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Archive-name: netbsd-amiga-x-faq/part1 of 1
Last-modified: 1994/15/2
This article contains the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQ) often seen in the mailing-list of NetBSD and comp.amiga.unix.
It is posted to help reduce volume and to provide hard-to-find
information of general interest.
This article can be found on the main archive site for NetBSD-Amiga:
ftp.eunet.ch /pub/NetBSD-Amiga and on the other NetBSD-Amiga mirrors.
Please redistribute this article!
This article has been evaluated for NetBSD-Amiga X window by Markus
Illenseer (markus@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de).
I am also the current maintainer of this text, please report any
bugs, mysthake'z and suggestions to me. As you might see, I am not a
native english speaker and some of my words sentences are plain numb
and even uncomprehensable, please excuse (even ispell does not find
all my mistakes), and tell me about.
I would like to thank Robert Leland, Myke Schwartz and others for
helping me writing, reading and testing this FAQ.
As a base for this article, the FAQ of usenet group comp.windows.x
has been used, thank you very much, David ( B. Lewis
faq%craft@uunet.uu.net) ! Many (many!) subjects have been removed in
favor to reduce bandwidth and be more specific to NetBSD-Amiga X11
problems and ideas.
I strongly recommend reading the FAQ for X windows on comp.windows.x,
see item 3) in this FAQ.
What this article does NOT do:
Currently, this article does not include a full-fledged description
about how to install the X window system on your Amiga running a more
or less installed NetBSD-Amiga. It just gives you some basic
intallation guides and hints.
I decided to wait until things are getting more stable and more X
clients are available for common use, before I provide a indepth
installation guide. X still has some problems and is not stable on
every Amiga platform. Also many X-Servers for a wild range of graphic
boards are in the work.
The availibility of shared libraries made X11 interesting for small
(small in terms of both: small hard drive space and small RAM amount)
platforms, see more in the FAQ.
What this article tries to perform:
This article includes answers to the following questions, which are
loosely grouped into categories. Questions marked with a + indicate
questions new to this issue; those with significant changes of content
since the last issue are marked by !:
0) TOPIC: AVAILABLE X-STUFF FOR NETBSD-AMIGA
1) X servers
2) X clients
3) X libraries
10) TOPIC: SHORT EXPLANANTATION OF X11
11) Just what is X11?
12) Do I need X11?
20) TOPIC: INSTALLATION OF X11 ON NETBSD-AMIGA
21) What do i need to run X11 on my platform?
22) Which files do i need?
23) How to start X11?
24) I can't start anything, what is missing?
25) Startx or xinit stop after complaining about screens?
26) When I use startx, the X server pops up and then exists.
27) Looks like I miss some files in /usr/lib/X11.
30) TOPIC: BASIC INFORMATION SOURCES AND DEFINITIONS
31) What books and articles on X are good for beginners?
32)! What X-related public mailing lists are available?
33) What related FAQs are available?
34) How do I ask a net-question so as to maximize helpful responses?
35) What are these common abbreviations/acronyms?
36) Just what are OPEN LOOK and Motif?
40) TOPIC: USING X IN DAY-TO-DAY LIFE
41) What are all these different window managers?
42) Why does my X session exit when I kill my window manager (sic)?
43) Can I save the state of my X session, like toolplaces does?
44) How do I change the keyboard auto-repeat rate?
45) How do I remap the keys on my keyboard to produce a string?
46) How do I make a screendump or print my application?
47) How can I change the titlebar of my xterm window?
48) Where can I find the xterm control sequences?
49) How can I use characters above ASCII 127 in xterm ? (Umlauts)
50) Why are my xterm menus so small (sic) ?
51) How to I have xdm put a picture behind the log-in window?
52) How to have a picture on the root window?
53) Why isn't my PATH set when xdm runs my .xsession file?
54) How do I keep my $DISPLAY when I rlogin to another machine?
55) How can i use my localized keyboard?
60) TOPIC: OBTAINING X AND RELATED SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE
61) Is X public-domain software?
62) When is X11R6 rumored to be available?
63) Where can I get X11R5 (source and/or binaries)?
64) Where can I get other X sources? (including R5 modifications)
65) Where can I get X for the Amiga?
66) What terminal emulators other than xterm are available?
67) Does xterm offer colored text or a blinking cursor?
68) Where can I get an X-based editor or word-processor?
69) Where can I get an X-based paint/draw program?
70) Where can I get an X-based plotting program?
71) Where can I get an X-based graph-drawing program?
72) Where can I get an X-based spreadsheet?
73) Where can I get an X-based PostScript previewer?
74) Where can I get an X-based GL package?
75) Where can I get an X-based PEX package?
76) Where can I get an X-based TeX or DVI previewer?
77) Where can I get an X-based troff previewer?
78) Where can I get an X-based debugger?
80) TOPIC: BUILDING THE X DISTRIBUTION
81) What's a good source of information on configuring the X build?
90) TOPIC: BUILDING X PROGRAMS
91) What is Imake?
92) Where can I get imake?
93) I have a program with an Imakefile but no Makefile. What to do?
If you have suggestions or corrections for any of these answers or
any additional information, please send them directly to
markus@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de, the information will be included in
the next revision (or possibly the one after that; thanks for the many
suggestions which haven't been incorporated yet).
The information contained herein has been gathered from a variety of
sources. In many cases attribution has been lost; if you would like
to claim responsibility for a particular item, please let me know.
X Window System is a trademark of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. Other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
(This is a FAQ, not a legal mumble archive, eh?)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 0) TOPIC: AVAILABLE X-STUFF FOR NETBSD-AMIGA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 1) Xservers
Currently available are three X-servers:
Xbsd - First X server for ECS chipset, Monochrome version.
Works great on most systems.
Xami - Second X server for ECS chipset, uses /dev/view
Monochrome version.
Xretina - First X server for Retina graphics board, 256 color
version.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 2) Xclients
The entire MIT/contrib tree has been compiled for NetBSD-Amiga so
far. This includes the standard /usr/bin/X11 clients, the demos, and
PbmPlus.
Also, the entire MIT/contrib fonts have been compiled, this does
include misc and fixed fonts.
A vaste range of common X clients has been reported to be
compileable, included xv, xpaint, xfig, xlock, gen-tetris, xpirate and
many more. Most of them haven't been made available in binary form on
ftp sites yet, due to the state of NetBSD (shared libs and other stuff
will change in near future).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 10) TOPIC: SHORT EXPLANANTATION OF X11
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 11) Just what is X11?
This question is hard to answer. X11 is the successor of X10.
Ah, you guessed that? :-)
Maybe we should ask another question: What is X at all ?
The X windowing system is a retargetable graphics systems for almost
every computer platform.
X was developed at the MIT labs, Massachuset, and many other
companies: The X-consortium. X is copyrighted by them. MIT started
X some years ago, X10 was the first X windows system, which had
success on a wide range of computers, X11 had some significant changes
in the protocoll and started with the Release Version 1 (R1). The
most used Release is still R4 and finally R5 is the most recent
Release (1991). R6 is due to 1994, R6's topic is 'Hands off X', which
means we will able to guide through X11 w/o mouse :)
The whole X11R5 distribution contains about 200MB of sources and
binaries. Of these only a small part (100MB actually) is really
needed to make X runable on almost any platform.
It is hardware independant for the clients which do interfere with
the only hardware dependant part - the X server - to display the
graphics.
This means, you need only one piece of software which is dependant on
your computer: the X server. The X server interoperates with your
hardware, that is keyboard, mouse (or whatever) and display.
Of course you need a new server for each graphics display board,
there are server for the ECS/AGA chipset of the Amiga, and a server
for the Retina graphics board at this time.
Once the server is started on your system, you can start the clients
(like xterm, xclock) either from your local machine or remotely on a
(however) connected machine.
This makes it possible to use slower machines as displays for fast
machines where the programm is really started, only the graphics is
displayed and the protocoll for the drawing routines are transported
over the network.
As you can see, you need another piece of software: a network.
Under Unix this is not a problem, since the network layer is almost
standard on any UNix, such as a TCP/IP layer, which X uses extendly.
(This leads us to the possibility that you can run the clients on
your Amiga under the NetBSD-Amiga OS, and displaying the windows on
a X server on an Amiga under AmigaDOS OS running GfxBase or DaggeX
servers, connected via TCP/IP)
Of course you don't need to have a full fledged network in order to
run the X windows system, a locally installed network (localhost) is
sufficient.
On a stand-alone machine you would then start the X server and then
connect the X clients to it all running on the local machine itself.
(This way, Amiga has finally RTG :-)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 12) Do I need X11?
This question is hard to answer, to be fair I just vote for a clear
YES. State-of-the-art operating systems need a GUI which uses the
underlying OS extendly and makes it easy to use the OS at all.
The X window system does this for NetBSD-Amiga and many other
platforms.
You don't want X because:
* you are the typical hacker, who hates GUI and mice, and prefers to
use shells and stuff like screen or window or even have a serial
terminal connected.
* you simply don't have the space for it: X needs about 10 to 30MB
of hard drive space.
* you have a small amount of RAM, 4MB is far too little, and turns
your machine into a swapping-box.
* you have never seen it before and have not the faintest idea what
you are missing.
* you have the wrong monitor and are unable to display any kind of
high resolution graphics (not very probable :-)
You probably want X because:
* you have been using X for a long time in your university or at your
work place.
* you know what you are miss, and want it desperately.
* you are developing X windows applications and want to test your
programms at home or develop X software at all.
* you want to improve your result in the hacker test.
* you need some special applications which are only available for X
window.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 20) TOPIC: INSTALLATION OF X11 ON NETBSD-AMIGA
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 21) What do i need to run X11 on my platform?
You need a full installed NetBSD-Amiga to be able to run X11 on
your platform:
Software requirements:
If you have installed your system using the rootfs.720, you will
have all the required devices (probably need to change some protection
flags) , just check if you have the hardware.
- the right kernel.
You need at least the working kernel from #720 and above. (#721 is
not working, #730 does work fine) Be sure you have copied the kernel
to /vmunix, or made a symbolic link to it. To use the vmunix.730
kernel copy it to the / directory. Then link it:
ln -s /vmunix.730 /vmunix
Copying the kernel has the problem of knowing just what version of
the kernel is being used, by using symbolic links this problem is
avoided (unless you have the kernfs mounted, then you can do: cat
/kernfs/version)
- shared libraries
You don't need them, but the static linked X11R5 distribution is
about 30MB _compressed_ alone!
There are two releases of X11R5 for NetBSD-Amiga, this FAQ will
only deal with the most advanced and the best compromise of them all:
that is shared libraries, which yield small binaries (most of us
fellows are complaining about beeing short on place) and less memory
consuming, although the shared libraries tend to be swapped themself.
- installed and working local network configuration.
Make soure you can 'ping' localhost. You may try X without having
a network installed, but this could end into problems with some
specific clients.
For me it does not make any sense, but i have been reported that
many users want to start X window from within single user mode. If
you are one of those crazy guys, assure yourself that you have the
local network running: "ifconfig lo0 127.0.0.1" is the bare minimum
you need, followed by "route add localhost localhost".
- installed /dev/grf* devices.
Make sure you have the graphic devices installed. This needs also
at least a kernel above #713. See normal NetBSD-FAQ for the inodes
(minor/major).
You can change the size and the colors of the display with the
iteconfig tool (for ECS).
- installed /dev/mouse0 or /dev/mouse1 and /dev/kbd devices.
Make sure you have a recent kernel and have installed the inodes.
See normal NetBSD-FAQ for the inodes (minor/major).
(check with: cat </dev/mouse0 and move mouse)
(mouse0 is mouse-port, mouse1 is joystick-port, which can also
connect a mouse)
- A bit of time and patience.
You need about 1 hour to install X11 on your system, if you have
all the files handy and have a bit knowledge of Unix. You will need a
bit more time if you never have worked with X11 as
system-administrator.
Hardware requirements:
You need an Amiga (running NetBSD-Amiga alas) with the native
ECS/AGA chipset (1MB ChipRAM), a keyboard, a mouse and, you've guessed
it, a Monitor and a hard drive.
Bare Minimum is: A500 with accelerator card and 1084 compatible
Monitor.
Recommended are: A3000 and a MultiSync Monitor
A2000 with accelerator card (don't forget the MMU)
a flicker-fixer and a MultiSynch Monitor
Working is also: A4000/040 with SCSI hostadaptor, if available
Scanline-doubler, MultiSync Monitor
All configs: At least 4MB RAM, recommended are 8MB, the best is more
RAM....
All configs: You need at least 10MB of swap space, recommended are
30MB (make that: at least thrice the amount of your RAM). Check
'swapinfo' once you started X on your system to see the needed amount
of swap.
If you want more than the ECS/AGA chipset for the display:
Currently only the Retina graphics board from Marcosystems is
supported.
It is strongly recommended to get a 3 button mouse. There are
several types of 3 button mice for Amiga, for example the original
Mousesystems-mouse (optical, like the mice for Sparcs) available as
Boing!-mouse from Dale Luck, and of course the original Commodore Amix
mouse (400dpi, ball, known as 'pregnant mouse').
Unless you have a 3 button mouse, you will be unable to use the
snap and paste routine in Xterms, also many programms will request the
MMB. Most of those programms are configurable, some aren't.
If you want to use networking X windows, you need either a A2065
ethernet-card and an installed network, or slip/ppp for modem-access.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 22) Which files do i need?
You need the following files to install X11R5 on your system:
- Size Archive name Where to install
- 1546381 X11R5-bin.X11.tar.gz The binaries for /usr/bin/X11
- 260910 X11R5-include.X11.tar.gz The includes for /usr/include/X11
- 230031 X11R5-lib.X11.tar.gz The config files in /usr/lib/X11
- 1844750 X11R5-usr.lib.tar.gz The shared libs for /usr/lib/X11
- 3650140 X11R5-lib.X11.fonts.tar.gz The fonts for /usr/lib/X11/fonts
They are made available on your next NetBSD-Amiga archive site,
normally in the /pub/NetBSD-Amiga/contrib/bsd/X11 directory.
Extract the archvies and copy the files to the approriate places.
It is possible to extrace the files to another partition, for
example /opt/X11 and then make links to /usr/bin/X11 and /usr/lib/X11.
This prevents to copy all the stuff to the root partition.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 23) How to start X11
First choose your desired X-server:
- Xmono is the current monochrome X-server for ECS/AGA.
(unless you got Xbsd (same as Xmono) or Xami)
- Xretina is the current 8Bit color server for the Retina board.
I would suggest using a directory structure such as /proj/X11 to
hold the X windows distribution. When switching from X11R4, X11R5,
and X11R5 shared I was able to switch between the various versions by
changing a single symbolic link. Even though as distributed the X11
expects to be installed under /usr/bin/X11, /usr/lib/X11,
/usr/include/X11, etc symbolic links can be used here also.
For our installation we will concentrate on the X11R5-shared
version, and I will explain what sub-directories are contained in it.
But first lets make a directory to hold the X11R5-shared distribution.
For me this was the command.
"mkdir /proj/X11R5-shared"
I then create the symbolic link:
"ln -s /proj/X11R5-shared /usr/X11"
Once this symbolic link is created we will from now on refer to
/usr/X11 instead of /proj/X11R5-shared.
Then
"mkdir /usr/X11/bin"
"mkdir /usr/X11/include"
"mkdir /usr/X11/man"
"mkdir /usr/X11/lib"
"mkdir /usr/X11/lib/X11"
Create these additional links:
"ln -s /usr/X11/include/X11 /usr/include/X11"
"ln -s /usr/X11/bin /usr/bin/X11"
"ln -s /usr/X11/lib /usr/lib/X11"
These links allow the default shell scripts like 'startx' to be used
unmodified.
+++++ Important ++++++
When shared X is started up it needs to know where to look for it's
libraries so perform the command
"ldconfig /usr/X11/lib"
We're now ready to unpack the distribution into the directories that
we have made.
Go into the /usr/X11 directory and unpack the tar-archvies:
"tar zxvlsPf X11R5-bin.X11.tar.gz"
(and so on for the other archives)
Go into the /usr/X11/bin directory and make a link from X to the
desired server:
"rm X"
"ln -s Xmono X" if you want the monochrome ECS/AGA server.
Now assure yourself that the fonts are in the right place:
"ls /usr/lib/X11/fonts" should yield:
100dpi 75dpi Speedo misc
Check that /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults is not empty, also the
/usr/lib/X11/ directory itself should contain all those libX*.so.5.0
and libX*.a files.
Add /usr/bin/X11 to the search path of your shell(s).
Best is to make that globally in /etc/cshrc or /etc/bash/Bashrc,
possible is to add it to your very own ~/.cshrc .
Add /usr/bin/X11 at the last place of the search path, this makes it
more reasonable if you are working on the console.
Make sure there is a global xinitrc in /usr/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc if
you want one, or if you want a default xinitrc.
If you want your very own xinitrc, edit ~/.xinitrc instead. The
.xinitrc file is read by xinit and will start the initial X clients
you want. If there is no ~/.xinitrc nor /usr/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc,
xinit will stp working right after the start: back to console.
If you want to run xdm later, you need a similar file named
~/.xsession .
The file should contain something like this:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#!/bin/sh
#
# Xinitrc or Xsession
#
# This is the program that is run as the client for the display
# manager. This example is quite friendly as it accepts to run a
# per_user .xinitrc file instead of forcing a particular session
# (global) layout.
PATH=`csh -c 'echo $PATH'` ; export PATH
(sleep 1; exec xterm -geometry 80x24+0+0 -ls ) &
(sleep 2; exec xclock -geometry 60x60-0+0 ) &
(sleep 3; exec xbiff -geometry 60x60-0+65 ) &
# remove the '#' in lines below if you want to use them
#(sleep 4; exec xload -geometry 60x60-0+130 ) &
#(sleep 5; exec xman -geometry 120x60-65+0 ) &
#(sleep 10; exec xmodmap ~/german ) &
exec fvwm
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
A local .xinitrc has the advantage that the user can design his very
own X session rather than using a globally defined one.
Give the file execte-permission:
"chmod +x .xsession"
Now the initial config is done and we start the session:
"startx >&/tmp/startx.log"
(/usr/bin/X11/startx)
If the X server doesn't start or stops after a shor while, check the
/tmp/startx.log file.
If you have further problems, start 'ktrace startx' and once the
problem occures, stop X (if it isnt stopped itself) and do 'kdump |
more' to see what exactly happens. Most time it is only a small error
in the xinitrc file or a missing path. See more in this FAQ above.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 24) I can't start anything, what is missing?
Common problem are missing fonts:
have you installed them into /usr/lib/X11/fonts ?
(you are sure you installed X fonts, not AmigaDOS fonts? :-)
have you created a link if installed to another directory rather
than /usr/lib/X11/fonts ?
missing search path:
"echo $PATH" is there a /usr/bin/X11 in it?
wrong DISPLAY-variable:
it is sufficient to set this variable to :0.0, localhost:0.0,
unix:0.0 or <yourmachine>:0.0.
you are in the single user mode: boot into multiuser mode and
set up a local network, you must be able to ping localhost.
All X clients complain about missing shared X libraries. These files
are searched in /usr/lib and /usr/local/lib, and not in /usr/lib/X11.
Use the command "ldconfig <your/path/to/X11/libs>" to alter a new
path.
Make sure what problem occures, and try to find related questions and
answers in this FAQ. If this still doesn't help, mail to the X gurus
on the net.
See more in this FAQ.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 25) Startx or xinit can't connect to the X server?
This problem did mostly occure using the fvwm manager (afvwm, an old
R5 client without (!) shared library support). This one looks for a X
server socket in /tmp/.X11-unix/. Possible solution: recompile fvwm
with the X11R5 shared libraries, or create a symlink:
"ln -s /tmp/.X11-unix/X0 /tmp/.X11-unix/X"
Are you sure that you have created a symlink from /usr/bin/X11/X to
your desired X server?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 26) When I use startx, the X server pops up and then exists.
Most probably your xinitrc startup file is wrong. Make sure it looks
like this:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#!/bin/sh
#
# Xinitrc or Xsession
#
# This is the program that is run as the client for the display
# manager. This example is quite friendly as it accepts to run a
# per_user .xinitrc file instead of forcing a particular session
# (global) layout.
PATH=`csh -c 'echo $PATH'` ; export PATH
(sleep 1; exec xterm -geometry 80x24+0+0 -ls ) &
(sleep 2; exec xclock -geometry 60x60-0+0 ) &
(sleep 3; exec xbiff -geometry 60x60-0+65 ) &
# remove the '#' in lines below if you want to use them
#(sleep 4; exec xload -geometry 60x60-0+130 ) &
#(sleep 5; exec xman -geometry 120x60-65+0 ) &
#(sleep 10; exec xmodmap ~/.german ) &
exec fvwm
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
Give the execution-flag to this file:
"chmod +x .xinitrx"
Also make sure the window manager is available on your system and is
in the search path.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 27) Looks like I miss some files in /usr/lib/X11
Here's a listing of normal /usr/lib/X11 subdir:
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 512 Nov 18 05:44 ./
drwxrwxrwx 3 root root 512 Nov 18 05:11 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7953 Nov 9 1985 XErrorDB*
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 512 Nov 9 1985 app-defaults/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 512 Nov 9 1985 config/
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 512 Nov 15 06:38 fonts/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 512 Nov 18 05:24 fvwm/
drw-r--r-- 3 root root 512 Nov 18 05:45 man/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 16992 Nov 9 1985 rgb*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Nov 9 1985 rgb.dir*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Nov 9 1985 rgb.pag*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 16992 Nov 9 1985 rgb.txt*
drwxrwxrwx 2 root root 512 Nov 18 03:03 twm/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 512 Nov 18 07:03 xdm/
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 512 Nov 18 02:39 xinit/
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 8668 Nov 9 1985 xman.help*
Of particular interest are the xdm/ and xinit/ subdirs. Without these,
you won't get X or xdm to run at all!
The xdm/ subdir contains the following files:
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 512 Nov 18 08:18 ./
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 512 Nov 18 08:16 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 469 Nov 18 06:55 Xresources*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 435 Nov 18 06:07 Xservers*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 692 Nov 18 06:26 Xsession*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 136 Nov 18 06:13 Xstartup*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 411 Nov 18 06:10 xdm-config*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 40 Nov 18 07:03 xdm-pid*
Here's the contents of Xresources:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
xlogin*login.translations: #override\
<Key>F1: set-session-argument(failsafe) finish-field()\n\
<Key>Return: set-session-argument() finish-field()
xlogin*borderWidth: 3
#ifdef COLOR
xlogin*greetColor: CadetBlue
xlogin*failColor: red
#else
xlogin*Login.promptColor: black
xlogin*Login.foreground: black
xlogin*greetColor: black
xlogin*failColor: black
#endif
XConsole.text.geometry: 480x130
XConsole.verbose: true
XConsole*iconic: true
XConsole*font: fixed
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
And Xservers:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#
# Xservers file, workstation prototype
#
# This file should contain an entry to start the server on the
# local display; if you have more than one display (not screen),
# you can add entries to the list (one per line). If you also
# have some X terminals connected which do not support XDMCP,
# you can add them here as well. Each X terminal line should
# look like:
# XTerminalName:0 foreign
#
:0 Local local /usr/bin/X11/Xbsd :0
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
Xsession is a bit bigger:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#!/bin/sh
#
# Xsession
#
# This is the program that is run as the client
# for the display manager. This example is
# quite friendly as it attempts to run a per-user
# .xsession file instead of forcing a particular
# session layout
#
case $# in
1)
case $1 in
failsafe)
exec xterm -geometry 80x24-0-0 -ls
;;
esac
esac
startup=$HOME/.xsession
resources=$HOME/.Xresources
if [ -f $startup ]; then
exec $startup
exec /bin/sh $startup
else
if [ ! -f $resources ]; then
resources=$HOME/.Xdefaults
fi
if [ -f $resources ]; then
xrdb -load $resources
fi
fvwm &
exec xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls
fi
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
Notice that fvwm is the window manager that gets run!
The contents of Xstartup:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#!/bin/sh
#
# Xstartup
#
# This program is run as root after the user is verified
#
if [ -f /etc/nologin ]; then
exit 1
fi
exit 0
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
And finally, xdm-config (xdm-pid is created by X):
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
DisplayManager.servers: /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers
DisplayManager.errorLogFile: /usr/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-errors
DisplayManager*resources: /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xresources
DisplayManager*startup: /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xstartup
DisplayManager*session: /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession
DisplayManager.pidFile: /usr/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-pid
DisplayManager._0.authorize: true
DisplayManager*authorize: false
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
Now comes the xinit/ subdir, which has only one file in it:
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 512 Nov 18 02:39 ./
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 512 Nov 18 08:16 ../
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 830 Nov 18 02:38 xinitrc*
Again, notice the permissions! Here's the contents of xinitrc:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#!/bin/sh
userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
if [ x"$XWINHOME" != x ]; then
XINIT_DIR=$XWINHOME/lib/X11/xinit
else
XINIT_DIR=/usr/X386/lib/X11/xinit
fi
sysresources=$XINIT_DIR/.Xresources
sysmodmap=$XINIT_DIR/.Xmodmap
# merge in defaults and keymaps
if [ -f $sysresources ]; then
xrdb -merge $sysresources
fi
if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
xmodmap $sysmodmap
f [ -f $userresources ]; then
xrdb -merge $userresources
fi
if [ -f $usermodmap ]; then
xmodmap $usermodmap
fi
# start some nice programs
fvwm &
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
Note that the global xinitrc will not be used if there is a
local ($HOME) xinitrc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 30) TOPIC: BASIC INFORMATION SOURCES AND DEFINITIONS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 31) What books and articles on X are good for beginners?
Ken Lee of SynOptics (klee@synoptics.com) regularly posts to
comp.windows.x and ba.windows.x a bibliography containing cites of all
known reference books and how-to manuals and also cites of selected
technical articles on X and X programming; it is ftp-able as
ftp.x.org:/contrib/Xbibliography and
gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/X11/contrib/Xbibliography
I wont cite the list here, if you are really interested in purchasing
any books, let me just give you the title of the most important book
for X windows:
Quercia, Valerie and Tim O'Reilly. "X Window System User's Guide,
O'Reilly and Associates. A tutorial introduction to using X." ISBN
0-937175-36-6. Also available in R4 and Motif flavors.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 32) What X-related public mailing lists are available?
First of all, there is the NetBSD-Amiga X11 window related
NetBSD-x@cbmuucp.commodore.com mailing list.
Please send subscribing mail (subscribe <email-adress>) to
NetBSD-Admin@cbmuucp.commodore.com.
Please address to this mailing list if you have ideas, problems and
suggestions for NetBSD-Amiga X windows.
Due to the current state of NetBSD-Amiga X windows, it is recommended
to first post/mail to the NetBSD-X mailing list before you try to get
answers form the global forum at comp.windows.x.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 33) What related FAQs are available?
Most of the below listed FAQs are available on rtfm.mit.edu in pub/
Liam R. E. Quin (lee@sq.sq.com) posts a FAQ on Open Look to
comp.windows.open-look.
Brian Dealy posts a FAQ on Motif to comp.windows.x.motif.
Peter Ware (ware@cis.ohio-state.edu) posts a FAQ for
comp.windows.x.intrinsics; it is on ftp.x.org in contrib/FAQ-Xt.
Very important for NetBSD-Amiga X window is the following FAQ
(strongly recommended!):
Art Mulder (art@cs.ualberta.ca) posts to comp.windows.x a FAQ
on maximizing the performance of X.
Steve Kotsopoulos (steve@ecf.toronto.edu) posts to
comp.windows.x a FAQ about using X on Intel-based Unix systems.
Justin Kibell (jck@citri.edu.au) posts to comp.windows.x a FAQ
on games for X.
Wade Guthrie (wade@nb.rockwell.com) posts to comp.windows.misc
a FAQ which includes information on platform-independent GUI (PIGUI)
development kits.
Pete Phillips (pete@smtl.demon.co.uk) posts to
comp.sources.wanted a FAQ on project-management programs.
The FAQ in alt.binaries.pictures contains information on
viewing images with X and on massaging image formats.
The FAQ in comp.mail.mh (gatewayed to MH-users@ics.uci.edu)
includes a section on xmh.
The FAQ in comp.lang.lisp contains information on several
interface tools and toolkits.
The FAQ for the Andrew User Interface System is available for
ftp from emsworth.andrew.cmu.edu (128.2.45.40).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 34) How do I ask a net-question so as to maximize helpful responses?
When asking for help on the net or X mailing lists, be sure to
include all information about your setup and what you are doing. The
more specific you are, the more likely someone will spot an error in
what you are doing. Without all the details, people who want to help
you often have to guess -- if they are able to respond at all.
Always mention what version of X you are using and where you
got it from. If your server came from a different source as the rest
of your X system, give details of that, too. Give the machine type,
operating system, (kernel version) and O/S version for both the client
and server machine. It may also be appropriate to mention the window
manager, compiler, and display hardware type you are using.
Then tell exactly what you are doing, exactly what happens,
and what you expected/wanted to happen. If it is a command that
fails, include the exact transcript of your session in the message.
If a program you wrote doesn't work the way you expect, include as
little of the source necessary (just a small test case, please!) for
readers to reproduce the problem.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 35) What are these common abbreviations/acronyms?
Xt: The X Toolkit Intrinsics is a library layered on Xlib
which provides the functionality from which the widget sets are built.
An "Xt-based" program is an application which uses one of those widget
sets and which uses Intrinsics mechanisms to manipulate the widgets.
Xmu: The Xmu library is a collection of Miscellaneous Utility
functions useful in building various applications and widgets.
Xaw: The Athena Widget Set is the MIT-implemented sample
widget set distributed with X11 source.
Xm: The OSF/Motif widget set from the Open Software
Foundation; binary kits are available from many hardware vendors.
Xhp (Xw): The Hewlett-Packard Widget Set was originally based
on R2++, but several sets of patches exist which bring it up to R3, as
it is distributed on the X11R4 tapes. Supplemental patches are
available to use it with R4/R5.
CLX: The Common Lisp X Interface is a Common Lisp equivalent
to Xlib.
XDMCP: The X Display Manager Protocol provides a uniform
mechanism for a display such as an X terminal to request login service
from a remote host.
XLFD: The X Logical Font Description Conventions describes a
standard logical font description and conventions to be used by
clients so that they can query and access those resources.
RTFM: Common expert-speak meaning "please locate and consult
the relevant documentation -- Read the Forgotten Manual".
UTSL: A common expression meaning "take advantage of the fact
that you aren't limited by a binary license -- Use The Source, Luke".
API: Application-Programmer Interface. The function calls,
etc., in a programming library.
BDF: Bitmap Distribution Format; a human-readable format for
uncompiled X fonts.
GUI: graphical user interface.
UIL: the User Interface Language, part of OSF/Motif which
lets programmers specify a widget hierarchy in a simple "outline" form
WCL: the Widget Creation Language, a package which extends
the understanding of the Xt resource format such that a widget
hierarchy and actions on the widgets can be specified through the
resources file
GIL: the file format put out by Sun's OpenWindows Developers
Guide 3.0
UIMS: User Interface Management System
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 36) Just what are OPEN LOOK and Motif?
OPEN LOOK and Motif are two graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
OPEN LOOK was developed by Sun with help from AT&T and many industry
reviewers; Motif was developed by the Open Software Foundation (OSF)
with input from many OSF members.
OPEN LOOK is primarily a user-interface specification and
style-guide; there are several toolkits which can be used to produce
OPEN LOOK applications. Motif includes an API specification; the only
sanctioned Motif toolkit is the one from OSF. However, there are
other toolkits which can be used to produce programs which look and
behave like OSF/Motif; one of these, ParcPlace's (formerly
Solbourne's) OI, is a "virtual toolkit" which provides objects in the
style of OPEN LOOK and Motif, at the user's choice.
OPEN LOOK GUI is also the name of a product from AT&T,
comprising their OPEN LOOK Intrinsics Toolkit and a variety of
applications.
[Thanks to Ian Darwin, ian@sq.com, 5/91]
With the recent COSE announcement it appears that Sun will be
phasing out support for OPEN LOOK in favor of Motif. [last modified
10/91]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 40) TOPIC: USING X IN DAY-TO-DAY LIFE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 41) What are all these different window managers?
Do not despaire, you can compile almost every window manager for
NetBSD-Amiga X windows, currently available are two window managers
which are ready to use and distributed as binaries for the users among
us which do not want to hold the entire or partial MIT contrib tree
for X11: twm and fvwm (both in the normal /contrib/bsd/X11/ archive).
The window manager in X is just another client -- it is not
part of the X window system, although it enjoys special privileges --
and so there is no single window manager; instead, there are many
which support different ways for the user to interact with windows and
different styles of window layout, decoration, and keyboard and
colormap focus. The window manager is responsible for the outfit and
look of every window which is beeing displayed on the screen (which is
driven by a X-server).
In approximate chronological orderi (some of the managers are not yet
available in binary form for NetBSD-Amiga, and maybe never will for
some other reasons):
wm: this simple title-bar window manager was phased out in R2
or R3
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
uwm: the Universal Window Manager is still popular for its
speed, although it is very outdated. Moved to contrib/ on the R4
tape.
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
twm (old): Tom's Window Manager was among the first non-MIT
window managers and offered the user a great deal of customization
options in a re-parenting window manager.
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
awm: the Ardent Window Manager remains a hotbed for hackers
and offers some features (dynamic menus) not found on more current
window managers
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
mwm: the Motif window manager is part of the OSF/Motif
toolkit
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows, needs Motif license).
olwm (Sun): olwm implements the OPEN LOOK GUI and some of the
Style Guide functionality
olwm (AT&T): ditto
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
gwm: Bull's Generic Window Manager emulates others with a
built-in Lisp interpreter. Version 1.7h (10/91) is on the R5 contrib
tape; 1.7o is on avahi.inria.fr and ftp.x.org. [9/93]
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
twm (new): the new Tab Window Manager from the R4 tape is a
reworked twm and is the basis for several derivatives, including the
one on the R5 tape
(standard in NetBSD-Amiga X distribution)
vtwm: vtwm offers some of the virtual-desktop features of
swm, with a single-root window implementation; it is based on the R4
twm and is available on archive servers. A new version, vtwm-5.2, is
based on R5 and is available from ftp.x.org. [9/93]
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
tvtwm: Tom's Virtual Tab Window Manager is also based on the
new twm and provides a virtual desktop modeled on the virtual-root
window of swm. It is available on archive servers
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
mvwm: the vtwm-style virtual-desktop added to OSF's mwm. A
beta version is floating around (most recently from
suresh@unipalm.co.uk) but requires a source license to OSF/Motif 1.1.3
[3/92].
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
ctwm: Claude Lecommandeur's (lecom@sic.epfl.ch) modification
of the R5 twm offers 32 virtual screens in the fashion of HP vuewm and
also offers the window overview used in vtwm and tvtwm. Version 3.0
[7/93] source is on ftp.x.org.
(not available for NetBSD-Amiga X windows).
fvwm: this small window manager done for Linux offers a 3D
look and virtual workspaces; sources are on sunsite.unc.edu in
/pub/Linux/X11/window-managers/fvwm-1.0.5-source.tar.z.
(available on NetBSD-Amiga archive ftp site and mirrors)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 42) Why does my X session exit when I kill my window manager (sic)?
It needn't. What is probably happening is that you are
running your window manager as the last job in your .xsession or
.xinitrc file; your X session runs only as long as the last job is
running, and so killing your window manager is equivalent to logging
out. Instead, run the window manager in the background, and as the
last job instead invoke something safe like:
exec xterm -name Login -rv -iconic
(see, there is no '&' to run this xterm in background)
or any special client of your devising which exits on some user
action. Your X session will continue until you explicitly logout of
this window, whether or not you kill or restart your window manager.
Alternatively, there is a chance that you are using OpenLook,
which by default kills all clients on logging out. Change your Exit
menu choice from EXIT to WMEXIT to correct this behavior.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 43) Can I save the state of my X session, like toolplaces does?
Although no known window manager directly supports such a
feature -- which may be equivalent to writing out a .xinitrc or
.xsession file naming the geometry and WM_COMMAND of each application
(but olvwm may have something close) -- there is a contributed
application which does much of what you are looking for, although it
is not as complete as the SunView program toolplaces. Look for the
application "xplaces" on an archive-server near you. There are
several versions of this program floating around; look for a recent
vintage. [10/90]
Some new pseudo session-managers such as HP's vuewm provide
for the saving of sessions including information on the geometry of
currently-running applications and the resource database. [Bjxrn
Stabell (bjoerns@staff.cs.uit.no); 3/93.]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 44) How do I change the keyboard auto-repeat rate?
You can turn auto-repeat on or off by using "xset r on|off".
The X protocol, however, doesn't provide for varying the auto-repeat
rate, which is a capability not supported by all systems.
Some servers running on systems that support this, however,
may provide command-line flags to set the rate at start-up time. If
you have control over server start-up (see the man pages for xinit and
xdm), you can invoke the server with the chosen settings; for example,
you can start the Xsun sample server with the options "-ar1 350 -ar2
30" to reduce the sensitivity of the keyboard.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 45) How do I remap the keys on my keyboard to produce a string?
There is no method of arranging for a particular string to be
produced when you press a particular key. The xmodmap client, which
is useful for moving your CTRL and ESC keys to useful places, just
rearranges keys and does not do "macro expansion."
Some (few) clients, including xterm and several X-based
editors, accept a translation resource such as:
xterm*VT100.Translations: #override \
<Key>F1: string("setenv DISPLAY unix:0")
which permits the shorthand F1 to be pressed to reset the display
locally within an xterm; it takes effect for new xterm clients. To
include control characters in the string, use \nnn, where nnn is the
octal encoding of the control character you want to include.
Window managers, which could provide this facility, do not
yet; nor has a special "remapper" client been made available.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 46) How do I make a screendump or print my application
(including menus)?
The xwd client in the X11 distributions can be used to select
a window or the background. It produces an XWD-format file of the
image of that window. The file can be post-processed into something
useful or printed with the xpr client and your local printing
mechanism. To print a screendump including a menu or other object
which has grabbed the pointer, you can use this command:
csh% sleep 10; xwd -root > output.xwd &
and then spend 10 seconds or so setting up your screen; the entire
current display will be saved into the file output.xwd. Note that xwd
also has an undocumented (before R5) -id flag for specifying the
window id on the command-line. [There are also unofficial patches on
ftp.x.org to xwd for specifying the delay and the portion of the
screen to capture.]
Two publicly-available programs which allow interactive
definition of arbitrary portions of the display and built-in delays
are asnap and xgrabsc. There are several versions of xgrabsc; version
2.3, available on ftp.x.org [9/93] is the most recent. xgrab, part of
the package, is an interactive front-end to xgrabsc.
xsnap includes some asnap features and supersedes it; it also
renders XPM output [version unknown]. It is available on ftp.x.org or
avahi.inria.fr; see xsnap-pl2.tar.Z.
A screen-dump and merge/edit program combining features of xwd
and xpr is available from vernam.cs.uwm.edu as xdump1.0.tar.Z.
Information: soft-eng@cs.uwm.edu.
xprint, by Alberto Accomazzi (alberto@cfa.harvard.edu) is
available from cfa0.harvard.edu (128.103.40.1) as
/pub/wipl/xprint.export-2.1.tar.Z. The package allows users to create
encapsulated color PostScript files which will print on any PostScript
Level-1 compliant printer (black and white or color).
To post-process the xwd output of some of these tools, you can
use xpr, which is part of the X11 distribution. Also on several
archives are xwd2ps and XtoPS, which produce Encapsulated PostScript
with trimmings suitable for use in presentations (see
ftp.x.org:contrib/xwd2ps.tar.Z and contrib/ImageMagick2.3.4.2.tar.Z).
Also useful is the PBMPLUS/Netpbm package on many archive servers; and
the Xim package contains Level 2 color PostScript output.
The XV program can grab a portion of the X display, manipulate
it, and save it in one of the available formats. ImageMagick has
similar capabilities.
Also:
Bristol Technology (info@bristol.com, 203-438-6969) offers
Xprinter 2.0, an Xlib API for PostScript and PCL printers; a demo is
on ftp.uu.net in vendor/Bristol/Xprinter.
ColorSoft 9619-459-8500) offers OPENprint package includes a
screen- capture facility, image-processing, and support for PostScript
and non-PostScript printers.
Some vendors' implementations of X (e.g. DECWindows and
OpenWindows) include session managers or other desktop programs which
include "print portion of screen" or "take a snapshot" options. Some
platforms also have tools which can be used to grab the frame-buffer
directly; the Sun systems, for example, have a 'screendump' program
which produces a Sun raster file. Some X terminals have local
screen-dump utilities to write PostScript to a local serial printer.
Some vendors' implementations of lpr (e.g. Sony) include
direct support for printing xwd files, but you'll typically need some
other package to massage the output into a useful format which you can
get to the printer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 47) How can I change the titlebar of my xterm window?
The solution involves sending an escape sequence to xterm
which will cause it to update the property which the window manager
relies upon for the string which appears in the window titlebar.
A solution is as easy as typing this in an xterm running a
shell:
echo "ESC]2;TEXT^G"
where ESC is the escape key, TEXT is the string you wish to have
displayed, and ^G is a Control-G (the BEL character). Note that the
semi-colon is demanded by more recent versions of xterm. (Some shells
and editors need an escape character, typically ^V, before accepting
control characters literally.)
Here is a more complicated csh alias which changes the
titlebar to the current working directory when you change directories:
alias newcd 'cd \!*; echo -n ESC]2\;$cwd^G'
(for other shells e.g. ksh you will need to write a function for cd
to print this value).
The digit '2' in these strings indicates to xterm that it
should change only the title of the window; to change both the title
and the name used in the icon, use the digit '0' instead, and use '1'
to change only the icon name.
Note: another way to do this, which prevents an incorrect
display of the local directory if a modified `cd` is used in a
subshell, is to wrap the escape sequences into the PS1 prompt itself.
Note: another simple way is to give xterm the option -t as
for title.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 48) Where can I find the xterm control sequences?
The best source of such information is in your R5 sources in the file
ctlseqs.ms; a PostScript version is in
mit/hardcopy/clients/ctlseqs.PS.Z.
O'Reilly's Volume 3, the X User's Guide, includes an R5 version of
the control sequences; the standard volume will be available 3/93, and
a Motif version of the book is available now. The current (R4) guide
includes an outdated version of the control sequences. [1/93]
Other good sources of information include the R4 version of that
document and also the file in the R4 sources called
mit/clients/xterm/ctlseq2.txt, a compilation put together by Skip
Montanaro (GE CR&D) listing the VT100 sequences. It dates from R3 but
is fairly accurate. A hardcopy version was published in the December
1989 XNextEvent (the XUG newsletter).
In a pinch, a VT100 manual will do.
[last updated 10/91]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 49) How can I use characters above ASCII 127 in xterm ?
In order to use special characters such as the o-umlaut, you
need to "stty pass8" but also to use a charcell ISO8859 font, such as
XTerm*font: -*-*-medium-r-normal-*-*-130-*-*-c-*-iso8859-1
XTerm*boldfont: -*-*-bold-r-normal-*-*-130-*-*-c-*-iso8859-1
[The family is intentionally unspecified in this example.]
If 'stty pass8' doesn't work, try 'stty cs8 -istrip', if this still
fails, try using another shell, at least the NetBSD-Amiga csh should
be able to display ASCII 127 and above.
In addition, you may want to set this in your shell:
setenv LC_CTYPE iso_8859_1
For a given character above 127, you can determine the key to
use with the Alt modifier by finding the equivalent character below
127 (try using `man ascii`). For example, o-umlaut (÷) is Alt-v and
the section character (') is Alt-'.
[thanks to Greg Holmberg (greg%thirdi@uunet.uu.net) and Stephen Gildea
(gildea@x.org); 6/92]
If everything went ok, you should be able to read this:
Sm°rebr°d, Bⁿ▀er, ─nderung, ResumΘ, ÷Σⁿ▀σ░⌐«■ñ╡í°╢
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 50) Why are my xterm menus so small (sic) ?
You are probably setting the geometry small accidentally. If
you give a resource specification like this:
xterm*geometry: 80x24
then you are asking for all widgets under xterm to have their geometry
set to 80x24. For the main window, this is OK, as it uses characters
for its size. But its popup menus don't; they are in pixels and show
up small. To set only the terminal widget to have the specified
geometry, name it explicitly:
xterm*VT100.geometry: 80x24
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 51) How to I have xdm put a picture behind the log-in window?
The answer lies in changing xdm's xrdb resource in the xdm-config
file to run a program to change the background before loading the
resources; for example, your /usr/lib/X11/xdm/xdm-config file may add
the line
DisplayManager.0.authorize: false
to permit unrestricted access to the display before log-in (beware!)
and also
DisplayManager*xrdb: /usr/lib/X11/xdm/new.xrdb
where that file does something (for all connections) along the lines
of:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#!/bin/sh
#comes in with arguments: -display :0 \
# -load /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xresources
/usr/bin/X11/xsetroot -display $2 -bitmap /usr/lib/X11/xdm/new.bitmap
/usr/bin/X11/xrdb $*
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
Substitute xloadimage or xv for xsetroot, to taste. Note that this is
a general hack that can be used to invoke a console window or any
other client.
[Thanks to Jay Bourland (jayb@cauchy.stanford.edu), 9/91]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 52) How to have a picture on the root window?
You probably don't really want to, as this process will slow down
your system:
[Art Mulder (art@cs.ualberta.ca) x-faq/speedups]
Don't use large bitmaps (GIF's, etc) as root window backgrounds.
- The more complicated your root window bitmap, the slower the
server is at redrawing your screen when you reposition windows
(or redraw, etc)
- These take up RAM, and CPU power. I work on a Sun SPARC and I'm
conscious of performance issues, I can't comprehend it when I see
people with a 4mb Sun 3/60 running xphoon as their root window.
[same applies to 4MB Amiga's of course -Markus]
I'll let someone else figure out how much RAM would be occupied by
having a full screen root image on a colour workstation.
- If you're anything like me, you need all the screen real estate
that you can get for clients, and so rarely see the root window
anyway.
If you give a shit on all this, then try xsetroot -bitmap or give XV
-root a try.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 53) Why isn't my PATH set when xdm runs my .xsession file?
When xdm runs your .xsession it doesn't source your .cshrc or
.login files. You can set the path explicitly as you normally could
for any SH script; or you can place all environment-setting statements
in a separate file and source it from both the .xsession file and your
shell configuration file; or, if you set your PATH in your .cshrc
file, the normal place, you can make your .xsession have PATH set
simply by making it a csh script, i.e. by starting your .xsession
file off with "#!/bin/csh".
if this doesn't work, also try starting off with:
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#!/bin/sh
# Reset path:
PATH=`csh -c 'echo $PATH'` ; export PATH
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 54) How do I keep my $DISPLAY when I rlogin to another machine?
There are several ways to avoid having to do a "setenv DISPLAY
..." whenever you log in to another networked UNIX machine running X.
One solution is to use the clients/xrsh on the R5 contrib
tape. It includes xrsh, a script to start an X application on remote
machine, and xrlogin, a script to start a local xterm running rlogin
to a remote machine. A more recent version is on export in
xrsh-5.4.shar.
One solution is to use the xrlogin program from der Mouse
(mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu). You can ftp caveat-emptor versions
from 132.206.1.1, in X/xrlogin.c and X/xrlogind.c. The program
packages up $TERM and $DISPLAY into a single string, which is stuffed
into $TERM. rlogin then propagates $TERM normally; your .cshrc on the
remote machine should contain
eval `xrlogind`
where xrlogind is a program that checks $TERM and if it is of the
special format it recognizes, unpacks it and spits out setenv and
unsetenv commands to recreate the environment variables. [11/90]
In addition, if all you need to do is start a remote X process
on another host, and you find
rsh <HOST> -n /usr/bin/X11/xterm -display $DISPLAY
too simple (DISPLAY must have your real hostname), then this version
of xrsh can be used to start up remote X processes. The equivalent
usage would be
"xrsh <HOST> xterm"
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
#! /bin/sh
# start an X11 process on another host
# Date: 8 Dec 88 06:29:34 GMT
# From: Chris Torek <chris@mimsy.umd.edu>
# rsh $host -n "setenv DISPLAY $DISPLAY; exec $@ </dev/null >&/dev/null"
#
# An improved version:
# rXcmd (suggested by John Robinson, jr@bbn.com)
# (generalized for sh,ksh by Keith Boyer, keith@cis.ohio-state.edu)
#
# but they put the rcmd in ()'s which left zombies again. This
# script combines the best of both.
case $# in
[01]) echo "Usage: $0 host x-cmd [args...]";;
*)
case $SHELL in
*csh*) host="$1"; shift
xhost "$host" > /dev/null
rsh "$host" -n \
"setenv TERM xterm; setenv DISPLAY `hostname`:0; \
exec $* </dev/null >& /dev/null" &
;;
*sh)
host="$1"; shift
xhost "$host" > /dev/null
rsh "$host" -n \
"TERM=xterm export TERM; \
DISPLAY=`hostname`:0 export DISPLAY; \
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/X11/lib export LD_LIBRARY_PATH; \
PATH=\$PATH:/usr/X11/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/local/bin; \
export PATH; \
exec $* < /dev/null > /dev/null 2>&1" &
;;
esac
;;
esac
-------- snip --------- snap ----------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 55) How can i use my localized keyboard?
Does it happen that you tzpe kezboard rather than keyboard?
Then you have a localized keyboard and may want to enhance X11 to be
able to understand what you type.
This is fairly easy with xmodmap; xmodmap is able to change the
complete layout of your keyboard, together with qualifying keys it is
even possible to access the DIN-Keyboard lying under the localized
keyboard just like under AmigaDOS.
To find out the keycode of a specific key, start 'xev' and press the
demanded key. Then edit a file and enter all the changes there,
start xmodmap with 'xmodmap myfile'.
Example for Umlauts of german keyboard:
keycode 34 = udiaeresis Udiaeresis
keycode 49 = odiaeresis Odiaeresis
keycode 50 = adiaeresis Adiaeresis
(don't forget to remap [] {} and ' ; before :-)
An almost full-blown keycode file for german keyboard is available on
the NetBSD-Amiga ftp archives.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 60) TOPIC: OBTAINING X AND RELATED SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 61) Is X public-domain software?
No. The X software is copyrighted by various institutions and
is not "public domain", which has a specific legal meaning. However,
the X distribution is available for free and can be redistributed
without fee.
Contributed software, though, may be placed in the public
domain by individual authors.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 62) When is X11R6 rumored to be available?
The latest tentative schedule is:
Beta Release: October 1993
Live Release: January 1994
Final Release: April 1994
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 63) Where can I get X11R5 (source and/or binaries)?
Information about the Consortium's distribution of the sources on
6250bpi and QIC-24 tape and its distribution of hardcopy of the
documents is available from Software Center, Technology Licensing
Office, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 28 Carleton Street,
Room E32-300, Cambridge MA 02142-1324, phone: 617-258-8330.
You will need about 100Mb of disk space to hold all of Core and 140MB
to hold the Contrib software donated by individuals and companies.
PLEASE use a site that is close to you in the network.
Note that the RELEASE notes are generally available separately in the
same directory; the notes list changes from previous versions of X and
offer a guide to the distribution.
[List of ftp-servers removed, -Markus]
Binaries of X11R5.25 for Sun3/SunOS4.1.1 systems are on
ftp.cad.gatech.edu as X11R5/X11R5pl25.sun3.gcc242.tar.gz; the
distribution includes also binaries of common X tools (remember to get
the shared libs for SunOS, too, and to have a spare license for SunOS
at home :-).
Binaries of X11R5 for NetBSD-Amiga are available on ftp.eunet.ch, the
main archive ftp site for NetBSD-Amiga and its mirrors in germany:
ftp.uni-regensburg.de, sweden: ftp.luth.se and US: ftp.wustl.edu.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 64) Where can I get other X sources? (including R5 modifications)
The MIT Software Center ships the X Test Suite on tape.
A multi-threaded version of Xlib based on X11R5 patch 12 is
now available for anonymous FTP from (new version 1/93):
DEC on gatekeeper.dec.com (16.1.0.2) in
/pub/X11/contrib/mt-xlib-1.1
MIT on ftp.x.org in /contrib/mt-xlib-1.1 Note that this source
code will not become the Xlib used in X11R6, although the Consortium
is planning to make Xlib thread-safe with that release.
HP has made available drivers to permit the building of the
X11R5 sample server on the HP 9000 Series 700 workstations; the files
are on ftp.x.org in ~ftp/contrib/R5.HP.SRV. [8/92]
The Edinburgh University Computing Service and European X User
Group have created an on-line index of public domain X software. The
index is available through gopher and provides an index of the
ftp.x.org/contrib archive, the comp.sources.x archive and various X
software found around the internet. The service holds manual pages,
README files , etc which can be browsed through. A keyword search of
the manual pages is also provided. Information:
xindex@castle.edinburgh.ac.uk.
User-contributed software is distributed through the newsgroup
comp.sources.x, moderated by Chris Olson (chris@imd.sterling.com);
also check that group for posting information.
Richard Hesketh (rlh2@ukc.ac.uk) has been creating a list of
freely- available X sources. The list is stored on ftp.x.org in
contrib as x-source-list.Z. It lists the main storage locations for
the program and international sites from which it may be ftp'ed.
The machine ftp.x.org has a great deal of user-contributed
software in the contrib/ directory; a good deal of it is present in
current or earlier versions on the X11R3, X11R4, and X11R5 contrib
tapes. There are also directories for fixes to contrib software. The
file on ftp.x.org in contrib/0ftpxorg.dir is a quick overall index of
the software in that area, provided by Daniel Lewart
(d-lewart@uiuc.edu).
These sites used to and may still mirror ftp.x.org and are of
particular use for Australasia: Anonymous ftp: ftp.Adelaide.EDU.AU;
ACSnet Fetchfile: sirius.ua.oz.
The material on giza.cis.ohio-state.edu, which tends to
duplicate the ftp.x.org archives, is also available via anonymous UUCP
from osu-cis, at TB+ and V.32 speeds. Write to
uucp@cis.ohio-state.edu (same as osu-cis!uucp) for instructions. [the
archive is now maintained by Karl Kleinpaste]
In addition, UUNET Source Archives (703-876-5050) tracks
comp.sources.x and provides 800MB+ of compressed programs on 6250 bpi
tapes or 1/4" tapes. It also mirrors ftp.x.org/contrib in its
packages/X directory.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 65) Where can I get X for the Amiga?
[this is from the original comp.windows.x FAQ, slightly outdated, eh ?
:-) - Markus]
The new Amiga 3000 machines offer an X server and OPEN LOOK
tools and libraries on a full SVR4 implementation.
GfxBase, Inc. provides "X11 R4.1" for the AmigaDos computer;
it contains X11R4 clients, fonts, etc., and a Release 4 color server.
An optional programmer's toolkit includes the header files, libraries,
and sample programs. Info from GfxBase, 408-262-1469. [Dale Luck
(uunet!{cbmvax|pyramid}!boing!dale); 2/91]
To update the above: there is a freely distributable X server
available for AmigaDOS: DaggeX, which runs on ECS and Picasso II
graphics board, and is available on the AmiNet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 66) What terminal emulators other than xterm are available?
People from PCS have rewritten xterm from scratch using a
multi-widget approach that can be used by applications. Emu supports
features like color, blinking text/cursors. Emulations can be added
on the fly; one emulation provided is for the Vt220. A version is on
the R5 contrib tape; the newest release is on ftp.x.org [10/93] in
contrib/emu.tar.gz. For more information, contact emu@pcs.com.
A set of modifications for color support to xterm is on
ftp.x.org in xterm_color.diffs.Z.
mxterm, a Motif-based xterm is available from the Paderborner
ftp-Server ftp@uni-paderborn.de (131.234.2.32), file
/unix/X11/more_contrib/mxterm.tar.Z. A version is also on ftp.x.org,
as is apparently a set of color modifications.
The Color Terminal Widget provides ANSI-terminal emulation
compatible with the VTx00 series; a version is on ftp.x.org in
contrib/CTW-1.1.tar.Z. A Motif version is on ftp.stna7.stna.dgac.fr
in pub/Term-1.0.tar.Z.
kterm 4.1.2 is an X11R4-based vt100/vt102 (and Tektronix 4014)
terminal emulator that supports display of Chinese, Japanese, and
Korean text (in VT mode). Also supported are: ANSI color sequences,
multi-byte word selection, limited Compound Text support, and tab and
newline preservation in selections. kterm 4.1.2 is also available
from these anonymous ftp sites:
clr.nmsu.edu:pub/misc/kterm-4.1.2.tar.Z [128.123.1.14]
ftp.x.org:contrib/kterm-4.1.2.tar.Z
kum.kaist.ac.kr:pub/unix/Xstuffs/kterm-4.1.2.tar.Z [137.68.1.65]
[courtesy of Mark Leisher <mleisher@nmsu.edu> ]
kterm-5.1.1.tar.Z is now on ftp.x.org [12/92].
mterm, by mouse@larry.McRCIM.McGill.EDU, is an X terminal
emulator which includes ANSI X3.64 and DEC emulation modes. mterm can
be had by ftp to larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu (132.206.1.1), in
X/mterm.src/mterm.ball-o-wax.
color_xterm is available from ftp.x.org.
Cxterm is a Chinese xterm, which supports both GB2312-1980 and
the so-called Big-5 encoding. Hanzi input conversion mechanism is
builtin in cxterm. Most input methods are stored in external files
that are loaded at run time. Users can redefine any existing input
methods or create their own ones. The X11R5 cxterm is the rewritten
of cxterm (version 11.5.1) based on X11R5 xterm; it is in the R5
contrib software. [thanks to Zhou Ning <zhou@tele.unit.no> and
Steinar Bang <uunet!idt.unit.no!steinarb>.]
XVT is available on ftp.x.org's contrib in xvt-1.0.tar.Z and
xvt-1.0.README. It is designed to offer xterm's functionality with
lower swap space and may be of particular use on systems driving many
X terminals. A second version, 2.0, is on unix.hensa.ac.uk in
misc/unix/xvt/xvt-2.0.tar.Z (see also xvt-2.0.patch1).
x3270 is in X11R5 contrib/.
The typescript application and inset in the Andrew User
Interface System offers a shell script interface. It does not provide
curses support, but does permit general cut/copy/paste to construct
commands or extract a portion of the log.
hanterm (2.0), by jksong@cosmos.kaist.ac.kr, is an xterm
modified to support Hangul (Korean writing system) input/output. It's
available at several Korean
archives(cair.kaist.ac.kr,kum.kaist.ac.kr,etc) and seoul.caltech.edu
in the US. This version makes obsolete an older version not based on
xterm.
Another experimental hanterm implementation, hanterm (3.0
alpha), is underway by Chang Hyeong-Kyu at chk@ssp.etri.re.kr; it was
written to support a 3-byte Hangul code (dictionary ordered), which
can compose all possible Hangul characters.
Also:
IBM sells a 3270 emulator for the RS/6000 (part #5765-011);
it's based on Motif.
Century Software (801-268-3088) sells a VT220 terminal
emulator for X. VT102, Wyse 50 and SCO Color Console emulation are
also available.
Grafpoint's TGRAF-X provides emulation of Tektronix 4107,
4125, and 42xx graphics terminals; it's available for most major
platforms. Information (inc. free demo copies): 800-426-2230; Fax.
408-446-0666; uunet!grafpnt!sales.
IXI's X.deskterm, a package for integrating character-based
applications into an X environment, includes a number of
terminal-emulation modules. Information: +44 (0223) 462131. [5/90]
Pericom produces Teem-X, a set of several emulation packages
for a number of Tek, DEC, Westward, and Data General terminals. The
software runs on Sun 3, Sun 4, Apollo, DEC, ISC, IBM/AIX.
Information: US: 609-895-0404, UK: +44 (0908) 560022. [5/90]
SCO's SCOterm (info@sco.COM), part of its Open Desktop
environment, is a Motif-compliant SCO ANSI color console emulator.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 67) Does xterm offer colored text or a blinking cursor?
No; these features are not offered by the xterm program.
However, several of the emulators mentioned above do offer these
features; the list is partial:
- mterm, color-xterm, CTW and emu support colored text
- mterm and emu support blinking text
- mterm and emu support block and underline text cursors
- emu supports a blinking text cursor
[Thanks to Michael Elbel (me@dude.pcs.com); 10/93]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 68) Where can I get an X-based editor or word-processor?
You can ftp a version of GNU Emacs, the extensible,
customizable, self-documenting, real-time display editor, including
X11 support, from prep.ai.mit.edu [18.71.0.38]:/pub/gnu/. Version 19
has some mouse/menu support.
Epoch is a modified version of Gnu Emacs (18) with additional
facilities useful in an X environment. Current sources are on
cs.uiuc.edu (128.174.252.1) in ~ftp/pub/epoch-files/epoch; the current
[3/92] version is 4.0. [In Europe, try
unido.informatik.uni-dortmund.de]. There are two subdirectories:
epoch contains the epoch source, and gwm contains the source to the
programmable window manager GWM, with which epoch works well.] You can
get on the Epoch mailing list by sending a request to
epoch-request@cs.uiuc.edu.
Lucid Emacs is a version of GNU Emacs derived from an early
version of Emacs version 19. It currently requires X Windows to run;
X support is greatly enhanced over GNU Emacs version 18, including
support for multiple X windows, input and display of all ISO-8859-1
(Latin1) characters, Zmacs/Lispm style region highlighting, a
customizable Motif-like menubar, more powerful keymap support,
flexible text attributes, support on regional and screen-local basis
through X resources and/or lisp, and support for the X11 selection
mechanism. Lucid Emacs is free; the latest version (9/93) is 19.8,
and is available from labrea.stanford.edu (36.8.0.112) in the
pub/gnu/lucid directory.
The Andrew system on the X11 contrib tapes has been described
as one of the best word-processing packages available. It supports
word processing with multi-media embedded objects: rasters,
tables/spread sheets, drawings, style editor, application builder,
embedded programming language, &c. Release 5.1 became available 2
June 92. [Fred Hansen (wjh+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU)]
You may be able to use the Remote Andrew Demo service to try this
software; try "finger help@atk.itc.cmu.edu" for help.
The InterViews C++ toolkit contains a WYSIWIG editor called
Doc; it saves and loads files in a LaTeX-*like* format (not quite
LaTeX). The package can also import idraw-PostScript drawings.
A simple editor aXe (by J.K.Wight@newcastle.ac.uk) is
available on ftp.x.org and arjuna.newcastle.ac.uk (128.240.150.1) as
aXe-5.1.tar.Z [7/93]. It is based around the Xaw Text widget.
TED is a simple Motif-based text editor; it is a wrapper
around the Motif text widget which offers search/replace, paragraph
formatting, and navigation features. TED is available from
ftp.eos.ncsu.edu (152.1.9.25) as /pub/bill.tar.Z; here are also
executables there.
Point, by crowley@unmvax.cs.unm.edu (Charlie Crowley), is
Tcl/Tk-based and offers dyanimic configuration and programming in the
Tcl macro language. The editor is available from unmvax.cs.unm.edu
(129.24.16.1) as pub/Point/point1.1-tar.Z.
asedit, by Andrzej Stochniol (astoch@ic.ac.uk) is on ftp.x.org
in contrib/asedit.tar.Z. It is a simple text editor built around the
Motif Text widget. Version 1.2 was released 10/93.
jed is available from rhino.cis.vutbr.cs in the directory
pub/software/czech.
xcoral is on ftp.inria.fr; it also has bindings similar to
emacs and has a built-in browser for C and C++ code. A version is
also on ftp.Uni-Oldenburg.DE:pub/unix/appl/edit/xcoral-1.72.tar.Z.
The powerful "sam" editor by Rob Pike is split into a host
portion and a front-end graphics portion, which now has an X
implementation. sam is now available by anonymous ftp from
research.att.com, in dist/sam/bundle.Z. Watch that space for updated
versions. There is a mailing list for sam users; requests to
<sam-fans-request@hawkwind.utcs.toronto.edu>. A set of extensions
which augment the mouse activity with the keyboard is available from
uxc.cso.uiuc.edu in pub/sam/samx2.shar.Z. [5/93]
textedit is part of Sun's OpenWindow's DeskSet and the public
XView distribution.
The vi-like-microemacs editor VILE supports a pure-X mode, in
which it operates much like vi running in an xterm window. Version
3.63 is available on ftp.cayman.com in pub/vile.
NEdit 2.0 is a Motif-based text editor. Sources are on
ftp.x.org and fnpspb.fnal.gov. Information: edel@fnal.gov.
Also:
Elan Computer Group (Mountain View, CA; 415-964-2200) has
announced the Avalon Publisher 2.0, an X11/OPEN LOOK WYSIWYG
electronic publishing system.
FrameMaker and FrameWriter are available as X-based binary
products for several machines. Frame is at 800-843-7263 (CA:
408-433-3311).
WX2 (formerly InDepthEdit) is available from Non Standard
Logics (+33 (1) 43 36 77 50; requests@nsl.fr).
Buzzwords International Inc. has an editor called
'Professional Edit' that runs under X/Motif for various platforms.
Info: +1-314-334-6317.
DECwrite is available from DEC for some DEC hardware and
SunWrite is available from Sun.
IslandWrite will soon be available from Island Graphics
(415-491-1000) (info@island.com) for some HP & Apollo platforms.
Interleaf is currently available from Interleaf (800-241-7700,
MA: 617-577-9800) on all Sun and DEC platforms; others are under
development.
The Applixware office integration tools from Applix
(1-800-8APPLIX, MA: 508-870-0300) include a multi-font WYSIWG
document composer; for several systems.
ArborText, Inc. provides an X11 version of its Electronic
Publishing program called "The Publisher". The Publisher is available
on Sun, HP and Apollo workstations. Contact Arbortext at
313-996-3566. [5/90]
Iris Computing Laboratories offers the "ie" editor. Info:
+1-505-988-2670 or info@spectro.com.
BBN/Slate from BBN Software Products includes a menu-driven
word processor with multiple fonts and style sheets. It supports X on
multiple platforms. (617-873-5000 or slate-offer@bbn.com) [11/90]
Innovative Solutions (505-883-4252; or Brian Zimbelman,
is!brian@bbx.basis.com) publishes the user-configurable Motif-based
Xamine editor.
Qualix offers a product. Information: info@qualix.com or
800-245-UNIX (415-572-0200).
Typex is a Motif-based editor available for several systems.
Information: Amcad Research, 408-867-5705, fax -6209.
WordPerfect offers an X-based version of WordPerfect 5.1 for
several workstations. Information: 801-222-5300 or 800-451-5151.
Bradford Business Systems (714-859-4428) offers SpeedEdit for
several systems.
VITAL (713-781-7406) offers the Crisp editor, a work-alike
superset of the popular BRIEF editor, for several systems.
Previously-available source versions have been withdrawn from
circulation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 69) Where can I get an X-based paint/draw program?
Drawing Packages:
xpic is an object-oriented drawing program. It supports
multiple font styles and sizes and variable line widths; there are no
rotations or zooms. xpic is quite suitable as an interactive
front-end to pic, though the xpic-format produced can be converted
into PostScript. (The latest version is on the R4 contrib tape in
clients/xpic.)
xfig (by Brian V. Smith (bvsmith@lbl.gov)) is an
object-oriented drawing program supporting compound objects. The xfig
format can be converted to PostScript or other formats. Recent
versions are on the R5 contrib tape or on ftp.x.org in
/contrib/R5fixes (version 2.1.8 [10/93]).
idraw supports numerous fonts and various line styles and
arbitrary rotations. It supports zoom and scroll and color draws and
fills. The file format is a PostScript dialect. It can import TIFF
files. Distributed as a part of the InterViews C++ toolkit (current
release 3.1, from interviews.stanford.edu) .
tgif by William Cheng (william@oahu.cs.ucla.edu) is available
from most uucp sites and also from ftp.x.org and from cs.ucla.edu. It
is frequently updated; version 2.14 was released 8/93 (up to patch9
12/93).
figure in the Andrew User Interface System (versions 5.2 and
above) is a general drawing package which also allows arbitrary Andrew
insets to be part of the drawing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 70) Where can I get an X-based plotting program?
These usually are available from uucp sites such as uunet or other
sites as marked; please consult the archie server to find more recent
versions. See also the comp.graphics FAQ.
gnuplot X (xplot), PostScript and a bunch of other drivers.
ftp.x.org [and elsewhere]:contrib/gnuplot3.4a.tar.Z
gl_plot X output only [?]
comp.sources.unix/volume18
graph+
yallara.cs.rmit.oz.au:/pub/graph+.tar.Z [131.170.24.42]
comp.sources.unix/volume8
pdraw,drawplot 2D and 3D X,PS
scam.berkeley.edu:/src/local/3dplot.tar.Z [128.32.138.1]
scam.berkeley.edu:/src/local/contour.tar.Z [128.32.138.1]
scam.berkeley.edu:/src/local/drawplot.tar.Z [128.32.138.1]
uunet:~ftp/contrib/drawplot.tar.Z
xgraph plot, zoom. Outputs PS or HPGL.
shambhala.berkeley.edu:/pub/xgraph-11.tar.Z [128.32.132.54]
sun1.ruf.uni-freiburg.de:X11/contrib/xgraph-11.tar.Z [132.230.1.1]
nisc.jvnc.net:pub/xgraph-11.tar.Z [128.121.50.7]
comp.sources.x/volume3
or many other sites
ACE/gr (formerly xvgr and xmgr) XY plotting tools
ftp.ccalmr.ogi.edu [129.95.72.34]
XView version: /CCALMR/pub/acegr/xvgr-2.10.tar.Z
Motif version: /CCALMR/pub/acegr/xmgr-2.10.tar.Z
[mirrored on ftp.x.org in /contrib/acegr]
XGobi An interactive dynamic scatter-plotting tool from Bellcore
lib.stat.cmu.edu: general/xgobi* [log in as statlib with your
email as the password; or send email to
statlib@lib.stat.cmu.edu containing the one-line message "send
xgobi from general"] Information from: Debby Swayne,
dfs@bellcore.com.
Robot a scientific XView-based graph plotting and data analysis tool
ftp.astro.psu.edu:pub/astrod/robotx0.47.tar.Z [128.118.147.28]
plotmtv a multi-purpose 2D/3D plotter
tanqueray.berkeley.edu:/pub/Plotmtv1.3.1.tar.Z
XgPlot Motif-based x-y graphing with a movie-loop display
ftp.x.org:XgPlot-4.1.tar.Z
[2/91. Thanks in part to: emv@ox.com (Ed Vielmetti);
geoff@Veritas.COM (Geoffrey Leach); Paul A. Scowen
(uk1@spacsun.rice.edu); black@beno.CSS.GOV (Mike Black)]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 71) Where can I get an X-based graph-drawing program?
Xgrab reads a textual specification of a graph, lays out the
graph using heuristics to minimize the number of edge crossings, and
displays the graph as labeled nodes and edges in an X window. Sources
are on ftp.cs.washington.edu (128.95.1.4) as pub/xgrab.tar.Z.
Interviews 2.6 is required. [12/93]
The DaVinci visualization tool can be used to display graphs.
Note that GnuPlot has also the abiltity to use X.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 72) Where can I get an X-based spreadsheet?
A version of "sc" for X and which supports Lotus files is available
from vernam.cs.uwm.edu in xspread2.1.tar.Z. It also includes graphing
functions. Information: soft-eng@cs.uwm.edu.
The GNU package OLEO is available in prep.ai.mit.edu:
pub/gnu/oleo-1.5.tar.Z; it can generate PostScript renditions of
spreadsheets.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: 73) Where can I get an X-based PostScript previewer?
Ghostscript is distributed by the Free Software Foundation
(617-876-3296) and includes a PostScript interpreter and a library of
graphics primitives. Version 2.6.1(.4) is now available; the major
site is prep.ai.mit.edu, although ftp.cs.wisc.edu is also recommended.
[6/93] Version 3.0 is scheduled for December; it will include a full
implementation of PostScript Level 2.
GSPreview (by the Computing Laboratory of the University of
Kent at Canterbury) is an X user interface (WCL-based) to the
Ghostscript 2.4-2.6 interpreter. The source is available for
anonymous ftp from ftp.x.org as gspreview.2.3.tar.Z. [6/93]
GhostView (by Tim Theisen, tim@cs.wisc.edu) is full-function
user interface for GhostScript. Check ftp.cs.wisc.edu or
prep.ai.mit.edu for /pub/ghostview-1.5.tar.Z [7/93]. There are also
several executables available on ftp.cs.wisc.edu:/pub/X/ghostview-exe
for various architectures.
XPsView is a Motif wrapper around PsView, which is a X11 DSC
Document viewer that can use both XDPS and GhostScript as the
interpreter engine. An early version was an the Alpha Freeware CD.
More recent versions are on gatekeeper.dec.com in
/pub/DEC/PRL/psview-1.29.tar.Z.
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Subject: 74) Where can I get an X-based GL package?
Xgl 2.0 is available [11/93] from ftp.thp.Uni-Duisburg.DE
(134.91.32.1), in files pub/source/X11/Xgl-2.0.tar.{Z|gz}.
Certain vendors (SGI, IBM) are offering a GL package for X.
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Subject: 75) Where can I get an X-based PEX package?
The first official release of PEX is with X11R5; fix-22 brings
the Sample Implementation server to version 5.1.
The final PEX 5.1 Protocol specification is now available via
anonymous ftp to ftp.x.org, in the directory /pub/DOCS/PEX/. Changes
made from the Public Review draft are listed in the file
"5.1P_changes" in that directory. [9/92]
The final PEXlib 5.1 document is on ftp.x.org in
pub/DOCS/PEXlib. [11/92]
There is now available from the University of Illinois an
implementation of the PEX 4.0 specification called UIPEX. It contains
a "near- complete" implementation of PHiGS and PHiGS PLUS. The file
pub/uipex/uipex.tar.Z is on a.cs.uiuc.edu (128.174.252.1); the porting
platform was an RT running 4.3. Questions and comments can to go
uipex@cs.uiuc.edu.
In addition, the PEXt toolkit by Rich Thomson
(rthomson@dsd.es.com) is available on ftp.x.org as PEXt.tar.Z; it
includes a PEX widget making it easier to include PEX in Xt-based
programs.
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Subject: 76) Where can I get an X-based TeX or DVI previewer?
The xtex previewer for TeX files is available from a number of
archive sites, including uunet; the current version is usually on
ftp.cs.colorado.edu (128.138.204.31) in SeeTeX-2.18.5.tar.Z;
pre-converted fonts are also on that machine. The distribution all
includes "mftobdf" which converts PK, GF, and PXL fonts to BDF format,
where they can then be compiled for use by your local X server.
The xdvi dvi-previewer is fairly comprehensive and easy to
use. It is also available from a number of sites, including uunet and
ftp.x.org; current version is patchlevel 16 [12/92].
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Subject: 77) Where can I get an X-based troff previewer?
X11R4 has two previewers for device-independent troff: the
supported client xditview, and the contributed-but-well-maintained
xtroff. An earlier version of xtroff also appeared on the R3
contributed source. xditview is also in the R5 distribution.
In addition, the xman client can be used to preview troff
documents which use the -man macros (i.e. man pages).
If psroff is used its output can be viewed with a PostScript
previewer.
Groff, a C++-based [tn]roff document formatter from the Free
Software Foundation, includes an X-based document previwer based
probably on xditview. Groff can put out both dvi and PostScript, so
xdvi or GhostView can be used to preview formatted documents.
In addition:
xproof, an X previewer for ditroff has been contributed by
Marvin Solomon (solomon@cs.wisc.edu); version 3.5 is available on
ftp.x.org in contrib/xproof*. [8/90]
Elan Computer Group (CA: 415-964-2200) produces eroff, a
modified troff implementation, and Elan/Express, an X11 eroff
previewer.
SoftQuad (416-963-8337; USA only 800-387-2777, mail@sq.uu.net
or mail@sq.com) offers SoftQuad Publishing Software, including a
substantially- rewritten troff formatter, a better intermediate
language with backwards compatibility, and an X11[R3,R4] previewer.
(This is the package adopted by AT&T's own MIS department, and used in
and re-sold by many parts of AT&T). [information from Ian Darwin,
SoftQuad (ian@sq.com) 3/90]
Image Network (1-800-TOXROFF; CA: 415-967-0542) offers the
Xroff package, which includes a fine modified troff implementation and
a set of X11-based page previewers. (This is the package OEM'ed by
several hardware vendors.)
[mostly courtesy moraes@cs.toronto.edu (Mark Moraes)] [2/90]
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Subject: 78) Where can I get an X-based debugger?
xdbx, an X interface to the dbx debugger, is available via ftp
from ftp.x.org. The current [1/91] version is 2.1 patchlevel 2.
An X interface to gdb called xxgdb is more like xdbx 2.1.2.
It is part of comp.sources.x volume 11 [2/91]; xxgdb-1.06.tar.Z is on
ftp.x.org.
mxgdb is a Motif interface to gdb by Jim Tsillas
(jtsillas@proteon.com); version 1.2 was released 11/93.
UPS is a source-level debugger which runs under the X11 and
SunView window systems on Sun and DEC platforms. It is available from
ftp.x.org (18.24.0.11) as contrib/ups-2.45.tar.Z (also
ups-2.45-to-2.45.2.patch.Z) and unix.hensa.ac.uk (129.12.21.7) in
/pub/misc/unix/ups (or try mail to archive@unix.hensa.ac.uk). [10/92]
Unofficial fixes by Rod Armstrong (rod@sj.ate.slb.com) are on
unix.hensa.ac.uk in /misc/unix/ups/contrib/rod@sj.ate.slb.com.
None of the above debugger has been enhanced to work with
NetBSD-Amiga yet, probably best try is xxgbd, a frontend for the
working gdb.
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Subject: 80) TOPIC: BUILDING THE X DISTRIBUTION
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Subject: 81) What's a good source of information on configuring the X build?
This FAQ includes information on a number of "gotchas" that
can bite you on particular system. However, the best source of
general information on building the X11 release is found in the
Release Notes. The file is bundled separately from the rest of the
release, so if it's become separated from your sources you can FTP
another copy separately: the file RELNOTES.[ms,PS,TXT] at the top of
the distribution. The file RELNOTES is also available from the xstuff
mail server.
In addition, O'Reilly & Associates's Volume 8 on X
Administration includes information on configuring and building X.
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Subject: 90) TOPIC: BUILDING X PROGRAMS
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Subject: 91) What is Imake?
Imake is not a replacement for the make program; instead, it
is a makefile-generator that takes advantages of the include-file and
macro- processing capabilities of the C preprocessor cpp to generate
makefiles suitable for building software on a particular system.
Although it is not specific to X, the X release uses it to help solve
a number of the configuration issues that arise in making such a large
system widely portable.
Imake has a fairly steep learning curve, in part because the
process by which the system-specific configuration files,
system-independent configuration files, and individual Imakefiles are
melded to produce a Makefile is not obvious.
There have been several different versions of imake; the R3,
R4, and R5 versions are different.
You can obtain information on imake from these sources:
- the R4 and R5 release notes and imake man page include
information on using Imake to build X
- the R4 and R5 file mit/config/README also contains useful
information
- on the R4 tapes, contrib/doc/imake/imake.tex is Mark Moraes'
R3/R4 guide to imake.
- the R5 mit/doc/config/usenixws/paper.ms contains a paper by
Jim Fulton on an early version of Imake
- Paul DuBois (dubois@primate.wisc.edu) has written a useful
explanation of how Imake works and how to use it in configuring X for
non- supported systems; the document is available from
ftp.primate.wisc.edu in the directory ~ftp/pub/imake-stuff; look for
config-X11R4.ms (troff) and config-X11R4.ps (PostScript). Some
supplemental appendices are nearby. [7/91: document version is now
1.06] These imake papers are available by email; mail a message body
of "send imake-stuff help" to almanac@primate.wisc.edu. They are also
available by gopher to gopher.primate.wisc.edu under "Primate Center
Software Archives".
- see "System Administration - Imake: Friend or Foe?" by
Dinah McNutt in the November 1991 issue of SunExpert.
- German readers should expect in June 1992 an article "Das
Meta-Make / I make, you make / Schwerelos" by Rainer Klute in "iX
Multiuser-Multitasking-Magazin", directed at application programmers
needing to write Imakefiles. An English-language derivative of this
article is in The X Journal, issue 2:1.
- The O'Reilly X Resource issue #2 contains Paul Davey's
article on demystifying Imake.
- Alain Brossard's working document full of tips on Imake is
in sasun1.epfl.ch:pub/imakefile.1.Z.
- O'Reilly has published (7/93) "Software Portability with
imake" by Paul DuBois; ISBN 1-56592-055-4. The books electronic
counterparts are on ftp.primate.wisc.edu in pub/imake-book;
imake.tar.Z is a stand-alone imake installation.
[1/91;12/91;5/92;8/92;7/93]
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Subject: 92) Where can I get imake?
Versions are distributed with the R4 and R5 releases. An
earlier version is distributed with the X11R3 release; some
third-party toolkits redistribute versions of imake along with their
own implementations of the template and configuration files. There
are no real standards for such configuration files, although most
*current* contributed software expects the templates distributed with
X11R5.
ftp.x.org contains the R5 distribution unpacked, so you can
pick up imake without picking up the entire distribution.
A stand-alone version of Imake, but one stemming from X11R5,
is in ftp.germany.eu.net:pub/X11/misc/imake/imake-pure.tar.Z
(192.76.144.75).
A stand-alone version of Imake, but one stemming from X11R5,
is in ftp.primate.wisc.edu:pub/imake-book/imake.tar.Z.
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Subject: 93) I have a program with an Imakefile but no Makefile. What to do?
If you have R4 or R5 installed on your system, run "xmkmf".
This is a script which runs imake for you with the correct arguments.
The output is a Makefile configured for your system and based on the
Imakefile. Then run make, which will use that new Makefile to compile
the program.
If you dont have that xmkmf, try using 'imake -DUseInstalled
-I/usr/lib/X11/config' instead.
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EOFAQ