[Xastir] Problems installing Xastir

[Curt, WE7U]

On Mon, 3 May 2004, KK6RW wrote:

> I'm not so sure this version is stable as I do seem to have a few
> problems.

Once you get a good setup of Cygwin (which happens often BTW, you
just must have hit a bad time), Xastir compile and just keep
running.


> I've decided to install a Linux OS and dualboot my machine. I'm working on
> getting Suse or possibly Slackware. I can't seem to find any store that
> carry these particular versions. I'm sure Xastir will be much faster running
> on a native LInux machine.

I wouldn't go with Slackware if you're just getting started with
Linux.  It's a fine distribution, but in my opinion it takes too
much knowledge to get it up and running and configure it.  I use it
for very limited-disk systems still, but don't recommend it for
general use.

If you're reasonably good with computers, you can snag the "boot"
floppy image plus the first three or so "modules" floppy images from
the SuSE ftp site (SuSE 9.0 or 9.1), write those images to floppies,
then boot from those floppies and install SuSE over the network.
I've done this several times.  It's not trivial, but it can be done.

Best option is to buy a boxed set of CD's w/manual for SuSE.  Then
you boot from CD and the whole thing is very easy.


> I am getting frustrated trying to get some mapping
> solutions other than the online Tiger Maps. I would like to use the 2003
> Tiger maps and some terra maps. The README.Maps is helpful but seems when I
> try to do some things it says, I get stuck. I'm pretty sure it's cockpit
> error for the most part.

If you were running Linux or one of the other Unix or Unix-like
systems, things might be a bit easier for you.  They'd definitely be
a lot faster.

Perhaps you could ask questions on the list as you run into each
problem, including the warnings/errors messages that you're seeing.
There are Cygwin/Xastir users on here.


> I have the pcre adn Shapelib libraries installed as far as I can tell. I was
> able to preform all the commands above except the lst Chmod. I get and error
> of no such file or directory. Also, I thought chmod only use 3 characrters?
> Is the 4 characters something used in the linux environment?

A typical user only needs the three characters.  People who are
doing SysAdmin work can use some extra bits to specify some very
interesting features.  You can set the SGID or the SUID bit.  We're
setting the SUID bit so that the program can assume "root"
priviledges when it needs to, then revert back to normal user
priviledges the rest of the time.  There are security considerations
with doing this which you need to understand.  Windows does not
allow/provide for this type of operation, so the extra leading digit
does you no good.

I refer you to any good Unix SysAdmin book for explanation of the
SUID/SGID bits and the security considerations involved.

--
Curt, WE7U			    archer at eskimo dot com
Arlington, WA, USA		http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
"Lotto:    A tax on people who are bad at math." -- unknown
"Windows:  Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates." -- WE7U
"The world DOES revolve around me:  I picked the coordinate system!"