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Last Updated: 18 Sep 1997
The MI/X FAQ
Some of the questions and answers below pertain only to the WindowsÆ
or the MacTMOS platform. This is indicated by (Windows) or (MacOS)
being placed after the "Q:" If there is no such indication, assume
that the question is pertinent to any platform.
This document is available in text-only format as well:
[1]ftp://ftp.microimages.com:4021/pub/mix/mix_faq.txt
_________________________________________________________________
1. Q: Is MI/X really free?
A: Yes. No strings attached. MicroImages does retain a copyright on
it, however.
_____________________________________________________________
2. Q: Why is it really free?
A: MicroImages gains name recognition and good will. MicroImages
maintains MI/X as the X Server for its professional TNT image
processing, geospatial data management, and desktop cartography
products. In order to make the TNT products work exactly the same
on all Windows, Macintosh and UNIX computers, MicroImages needed a
robust and stable X Server whose future was not in the hands of
some other company. (MicroImages also enjoys the irony that some
ARC/INFO users will run our competitor's product on our free X
Server.)
_____________________________________________________________
3. Q: How can I get a copy of MI/X?
A: You can download it from MicroImages' FTP site, or from mirror
sites.
The URL to download MI/X from MicroImages' FTP site in Lincoln, NE
U.S.A. is:
[2]http://www.microimages.com in the "Free Stuff" section.
In Europe (University of Gˆttingen, Germany)
Windows:
[3]ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/x11/mix/getme1st.exe
[4]ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/x11/mix/file0001.bin
MacOS:
[5]ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/x11/mix/mix68k.sit.hqx
[6]ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/x11/mix/mixppc.sit.hqx
In North America, (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
Windows:
[7]http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jtunison/x/getme1st.exe
[8]http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/jtunison/x/file0001.bin
In Australia, (Univeristy of New South Wales, Australia)
MacOS:
[9]ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-server-ppc.hqx
[10]ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-server-68k.hqx
_____________________________________________________________
4. Q: Can I mirror MI/X on my FTP site?
A: Yes. We do ask that you agree to the following few conditions:
+ The files you distribute must be unaltered copies of the
package as distributed by MicroImages, Inc.: this is to
include the binary executables as well as any configuration
files and text files contained with it.
+ Please register your mirror site with MicroImages, so that we
know about the mirror and can point others to it, and can
keep you informed on changes in the software. You can
register online at this URL:
http://www.microimages.com/freestuf/register.htm
+ You may not reverse engineer, or convert into any human
conceivable form, the binary executable files that make up
MI/X.
+ You may not charge money for MI/X itself, excepting the costs
of redistribution media or shipping.
+ Keep up with the latest version. Please check back with us as
we update our products quarterly, there are likely to be some
improvements made in MI/X that you will want to make
available as well.
_____________________________________________________________
5. Q: When I click on the links on your download page, I get an error
message saying that the file doesn't exist or that the link is no
good. What is wrong?
A: The links aren't bad. Some browsers will return an error message
indicating that the link is bad or that the file wasn't found, when
in fact, the browser times out because the site is so busy.
_____________________________________________________________
6. Q: I'm having trouble downloading MI/X. Can you e-mail it to me?
A: No. If you are having trouble downloading, try again at a
different time, or try a mirror site. MI/X is popular and traffic
is heavy, which can cause download problems during peak periods.
Attempting to email it would only consume our valuable staff time
and would not evade such problems as network traffic or slow
connections. If you don't have a good enough network connection,
then we encourage you to order [11]TNTlite on CD-ROM from
MicroImages, which includes MI/X, and which you can obtain for
costs of shipping and handling. Ordering the TNTlite on CD gives
you access to our award-winning [12]geospatial data analysis
software, and many Getting Started tutorial booklets with sample
data: as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer and Adobe Acrobat
Reader for various platforms. It is well worth the investment!
_____________________________________________________________
7. Q: (Windows) I've downloaded all the files for MI/X for Windows,
how do I unpack it?
A: Make sure that all the files are in the same directory, (don't
put any capital letters in the name and don't make its name longer
than 8 characters) then type GETME1ST.EXE to start unpacking the
files. This will make a bunch of new files, one of which is called
"SETUP.EXE." To continue the installation, type SETUP.EXE and
follow the instructions on the screen. On older versions, the setup
program for TNTlite and MI/X is the same, during install it will
bring up a list of files that are missing. By each file is a letter
that indicates what it is a component of. As long as no X's (to
mark Xserver files) appear, you have all the pieces you need and
can proceed with the install.
_____________________________________________________________
8. Q: (MacOS) I've downloaded MI/X for MacOS, how do I unpack it?
A: You will need a decompression utitlity. One of the most popular
utilities is called StuffIt Expander. Drag the file you've
downloaded on to the StuffIt Expander icon, and that is all you
need to do.
_____________________________________________________________
9. Q: (Windows) When I try to run the setup program created from
getme1st.exe, I get an error message saying "can't find
file0001.bin". What's happening?
A: file0001.bin isn't in the same directory as setup.exe, or it was
renamed to something other than file0001.bin, or you didn't
download the file. Note that sometimes some browsers have been
known to change the name of the file when you save it to your disk.
If the name of file0001.bin is changed to anything different,
setup.exe will not find it, and your setup will obviously fail.
_____________________________________________________________
10. Q: (Windows) I downloaded the installation files for Windows 95
and ran the setup.exe. After selecting 'install/setup mi/x server
with twm' dialog box I received the message: "Unable to update
tntproc.ini." Then the install ended. Any suggestions?
A: Previously this FAQ said this problem was fixed. However, it
seems that people are still having problems with this. This is an
error that we are investigating. It is sometimes solved by
installing to the default directory.
_____________________________________________________________
11. Q: (Windows) How do I start the MI/X program after installing it?
A: You can start MI/X from the "Start" Menu (Start / Programs /
Free TNTlite products / MIXServer ) which runs a program called
TNTstart to launch MI/X, or you can change to the directory where
MI/X is located and type 'tntstart' . In some rare cases using the
TNTstart program to launch MI/X does not work. In those cases issue
the following commands from a DOS prompt (you may have to be in the
directory where you installed MI/X):
XS
TWM
This will start the server and its window manager manually. Running
the commands from the command line can also be a good way to
trouble shoot since you may get error messages reported to the
console that may help you discern what is going wrong. You would
not see these if you were running the program using tntstart.
_____________________________________________________________
12. Q: When starting MI/X, I see the MI/X screen come up briefly and
then goes away and then I get an error message. What is happening?
A: Connect to the machine that you want to run MI/X against before
you start MI/X.
_____________________________________________________________
13. Q: I login to my remote UNIX host. Then I start MI/X and it comes
up okay. Then when I try to start an X session, or send a remote X
client to the machine running MI/X, MI/X quits. It does this every
time. What am I doing wrong?
A: Try changing your preferences. For Windows, edit tntserv.ini and
make sure that CloseOnMenuExit is set to No, e.g.
CloseOnMenuExit=No
For the Mac, open File / Preferences, select the "Preferences" icon
on the left, and make sure that the "Auto exit when last client
dies" checkbox is not checked.
_____________________________________________________________
14. Q: (MacOS) When I try to start MI/X I get a message saying "unable
to open :0.0". What is going on?
A: Make sure that under the "Sharing Setup" control panel the
Macintosh has been given a name.
_____________________________________________________________
15. Q: Can I use a window manager other than twm with MI/X?
A: Yes, however twm is the window manager we support. We can't tell
you how to configure other window managers, or even guarantee that
they'll work.
_____________________________________________________________
16. Q: (MacOS) How do I configure twm?
A: If you put a file named "system.twmrc" in the same folder as the
twm program on your computer, the twm program will read
configuration settings from it. Consult the documentation, [13]man
page, etc. for twm to learn what to put in system.twmrc to
configure twm. Note that the current version of MI/X for MacOS does
not support the launching of X clients from a twm menu. This is
forthcoming in later versions.
_____________________________________________________________
17. Q: (Windows) How do I configure twm?
A: The MI/X distribution comes with a file named TNTSERV.TWM. This
is twm's configuration file. To learn the format of TNTSERV.TWM,
consult the documentation, [14]man page, etc. for twm. If you wish
to create a custom format for twm, you can make a configuration
file with any name, and direct twm to use it instead of its default
configurations. This is done by using the -f option, i.e. twm -f
myconfigfile.twm
_____________________________________________________________
18. Q: (MacOS) I've made an unfortunate configuration change that
causes MI/X to hang, now each time I try to start MI/X, it crashes
without even letting me get to the Preferences dialog to fix the
configuration. What do I do?
A: If you hold the <COMMAND> key while double-clicking the MI/X
application icon, MI/X will open the Preferences dialog for you
without launching the X server. You can then undo any unfortunate
configurations.
_____________________________________________________________
19. Q: (Windows) How do I start the MI/X program after installing it?
A: You can start MI/X from the "Start" Menu (Start / Programs /
Free TNTlite products / MIXServer ) which runs a program called
TNTstart to launch MI/X. In some rare cases using the TNTstart
program to launch MI/X does not work. In those cases issue the
following commands from a DOS prompt (you may have to be in the
directory where you installed MI/X):
XS
TWM
This will start the server and its window manager.
_____________________________________________________________
20. Q: How do I use MI/X to start an X session with a remote host?
A: Start MI/X. Telnet to the remote host. Set the DISPLAY
environment variable on the remote host to the machine you are
running MI/X on. For example on Solaris (running csh):
setenv DISPLAY mymachine:0.0
or failing that:
setenv DISPLAY my.machine's.ip.number:0.0
replacing "my.machines's.ip.number" with the actual IP number of
the local machine running MI/X.
After this, you can launch whatever X applications you wish on your
remote host and they will display on the machine running MI/X. To
invoke a command shell try:
xterm &
When the xterm comes up you can close the telnet session. The
commands may differ on various flavors of UNIX.
_____________________________________________________________
21. Q: What fonts can I use with MI/X?
A:
BDF and PCF fonts.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: There are a lot of fonts included in the distribution that I
won't use and are taking up space on my hard drive (such as Chinese
and Japanese character fonts.) Can I get rid of some of these fonts
and still use MI/X?
A: Yes, you can get rid of some of the extra fonts. Of course, you
will still need to keep some of them. Here are some examples of
fonts to keep:
7x13b.bdf -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1
ascii.bdf -mi-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-c-160-ascii-1
olcursor.bdf -sun-open look cursor-----12-120-75-75-p-160-sunolcurs
or-1
olgl10.bdf -sun-open look glyph-----10-100-75-75-p-101-sunolglyph
-1
cursor.bdf cursor
deccurs.bdf decw$cursor
decsess.bdf decw$session
The last part of the font is the language encoding. Chances are
that if it isn't "iso8859-1", then you don't need it. Exceptions
are the other files above. "cursor.bdf" is especially important as
it contains the cursors used by the X Window System.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: I've got all the standard X fonts here, but in the PCF format.
Are these compatible with MI/X, or do they need to be in the BDF
format? And how do I tell MI/X to add them?
A: Yes, you can use the PCF format. Find the BDF/MISC directory (it
should be in the directory into which you install MI/X), there
should be a file called "fonts.dir" which contains examples of how
to add BDF and PCF fonts. The "fonts.dir" file for MI/X corresponds
to the file with the same name on a UNIX X server.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: Okay, I understand that to add a font, it has to be in a *.bdf or
*.pcf format and that they have to be added to the fonts.dir, but how
do I do that?
A: First, open the font in a text editor. The first few lines will
look like this:
STARTFONT 2.1
FONT -Misc-Fixed-Medium-R-Normal--10-100-75-75-C-60-ISO8859-1
SIZE 10 75 75
Copy the line that appears after FONT. Next, open the font.dir file
with a text editor. It will look like this:
87
gb16.pcf -cclib-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-150-78-78-c-160-gb2312.1980-0
ascii.bdf -mi-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-c-160-ascii-1
7x13b.bdf -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1
Note that there is a number at the top of the file. This has to
match the number of fonts in the file. (I've only included the
first three in this example. The actual file would have 84 more
entries.) Once the fonts.dir is open, go to the bottom of the file
and add the name of the font you are adding and paste in the
information you copied from the font. Then change the number at the
top of the file to reflect the new number of fonts in the file. In
my example, I would change 87 to 88.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: How can I delete fonts?
A: Follow the steps mentioned above for opening the fonts.dir file,
delete the entry for the font you are deleting, change the number
at the top of the font.dir file to reflect the correct number of
fonts listed in the file. Save the font.dir file and delete the
*.bdf or *.pcf file.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: Can I use a fontserver for MI/X?
A: No. Fonts have to copied to the machine running MI/X.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (Windows) Why can't I use the ALT-GR key sequences (for European
characters) with MI/X?
A: This problem does not occur with the TNT products. It may occur
with other X clients for various reasons.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (Windows) Why do I only see two files available for download...
there used to be three. I can't install because the installer program
asks for file0002 but I can't find it on MicroImages' website.
A: Since the 19 Februaray 1997 version of MI/X, only GETME1ST.EXE
and FILE0001.BIN are required to install MI/X. Previous versions
required FILE0002.BIN in addition to the other two files. If the
setup program says that you can't install because you're missing
FILE0002.BIN, you need to download the latest version. You will
have to download both GETME1ST.EXE and FILE0001.BIN to get the 19
Feburary 1997 version, since the organization of both files has
changed since the previous version.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (Windows) I don't have a three-button mouse, but I need three
buttons for my X clients. How do I do this?
A: Currently, if you want to have three buttons for your X clients,
you need to have a three button mouse on your PC. There is no key
sequence or shortcut to emulate a third button on Windows like
there is on the Mac.
If you want to use the paste/insert text function in X which is by
default mapped to the middle button which is unavailable on the PC,
then there may be a workaround: You can use the xmodmap program to
modify how the mouse events from the server (MI/X) are interpreted
by the X client (i.e. xterm). For instance you can swap the middle
and right mouse button with this command:
xmodmap -display mix.machine.name:0.0 -e "pointer = 1 3 2"
That will make the right mouse button act like the "middle" button
of a three-button mouse, thereby allowing selecting and copying
text with the left button, and pasting/inserting with the right
button. Note that on a two-button mouse you will still be missing a
button (the button that was the right button, or button 3): you
just switched around what button does what using the xmodmap
program. So if you need true three-button functionality, the best
solution is still to get a three button mouse.
If you have a three-button mouse and can't get the buttons to work
properly, make sure that you have drivers properly installed and
configured for the three-button mouse so that Windows can handle
three buttons instead of the default two. Specifically, you will
need to tell the driver that the middle button of the mouse is to
be mapped to a "Middle Button" function, and not to some other
nifty (and tempting) Windows shortcut. Note that if you do this,
the "Middle Button" function will not used under Windows itself,
but will be accessible to MI/X and clients running in it. Logitech
provides three-button mice and drivers that work and have been
tested with MI/X. Also, the Intellipoint mouse sold by Microsoft
offers a rolling wheel that acts as a scroller controller on the
mouse when turned while in Windows applications, and when clicked,
it can be set to function as a "middle" mouse button which works in
MI/X.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (Windows) Can I run the X11R6 executables that that have been
ported to Windows NT?
A: Yes. Make sure that your DISPLAY environment variable points to
the machine running MI/X, i.e. set DISPLAY=hostname:0.0 You can
then run xclock, oclock, etc. on a PC running NT or 95 instead of
using a remote UNIX host.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (Windows) It seems that MI/X always takes up the full screen when
it is launched. Is there a way I can set the screen size for MI/X?
A: Yes. Edit tntserv.ini and add the following entires under the
[XSERVER] section
NumColumns=n
NumRows=n
with n being the number of rows and columns you want MI/X to
occupy.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: Can I cut and paste with MI/X?
A: MI/X will support cut and paste of text to other X applications,
but not graphics.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: Does MI/X support xauth?
A: No.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: Can I use MI/X to run UNIX programs locally on my Windows or Mac
computer?
A: No. Using MI/X, you can run a UNIX program remotely on the UNIX
machine itself, sending the display output to MI/X on your local PC
or Mac. You cannot however download a program compiled for UNIX and
attempt to run it on your Mac or PC using MI/X (or anything else
for that matter). If you have X programs compiled for your Mac or
your PC, then yes, you can use MI/X as the graphical X environment
for these programs. That is why we created MI/X in the first place!
_________________________________________________________________
Q: Is there a way to use XS to do a rsh or rexec directly to the
station I want to login to?
A: No. The MI/X distribution does not include an rsh or rexec
client. You can obtain rsh or rexec clients from other sources.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (MacOS) Does MI/X support dual monitors?
A: Yes, as of the 21 Aug 1997 version. Previous versions do not.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: Is MI/X capable of xdm queries?
A: No. Although there may be options and preferences to set
regarding xdm, they have not yet been implemented.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (Windows) Do you have a version of MI/X that will run on a
Windows 3.1 machine?
A: Yes and No. Actually there is a version of MI/X for Windows 3.1:
it is shipped with our software for Windows 3.1. However, you
cannot use this version of MI/X as an X server for clients run on a
remote host. This is possible on Windows95/NT and MacOS because
MI/X uses sockets technology available in those operating systems,
which is unfortunately, not available in Windows 3.1.
Now, if you have a bunch of local X clients (such as TNTlite which
you can also download for free at
[15]http://www.microimages.com/freestuf/), MI/X for Windows 3.1
will be useful to you. But if you're hoping to use your Windows 3.1
box as an X terminal using MI/X like you would on Windows 95, then
sorry, you're out of luck.
So, if you mean, "Can I use MI/X as an X server for clients on
remote machines accessed via a network?", then, no, MI/X for
Windows 3.1 does not support this feature. Therefore, we do not
package MI/X separately for distribution for Windows 3.1 as we do
for the Windows 95, Windows NT, Mac 68k or Mac PowerPC version of
MI/X. This is just one of many reasons that MicroImages recommends
that users of Windows 3.1 upgrade to Windows 95.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (MacOS) Are there any plans to support the LBX (low band width)
extension?
A: No.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: (Windows) Is it possible to run MI/X on my Windows 95 machine to
access the binaries on a Linux box using a serial (nullmodem) cable.
A: Yes, if you are using the null modem cable to establish a TCP/IP
network between the machines. However it will be limited to the
speed of the communications. This is really no different than using
serial to talk to a modem to talk to another machine to establish
TCP/IP.
_________________________________________________________________
Q: Java programs on SGI, Sun, and DEC machines crash when trying to
use MI/X as their X server. is there a way to correct this?
A: The problem occurs because the Motif AWT libraries use the Font
"plain Dialog 12 point" as a fall-back default font. Unfortunately,
when using a remote X server sometimes this font isn't available.
The problem is common enough to be included in the Java
Programmers's FAQ [16](http://www.best.com/~pvdl/javafaq.txt):
4.2 Why do I get this when using JDK 1.1 under X Windows?
java.lang.NullPointerException
at sun.awt.motif.MFramePeer.<init>(MFramePeer.java:59)
at sun.awt.motif.MToolkit.createFrame(MToolkit.java:153)
at java.awt.Frame.addNotify(Frame.java)
at java.awt.Window.pack(Window.java)
A. There's a missing font on your system. Move font.properties from
the "lib" subdirectory aside to font.properties.bak Then it won't
look for the font and fail to find it.
Once this fix is in place, MI/X works well with Java clients
running on Sun and SGI.
_________________________________________________________________
[17][LINK]
MI/X [18][LINK]
Download MI/X [19][LINK]
Back to Free Stuff
_________________________________________________________________
This document maintained by: [20]mix@microimages.com
Questions to: [21]mix@microimages.com