IRIX 6.2 Applications 1996 August

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Text File | 1996-08-03 | 29KB | 661 lines

- 1 - 5. _K_n_o_w_n__P_r_o_b_l_e_m_s__a_n_d__W_o_r_k_a_r_o_u_n_d_s The following problems are new in Indigo Magic 5.3 and 6.2: +o If the Desktop fails to run at login time, then, one of the possibilities could be a corrupted or empty Desktop file in your home directory: ~/._d_e_s_k_t_o_p-<_h_o_s_t_n_a_m_e>/_o_z_P_a_n_e_l_L_a_y_o_u_t-_1._0_0/_B_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d If you remove this empty or corrupted file, and re-run the Desktop from the Toolchest, _D_e_s_k_t_o_p->_H_o_m_e _D_i_r_e_c_t_o_r_y, then the Desktop should work fine. Note that when you remove the _B_a_c_k_g_r_o_u_n_d file, you will lose your background icon customizations. +o If a window of icons comes up, but doesn't display the icons, then, minimizing and restoring the window will bring back the icons, if any, in that window. +o When opening a remote directory on a machine running Indigo Magic 5.2 or 5.1, the remote directory tool will not be automatically dismissed the first time the remote directory is opened. When opening a remote directory on a machine running a 4.0.5 or earlier IRIX release, the remote directory tool will be dismissed prior to the directory's being opened. When opening a 5.3 remote directory, the tool will be dismissed when the directory is opened. +o If you change desks or move a window after launching a command, the visual launch effect will cease. This does not mean that launching of the command failed. +o If a command takes a long time to come up (more than about 10 seconds), the visual launch effect will cease. This does not mean that launching of the command failed. +o This is a problem only when dealing with a Helios- formatted directory: When using the file manager to create a new directory using the menu option New Directory, a resource fork for the new directory is not created. In other words, only a Unix directory is created. The way to work around this problem is to create new directories on the Macintosh or copy an existing directory. The following problems existed in the Indigo Magic Desktop prior to 5.3: +o Sometimes, if there is a race condition at startup time, the objectserver does not start properly. You may - 2 - then see messages such as, "Cannot contact objectserver" or, in your /usr/adm/SYSLOG, "error opening FAM connection". You can try to recover from such problems by doing the following in a shell: $ su # /etc/init.d/mediad stop # /etc/init.d/cadmin stop # /etc/init.d/cadmin start # /etc/init.d/mediad start # exit and then, you can logout and log back in. If you still see this problem after going through the above steps, then you should contact your support provider. +o If there are errors when launching an application from the toolchest or the file manager, the output will go to the system console. If the console is not visible, the user will not notice the error. You can, however, cause all error output to go to a popup window. To do so, from the Desktop toolchest choose Customize, then choose the Desktop entry. In the customization panel select _D_i_s_p_l_a_y _A_p_p_l_i_c_a_t_i_o_n _E_r_r_o_r_s. This starts an additional process that will collect errors from any running application and pop them up in separate windows. +o Applications in the Indigo Magic Desktop are not guaranteed to work when displayed over the network to a non-Silicon Graphics display, as the applications use several Silicon Graphics extensions. +o Icon-based programs rely on the Network File System (NFS) and _a_u_t_o_m_o_u_n_t for many operations between machines. When working with remote directories, if either _a_u_t_o_m_o_u_n_t or NFS is off or the remote directory is not exported, certain actions, such as dragging a remote file onto the background, or double-clicking on it when it is on the background, may fail silently. However, regardless of the presence or absence of NFS, it is possible to copy files between two different machines by dragging the files from one directory view to another. +o When disabling the desktop through the use of the ._d_i_s_a_b_l_e_D_e_s_k_t_o_p file or through the cccchhhhkkkkccccoooonnnnffffiiiigggg ddddeeeesssskkkkttttoooopppp ooooffffffff command, a couple of features managed by the window manager will not be disabled. The window manager will still manage the backgrounds, and it will still save session management information (although it will not - 3 - attempt to restore the session on login). To disable the background management, add the line 4444DDDDwwwwmmmm****SSSSGGGG____uuuusssseeeeBBBBaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnnddddssss:::: FFFFAAAALLLLSSSSEEEE to your ._X_d_e_f_a_u_l_t_s or ._X_r_e_s_o_u_r_c_e_s file. To disable session management saving, add the lines 4444DDDDwwwwmmmm****SSSSGGGG____mmmmaaaannnnaaaaggggeeeeSSSSeeeessssssssiiiioooonnnn:::: FFFFAAAALLLLSSSSEEEE 4444DDDDwwwwmmmm****SSSSGGGG____aaaauuuuttttooooSSSSaaaavvvveeee:::: FFFFAAAALLLLSSSSEEEE to your ._X_d_e_f_a_u_l_t_s or ._X_r_e_s_o_u_r_c_e_s file. It would also be a good idea to remove any 4Dwm files that may have already been created in the ._d_e_s_k_t_o_p-<_h_o_s_t_n_a_m_e> directory. (These lines should all be removed if you ever reenable the desktop.) +o If a menu is posted in the file manager or the icon catalog, and then is posted in another window before the first is unposted, both menus may post and a warning message similar to the following may be issued: Warning: Name: menuBar Class: XmRowColumn XtGrabKeyboard failed This error can be ignored. The following problems occur in the toolchest: +o The toolchest does not notice changes to its configuration file until it is restarted. +o If the toolchest orientation is switched between horizontal and vertical in the Windows customization panel, the toolchest orientation changes immediately. However, the customization panel tries to restart the window manager. The reason for this restart is so the window manager will pick up the change and reposition the window manager icons appropriately relative to the new position of the toolchest. Therefore the window manager should be restarted. +o The toolchest is not restarted by session management. Instead, to guarantee that toolchest starts, it is explicitly launched at startup by the ._X_s_e_s_s_i_o_n._d_t file. This will not affect most users. However, users who wish to start up multiple toolchests with different contents must do so explicitly in their ._s_g_i_s_e_s_s_i_o_n files. +o The toolchest is always global to all desks; it cannot be placed independently in individual desks. +o Users who were running Indigo Magic under release 5.1 who change their hostname may find that the titlebar - 4 - still shows the old hostname. In release 5.1, the initial desk was named the same as the hostname. Renaming the host does not rename the desk. The desk can be renamed using the desks overview. In the current release, the initial desk is no longer named the same as the hostname, to eliminate this confusion. The following problems occur in the desks overview: +o The windows list does not properly update after the deleting of a desk. Sometimes it may be necessary to close the windows list, deiconify some window on the desk, then bring up the windows list again. +o Typing <Ctrl>-N very fast can cause desks to be created without a default name and with the incorrect size. Renaming the desk will correct the default name problem and choosing a new desk scale value will correct the sizing problem. +o 4Dwm button bindings on button 1 over the client window (such as ``app'' or ``window'') context may prevent the overview from detecting a double-click of button 1, thus interfering with switching desks. +o Users who were running Indigo Magic under release 5.1 who change their hostname may find that they still have a desk that shows the old hostname. In release 5.1, the initial desk was named the same as the hostname. Renaming the host does not rename the desk. The desk can be renamed using the desks overview. In the current release, the initial desk is no longer named the same as the hostname, to eliminate this confusion. The following problems occur in the file manager: +o On machines with multiple displays, the file manager and icon catalog will run only on a single display. +o File icon windows will always be restored to their previous state, even if explicit session management is in use. +o Problems occur when devices are in a ``busy'' state. The device's icon will change to show an unloaded icon and errors (which will be directed to the console window) may occur when attempting to remove the device's media via the ``eject'' command. Applications such as _C_D_m_a_n and _D_A_T_m_a_n place their respective devices in this ``busy'' state once they are run, so if you wish to remove the media you must first close these - 5 - applications before ejecting the media. +o If the file /_u_s_r/_l_i_b/_f_i_l_e_t_y_p_e/_d_e_s_k_t_o_p._o_t_r is accidentally removed, the file manager will not run. A message will appear in the console, stating "You need to call Panel-registerCategory(CategoryName)." Become root, cd to /_u_s_r/_l_i_b/_f_i_l_e_t_y_p_e, and run make. +o If you insert a blank tape in the tape drive, the icon that appears will be the icon for a music tape. The right mouse menu has an entry which will allow you to write files to this tape. +o If the file manager is not running on the background, some changes made by the customization panels will not have an effect and drag-and-drop onto the background will not be possible. +o Options under the Arrange menu item pertain to all icons in the directory view and not to selected groups of icons. +o The View As List option can be very slow with a large number ( > 256 ) of files and has trouble displaying linked directories. +o After login, file manager windows may be on different desks from those they were on when you last logged out. +o It is possible to have two icons for the same file. This will only happen when they came from two separate sources (for example, automount versus NFS). The following problems occur in the icon catalog: +o If extra pages are created in the icon catalog, they will not be listed in the toolchest until the icon catalog is started. +o If you keep remote icons in your icon catalog, such as tape or disk drives or people from other hosts, these icons may not appear on startup. This occurs if the remote machine has been disconnected from the network or its object server is turned off. To turn any machine's object server back on, log in to that system as root and type: ssssuuuu ////eeeettttcccc////iiiinnnniiiitttt....dddd////ccccaaaaddddmmmmiiiinnnn ssssttttoooopppp cccchhhhkkkkccccoooonnnnffffiiiigggg oooobbbbjjjjeeeeccccttttsssseeeerrrrvvvveeeerrrr oooonnnn ////eeeettttcccc////iiiinnnniiiitttt....dddd////ccccaaaaddddmmmmiiiinnnn ssssttttaaaarrrrtttt eeeexxxxiiiitttt - 6 - The following problems occur in the search tool: +o When match criteria are removed from a search, subsequently added match criteria are sometimes displayed without enough vertical space. To fix this simply resize the window vertically a bit. +o If extra pages are created in the search tool, they will not be listed in the toolchest until the search tool is started. +o If a printer is not supported by Impressario, the resolution is treated as zero dots per inch. +o Searching for anything but files depends on there being a running directory server on your network. Directory servers will only cache information broadcast to them by object servers. Thus, you can only query information about hosts that are running object servers. To recap this three-step chain: Hosts of interest must be running object servers. Those object servers must be able to broadcast to a directory server. That directory server caches the information and is queried by the search tool. For full information on setting up object servers on any host and a directory server on your network, see the system administration documentation. Once you have established a directory server on your network the following troubleshooting information may be useful. NNNNeeeettttwwwwoooorrrrkkkk ttttiiiimmmmeeeeoooouuuutttt eeeerrrrrrrroooorrrrssss The search tool attempts to contact a directory server in two steps. First, a short ``ping'' is sent onto the network to locate a server. This ping will be tried first on the local subnet and then on others that are one, two, three, and so forth, up to eight multicast hops away. If one replies, then the actual query is sent to it. If a reply is received within 30 seconds (customizable - 7 - through the SSSSeeeeaaaarrrrcccchhhhBBBBooooooookkkk****ddddssssTTTTiiiimmmmeeeeoooouuuutttt resource) the search tool remembers the network address of the directory server and tries to use it again during subsequent searches. If any network errors occur while using a remembered address the tool will throw away that address and start over by pinging to find another directory server. If no reply is received within 30 seconds, the search tool will display an error dialog: ``Timed out trying to find a directory server''. This error will occur if either the directory server cannot be reached from your network, or your directory server is very busy. To test if your directory server is running and can be reached, type the following: ////uuuussssrrrr////eeeettttcccc////ppppiiiinnnngggg ----TTTT 8888 222222224444....0000....1111....2222 This will cause all directory servers within eight multicast hops to respond with their host numbers. You can get their hostnames from the host numbers using _n_s_l_o_o_k_u_p (if you are running NIS). If no response is received, recheck your directory server setup. If a response is received, then your network connection to the directory server is working. Next, check the conditions on the directory server machine. If this system is a server, bursts of CPU activity (for example, CPU-intensive programs) can momentarily delay responses past the 30-second mark and cause timeouts. In this case you may consider either increasing the timeout interval by setting it in /_u_s_r/_l_i_b/_X_1_1/_a_p_p-_d_e_f_a_u_l_t_s/_S_e_a_r_c_h_B_o_o_k or by running a second directory server on another host, preferably one whose CPU loading is complimentary to the first. SSSSeeeeaaaarrrrcccchhhh mmmmiiiissssssssiiiinnnngggg eeeexxxxppppeeeecccctttteeeedddd iiiitttteeeemmmmssss When you conduct a search, the items that you expect to see may not appear, if one of these three conditions exists: 1. The host containing the items you expected to see is not running an object server, or that host just started to run an object server and it has not finished sending local information out to the directory server. In most cases this broadcasting of local information finishes within 15 minutes. If you depend on another directory server to update your local directory server, the wait will be longer. - 8 - 2. The host containing the items you expected to see is farther than four multicast hops away from the directory server. 3. You are contacting a local directory server that is being updated by another directory server containing the information you expected to see, and the two directory servers are farther than four multicast hops apart. The following problems occur in the customization panels: +o Most resources changed by the customization panels are saved in the directory $_H_O_M_E/._d_e_s_k_t_o_p-<_h_o_s_t_n_a_m_e>. For applications so customized to pick up these resources, the environment variable $_X_U_S_E_R_F_I_L_E_S_E_A_R_C_H_P_A_T_H should be set to include this directory. By default, the desktop sets this variable correctly. However, if the variable is changed in one of the user's configuration files (ex., ._l_o_g_i_n or ._p_r_o_f_i_l_e), the applications will not be able to pick up the changes. Whenever a setting is changed through a customization panel, the variable $_X_U_S_E_R_F_I_L_E_S_E_A_R_C_H_P_A_T_H is checked. If it does not begin with $_H_O_M_E/._d_e_s_k_t_o_p-<_h_o_s_t_n_a_m_e>, a warning will be issued. +o In general, if any customization panel attempts to modify a resource that the user already has specified in their ._X_d_e_f_a_u_l_t_s or ._X_r_e_s_o_u_r_c_e_s file, the user's setting will not be overridden and no message will indicate this fact. The setting may have no effect, or it may have an effect until the user logs out, after which it will revert to the setting in the ._X_d_e_f_a_u_l_t_s or ._X_r_e_s_o_u_r_c_e_s file. +o AAAAuuuuddddiiiioooo CCCCoooonnnnttttrrrroooollll (_a_p_a_n_e_l): The audio control panel differs from the other customization panels in icon appearance and panel layout. It is also invoked from a different menu item in the toolchest. For more information on sound in the Indigo Magic Desktop, see Appendix A. +o DDDDeeeesssskkkkttttoooopppp SSSSeeeettttttttiiiinnnnggggssss (_d_e_s_k_t_o_p): If an icon is near the screen edge when you resize them, the icons might reappear a bit offscreen. Reposition them as needed. If soundscheme is not running, toggling on _D_e_s_k_t_o_p _S_o_u_n_d_s will have no effect. For more information on sound, see Appendix A. - 9 - +o WWWWiiiinnnnddddoooowwww SSSSeeeettttttttiiiinnnnggggssss (_w_i_n_d_o_w_s): You must restart 4Dwm after changing the toolchest orientation. Otherwise the window manager will not reposition any icons relative to the new toolchest position, and may place icons such that they overlap the toolchest. +o MMMMoooouuuusssseeee SSSSeeeettttttttiiiinnnnggggssss (_m_o_u_s_e): The on-line help mentions that you may toggle the mouse between right-handed and left-handed behavior, but does not explain what this means. Essentially, the right and left mouse buttons switch their functionality. Note that once you have selected the left-handed radio button, you must use the right mouse button to select the right-handed radio button to return to a right-handed mouse configuration. The following problems occur in the background manager: +o If icons are on the background, mouse buttons 1 and 2 (left and middle) are used for icon management, so window manager menus are only available on mouse button 3 (right). Icons on the background will not necessarily work with any window manager other than 4Dwm. If you should use an alternate window manager, be aware that entries on the window manager menu that refer to the selected icon will not appear on that window manager menu. +o Even if icons are not on the background, if you create a background other than through the Background customization panel or through the _x_s_e_t_r_o_o_t command, the background will still be changed when switching desks, and will not be restored when returning to the original desk. To completely disable the desktop managing the background, add the line 4444DDDDwwwwmmmm****SSSSGGGG____uuuusssseeeeBBBBaaaacccckkkkggggrrrroooouuuunnnnddddssss:::: FFFFAAAALLLLSSSSEEEE to your ._X_d_e_f_a_u_l_t_s or ._X_r_e_s_o_u_r_c_e_s file. +o On machines with only a single colormap (mostly older hardware), some of the backgrounds from the background customization panel may flash when running GL applications. To eliminate the flashing, bring up the color chooser on the Background customization panel, and choose colors from the palette colors at the top of the panel. +o Should all icons suddenly disappear from the background (along with any file manager windows that may be showing), they can be restored by selecting Home Directory from the Desktop toolchest. - 10 - +o In some cases, if icons on the background are restarted through the use of Home Directory from the toolchest, dropping icons on the background will fail. Should this happen, log out and log back in. The following problems occur in the remote directory tool (_n_e_w_d_i_r): +o If your $_D_I_S_P_L_A_Y environment variable is not properly set to your full hostname, the remote file manager may not be able to find your machine's address and an error will be shown in the console window. +o The drop pockets for the Open Remote Directory and As User fields reflect the local machine, regardless of which host is selected. Simply enter the desired information in these fields and disregard any icons which may or may not appear in the drop pockets. +o The remote file manager (which is invoked by the remote directory tool) will not automatically be in Gallery mode for a remote photo CDROM. The user needs to explicitly choose View from the File Manager menu and select ``as Gallery''. +o Opening a remote directory will only work if the remote site has the the file manager installed. If the Network File System (NFS) is installed locally, automount is enabled, and the remote site is exporting that file system, it is possible to get to the remote directory by opening it locally, prefixing the pathname with /_h_o_s_t_s/<_m_a_c_h_i_n_e_n_a_m_e> (where <_m_a_c_h_i_n_e_n_a_m_e> is the machine name). The following problems occur in the output manager (_o_u_t_p_u_t_d): +o Killing _o_u_t_p_u_t_d will cause any application that was launched while _o_u_t_p_u_t_d was running to die if it tries to produce any output. If one application is launched from the desktop, and another application is launched from the first, the title in the _o_u_t_p_u_t_d window will show the first application, not the new one. Sometimes this connection can be obscure. For example, certain daemons, such as _t_o_o_l_t_a_l_k, are launched by the first processes that needs them. Other applications using the daemons just connect to them. Any output produced by the daemon will appear to be from the first process.