 512 Meg, preferably 1 Gig.
  • CPU: 1 GHz i686 or compatible (Intel/AMD)
  • Spare Hard Disk Space: No hard drive required.
At least 3 Gig if you wish to install the operating system.
  • Mouse: a 3-button mouse is useful, especially for Mac trackpad users.
  • Burn the ISO onto a DVD
  • Put the DVD into your computer's CD drive, then reboot your computer.
  • If your computer is set to boot from CD (as is often the case) you should boot up into an Xubuntu system, with Geospatial applications installed. Otherwise you'll have to adjust the BIOS boot settings or press the boot menu button just after powering-up.
  • If you find yourself at a pretty login page simply press return or wait for the countdown to timeout.
  • Try out the different applications from the desktop and from the Applications → Education menu.

Run in Virtual Machine

For full project details, refer to: Live GIS Disc.

System Requirements for running from a Virtual Machine

  • RAM: 1 Gig, preferably 2Gig if you plan to run other applications as well
  • Spare Hard Disk Space: 9 Gig to install the VM (at version FOSS4G 2009 alpha 4). This will likely increase to 13 Gig. 20 if you've got it.

Install a Virtual Machine

Download a Virtual Machine player. VMWare Player is recommended as the image has been built and tested using VMWare, however VMWare is a pain to install due to all the personal details you need to enter). If you are on linux, it is much easier to install VirtualBox, and the applications work almost as well, a few window resize glitches and the like. 

apt-get install virtualbox-ose

VMWare Server can be used to serve images out using a web browser. It requires 2 Gig of RAM. VMWare Server is not currently recommended as version 2 of VMWare Server and Ubuntu 9.4 or Ubuntu 9.10 has proven to be very flaky.

ISO in VMWare Player (recommended)

  • Run VMWare Player
  • Select "Create New Virtual Machine"
  • Select "Installer Disk Image from ISO"
  • Select Linux/Ubuntu
  • Hard Disk = any size (0 is fine)

Install VM in Virtual Box

  • On recent versions of Virtual Box (tested on Sun Virtual Box 3.0.2) you can add to the virtual disks catalog the vmdk image without any conversion so the only thing you have to do is create a new VM and assign the disk to it.
    • Make a New virtual machine.
    • When asked about the hard drive choose to use and existing image, in the subsequent dialogs add the vmdk you downloaded and choose it.
    • Choose your RAM, video memory and other options.
    • The image should now boot like any other Virtual Box image.

If the above doesn't work try to convert the vmdk to a vbox image

  • As the Live GIS Disc is a VMWare virtual machine, you should convert it to the Virtual Box format. There are detailed instruction at the Ubuntu wiki to convert it on a linux box.

Install VM in VMWare Player

Add details about how to set up the image ...

Test

For details about how to test each application, refer to Live GIS Disc Testing and the program links in the main help page, which can be found on the Live-image's desktop.

Install to a Live USB Stick

You can install the ISO onto a USB drive. This will boot faster than the DVD and any work you do on the live system will be persistent. So you can carry your work around with you and use it on any PC you come across.

You will need a modern computer BIOS which allows you to boot from a USB-HDD device. (if not, there are alternatives, see pendrivelinux.com's tutorials below)

We recommend an empty 4GB (or larger) USB drive.

Xubuntu 9.04 based LiveDVD

Xubuntu 9.10 based LiveDVD

These tutorials from PenDriveLinux.com give the method:

Quick-start

Boot with the LiveDVD and plug in your USB drive. From the main Ubuntu menu select: 

Applications → System → USB Startup Disk Creator

Then choose your drive (partition actually) from the list (carefully!), select "Documents stored in extra space" and set the size slider to its maximum, and click "Make startup disk".

This tool wants your USB drive to start with an empty FAT32 partition.

Tips

  • The base install is compressed and static. All changes (package installs, upgrades, user files) reside in an uncompressed ext3 filesystem-file in the remaining space on the USB stick (which due to this tends to fill up rather quickly). So ultimately the USB stick isn't truly a "perpetual" install, but with careful use it could last you until the next release of the distribution is out.
  • Setting the local timezone: run the tzselect program from the terminal prompt and follow the directions.
  • Do not attempt to upgrade your kernel. You will mostly likely end up with an unbootable system. If this happens to you, you can still get your data off or attempt a manual repair. The compressed base system can be mounted with: (e.g. from the Live-DVD)
mount /media/usbdrive/syslinux/file.squashfs mount_point/ -o loop -t squashfs

and the user data filesystem can be mounted with: 

mount /media/usbdrive/casper/casper-rw mount_point/ -o loop

Xubuntu 10.4 based LiveDVD

Same as for 9.10 above, but the menu item is 

Applications → System → Startup Disk Creator

Click2Try: run from browser

The old 2.0 Virtual Machine can be viewed from http://click2try.com from within a web browser with Java plugin enabled.

  1. Open http://www.click2try.com/catalog/Web-Development/Geospatial/Arramagong-GISVM/details
  2. Click the big Try this application now button.
  3. Review the connection test results and fix, if necessary.
  4. Either wait for the application to launch or click the Launch App button.
  • Login with user=user, password=user
  • 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.

Development release from browser

LISAsoft has set up a test server using VMWare Server. Unfortunately, VMWare Server is flaky and needs to be restarted often. Of note the default Firefox settings make the browser slow to connect and the server more likely to crash, so please either test with Internet Explorer, or change Firefox default settings.

  • If using Firefox, go to the url: about:config and update
    • security.enable_ssl2 from false to true

Starting the VM
  • Select the latest virtual machine
  • Select the "Console" button
  • Click on the Console pane to open up a new browser window
  • Your browser will ask you to add an exception to open a new window
  • On your first time, you will need to accept installing a VMWare plugin

Unfortunately the latest releases of VMWare Server are very unstable, and there is a good chance that you will not be able to complete the above steps. If so, try the following:

  • Wait 60 seconds, then reload your browser page
  • Shutdown your browser and open again
  • Someone else may be using the VM at the same time, and overloading the server. Try again later.
  • Ask Cameron.ShorterATlisasoftDOTcom to restart VMWare Server for you, and/or try running the image using the following steps. You can often find Cameron Shorter on irc://freenode.net#foss4g
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