Installing the R package : rgl

On Ubuntu 12.04 (precise) : sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dev libglu-dev libxt-dev libfreetype6-dev fontconfig mesa-utils To install in Ubuntu karmic the R package "rgl", one needs to install the X11 header files :

sudo apt-get install xorg-dev

and the OpenGL libraries :

sudo apt-get install freeglut3 freeglut3-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libice-dev libsm-dev libx11-dev libxau-dev libxdmcp-dev libxext-dev libxt-dev mesa-common-dev x11proto-core-dev x11proto-input-dev x11proto-kb-dev x11proto-xext-dev xlibmesa-gl-dev xtrans-dev

The installation of "rgl" then should work in R :
install.packages("rgl", dep=T)

Virtualbox mounting a Windows host directory under Linux client

C_DRIVE /C_DRIVE vboxsf uid=acizmeli 0 0


or


Documents /home/me/Host vboxsf uid=1000,gid=1000,nodev,noexec,nosuid,auto,rw 0 0

(http://ericgazoni.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/mounting-virtualbox-osx-share-on-ubuntu-guest/)

Geoserver GeoWebCache Tile Seeding

If there is a "." in the Geoserver layer name, the "Seed this layer" link in the GeoWebCache interface does not work. Simply removing the "." makes it work.

Ubuntu Karmic : Building the GRASS GIS and its wxpython source code

From http://grass.osgeo.org/wiki/Compile_and_Install_Ubuntu

First of all, do NOT install the following grass/ogr Ubuntu packages
as they are often broken :gdal-bin libgdal1-dev.
Instead, install grass/ogr from source code (recommended) :
http://midyetavablog.blogspot.com/2009/11/compiling-gdal-on-ubuntu-karmic-910.html

To build grass install the following packages in Ubuntu :

sudo apt-get install build-essential flex bison libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev \
libjpeg62-dev libgdal1-dev libtiff4-dev libgcc1 tcl8.5-dev tk8.5-dev \
gettext fftw3-dev libfreetype6-dev libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libxmu-dev make python-dev \
swig libavutil-dev libavutil49 libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libcairo2-dev \
libblas-dev liblapack-dev libglw1-mesa-dev

To build the wxphython GUI, install the following Ubuntu packages :

sudo apt-get install libwxbase2.8-0 libwxbase2.8-dbg libwxbase2.8-dev \
libwxgtk2.8-0 libwxgtk2.8-dbg libwxgtk2.8-dev \
python-wxgtk2.8 wx2.8-doc wx2.8-examples \
wx2.8-headers wx2.8-i18n python-numpy

We are ready to configure the system and start building :

./configure \
--with-tcltk-includes=/usr/include/tcl8.5 \
--with-wxwidgets=/usr/bin/wx-config \
--with-postgres-includes=/usr/include/postgresql  --with-postgres=yes \
--with-cairo --with-blas --with-lapack --with-python \
--with-proj-share=/usr/share/proj

make
sudo make install

I was not able to make work the following flags  :
--with-ffmpeg --with-ffmpeg-includes=/usr/include/libavcodec --with-glw

Compiling GDAL on Ubuntu Karmic 9.10

First, obtain the latest stable gdal sources from http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/DownloadSource .

In my case, I used http://download.osgeo.org/gdal/gdal-1.6.3.tar.gz

Before compiling, I had to install the following Ubuntu packages :

sudo apt-get install libnetcdf4 libnetcdf-dev libpng-dev libtiff4-dev libcurl4-dev libtool python-gdal

The following commands
./configure
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig

This will install the binaries in /usr/local/bin and the libraries in /usr/local/lib

This default configuration will compile only a fraction of the formats supported. Feel free to add more components to your taste. After all, it's all FREE software!

Bluetooth GPS in Linux with gpsd

I have the following no-name bluetooth-only gps device. When I plug it into the USB port of my computer for a recharge, it is seen as :
$lsusb
Bus 003 Device 011: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port

I already have the bluetooth stack working on Ubuntu so I could make a bluetooth scan for it. The gadget presents itself as GT-750F :


$hcitool scan
Scanning ...
00:0B:0D:76:83:73 GT-750F

Following the instructions at http://gpsd.berlios.de/bt.html, I added the following section into /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf :
rfcomm0 {
# Automatically bind the device at startup
bind yes;

# Bluetooth address of the device
device 00:0B:0D:76:83:73;

# RFCOMM channel for the connection
channel 1;

# Description of the connection
comment "GPS GT-750F";
}

I then launched gpsd with the following command :

sudo gpsd -D 2 -N /dev/rfcomm0

and using xgps and gpsdrive, I saw that it al worked fine.

Magellan Explorist 600 in Linux with gpsd

First, you need to setup the GPS. To do so, within th GPS unit, go :

Menu-Advanced Features-Communications-NMEA Data Comm

and select "V2.1 GSA"

When the GPS is connected to the USB port, a Linux system message appears. To see it, withing Linux command line, type :

sudo tail -f /var/log/messages

Sep 30 15:32:01 sac-laptop kernel: [65151.544586] usb 3-4: USB disconnect, address 6
Sep 30 15:46:34 sac-laptop -- MARK --
Sep 30 16:02:26 sac-laptop kernel: [66976.703565] usb 3-4: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 7
Sep 30 16:02:26 sac-laptop kernel: [66976.949095] usb 3-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Sep 30 16:02:26 sac-laptop kernel: [66976.971345] cdc_acm 3-4:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

You could then manually launch the gpsd daemon :

sudo gpsd -D 2 -N -n /dev/ttyACM0&

and test it using xgps (shipped with gpsd) or gpsdrive.

If everything is working for you, you can omit the debugging option (-D 2) and the -N option that allows the program to run in the background mode.