[GRASS5] open GRASS in own xterm

Hi all,

as new users tend to start "grass5" with a double click in
a file explorer (especially the (former) Windows users) it
might be a good idea to start GRASS in an own "xterm" *if*
the DISPLAY variable is set (= Xwin running). This click-idea
of course doesn't currently work.

Starting GRASS in its own xterm would reduce lot of confusion
for them... Any objections?
We could use the same check mechanism already used for the
graphical startup.

Regards
Markus

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On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:24:56PM +0000, Markus Neteler wrote:

Hi all,

as new users tend to start "grass5" with a double click in
a file explorer (especially the (former) Windows users) it
might be a good idea to start GRASS in an own "xterm" *if*
the DISPLAY variable is set (= Xwin running). This click-idea
of course doesn't currently work.

Dont't,
this is a task which the file manager has to solve.
You can set the right options there.
GRASS cannot do much about.
(And it should not try.)

Starting GRASS in its own xterm would reduce lot of confusion
for them... Any objections?
We could use the same check mechanism already used for the
graphical startup.

Regards
Markus

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The FreeGIS Project (freegis.org)
Association for a Free Informational Infrastructure (ffii.org)
FSF Europe (fsfeurope.org)

On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:50:39PM +0100, Bernhard Reiter wrote:

On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:24:56PM +0000, Markus Neteler wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> as new users tend to start "grass5" with a double click in
> a file explorer (especially the (former) Windows users) it
> might be a good idea to start GRASS in an own "xterm" *if*
> the DISPLAY variable is set (= Xwin running). This click-idea
> of course doesn't currently work.

Dont't,
this is a task which the file manager has to solve.
You can set the right options there.
GRASS cannot do much about.
(And it should not try.)

Sorry, why?

What about users starting GRASS in
KDE-> K->execute
?
Then GRASS crashes as well.

As GRASS needs a shell window, why not coding that?

Markus

> Starting GRASS in its own xterm would reduce lot of confusion
> for them... Any objections?
> We could use the same check mechanism already used for the
> graphical startup.
>
> Regards
> Markus
>
> ----------------------------------------
> If you want to unsubscribe from GRASS Development Team mailing list write to:
> minordomo@geog.uni-hannover.de with
> subject 'unsubscribe grass5'
>

--
Professional Service around Free Software (intevation.net)
The FreeGIS Project (freegis.org)
Association for a Free Informational Infrastructure (ffii.org)
FSF Europe (fsfeurope.org)

--
Markus Neteler * University of Hannover
Institute of Physical Geography and Landscape Ecology
Schneiderberg 50 * D-30167 Hannover * Germany
Tel: ++49-(0)511-762-4494 Fax: -3984

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On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:33:10PM +0000, Markus Neteler wrote:

On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:50:39PM +0100, Bernhard Reiter wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:24:56PM +0000, Markus Neteler wrote:

> > as new users tend to start "grass5" with a double click in
> > a file explorer (especially the (former) Windows users) it
> > might be a good idea to start GRASS in an own "xterm" *if*
> > the DISPLAY variable is set (= Xwin running). This click-idea
> > of course doesn't currently work.

> this is a task which the file manager has to solve.
> You can set the right options there.
> GRASS cannot do much about.
> (And it should not try.)

What about users starting GRASS in
KDE-> K->execute
?
Then GRASS crashes as well.

Well, it does not crash. KDE is starting it not correctly.
Try to start gpg with KDE or any other command line tool.
You can make KDE start it with a terminal window.
We might add information for people so that KDE will recogise this
in install packages, but I strongly vote against a dirty workaround.

As GRASS needs a shell window, why not coding that?

Because GRASS does not even know how to get a shell windows in the
environment. Standard terminals are gnome-terminal, xterm, rxvt,
kterm...

It is a problem which just has not to be solved within GRASS.
  Bernhard
  
--
Professional Service around Free Software (intevation.net)
The FreeGIS Project (freegis.org)
Association for a Free Informational Infrastructure (ffii.org)
FSF Europe (fsfeurope.org)

Hi Bernhard and Markus

Bernhard Reiter wrote:

On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:33:10PM +0000, Markus Neteler wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:50:39PM +0100, Bernhard Reiter wrote:
> > On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:24:56PM +0000, Markus Neteler wrote:

> > > as new users tend to start "grass5" with a double click in
> > > a file explorer (especially the (former) Windows users) it
> > > might be a good idea to start GRASS in an own "xterm" *if*
> > > the DISPLAY variable is set (= Xwin running). This click-idea
> > > of course doesn't currently work.

> > this is a task which the file manager has to solve.
> > You can set the right options there.
> > GRASS cannot do much about.
> > (And it should not try.)

> What about users starting GRASS in
> KDE-> K->execute
> ?
> Then GRASS crashes as well.

Well, it does not crash. KDE is starting it not correctly.
Try to start gpg with KDE or any other command line tool.
You can make KDE start it with a terminal window.
We might add information for people so that KDE will recogise this
in install packages, but I strongly vote against a dirty workaround.

> As GRASS needs a shell window, why not coding that?

Because GRASS does not even know how to get a shell windows in the
environment. Standard terminals are gnome-terminal, xterm, rxvt,
kterm...

It is a problem which just has not to be solved within GRASS.

For the new initialization code I was going to write after 5.0, I was
planning on implementing this. What I had planned was to use xterm by
default but allow users to set their own term program using an
environment variable if they want. I figured that since grass requires X
windows to run (required by d.mon) then this was a safe assumption to
make.

For grass5 -tcltk the GUI would start and it would create an xterm for
the grass shell. It would also provide a button to create another shell
if the first one is closed. I have tested this long ago and I can launch
the xterm from tcltkgrass.

For grass5 -text we can leave it as is but I was planning that the user
would not be allowed to start the GUI from this shell. They would have
to quit and run grass5 -tcltk. That is, the tcltkgrass command would
disappear.

Do you think this is feasible?

--
Sincerely,

Jazzman (a.k.a. Justin Hickey) e-mail: jhickey@hpcc.nectec.or.th
High Performance Computing Center
National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC)
Bangkok, Thailand

People who think they know everything are very irritating to those
of us who do. ---Anonymous

Jazz and Trek Rule!!!

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On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:50:39PM +0100, Bernhard Reiter wrote:

On Mon, Mar 05, 2001 at 04:24:56PM +0000, Markus Neteler wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> as new users tend to start "grass5" with a double click in
> a file explorer (especially the (former) Windows users) it
> might be a good idea to start GRASS in an own "xterm" *if*
> the DISPLAY variable is set (= Xwin running). This click-idea
> of course doesn't currently work.

Dont't,
this is a task which the file manager has to solve.
You can set the right options there.
GRASS cannot do much about.
(And it should not try.)

I agree with Bernard here. This is not a problem for GRASS to solve.
Here in Debian GNU/Linux land, there's a slick "menu" program that
handles this nicely:

file: /etc/menu/grass

?package(local.grass):\
       needs=text\
       section="Apps/Local/GRASS"\
       title="GRASS 5.0b12"\
       command="/usr/local/bin/grass5"\
       icon="/usr/local/share/pixmaps/grass_sm.png"

$ update-menus

And, voila, "GRASS 5.0b12" shows up in every window manager menu, *and*
will be started in a terminal emulator if running under X.

--
Eric G. Miller <egm2@jps.net>

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