NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20 / NN_1992_20.iso / spool / comp / windows / openloo / 3748 < prev next >

Wrap

Internet Message Format | 1992-09-08 | 51.6 KB

Xref: sparky comp.windows.open-look:3748 comp.windows.x:16264 alt.toolkits.xview:833 Newsgroups: comp.windows.open-look,comp.windows.x,alt.toolkits.xview Path: sparky!uunet!uunet.ca!wildcan!sq!lee From: lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin) Subject: OPEN LOOK GUI frequently asked questions Message-ID: <1992Sep7.031417.7245@sq.sq.com> Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada X-Feet: bare Date: Mon, 7 Sep 92 03:14:17 GMT Lines: 1112 Frequently-asked questions about the OPEN LOOK Graphical User Interface. If your question isn't here, please try (at *least*) man openwin man xnews man 7 xview and looking in the appropriate manuals listed in the Bibliography below before posting to the comp.windows.open-look, comp.windows.x or | alt.toolkits.xview newsgroups and/or their corresponding mailing lists. | | Frequently Asked Questions for X11 are posted to comp.windows.x monthly. | | This is version: $Revision: 1.34 $; Last posted version: 1.32 | Contents: (in rn and trn you can use control-G to go to the next topic) Subject: Terminology: OPEN LOOK, OpenWindows, X11, XView, (MO)OLIT, Motif Subject: Window Managers -- olwm, olvwm Subject: OpenWindows, Terminals, and Other Displays Subject: Configuration Files: Getting started with OpenWindows Subject: Key Bindings, Cut and Paste Subject: Applications: General Subject: Applications: PostScript previewers... Subject: Applications: Application Builders Subject: Applications: XView Extensions Subject: Troubleshooting: It Won't Let Me Type Subject: Troubleshooting: Not authorized to use display Subject: Trouble Shooting: other common problems Subject: Trouble Shooting: XView problems Subject: Fonts Subject: Environment Variables Subject: Where Can I get It? Ftp, implementations, etc... Subject: Bibliography -- books, manuals, journals, papers, beer-mats Subject: Getting this File, Revision History, Recent Changes Subject: Terminology: OPEN LOOK, OpenWindows, X11, XView, OLIT, MOOLIT, Motif @ What is OPEN LOOK? OPEN LOOK is a specification of a Graphical User Interface (GUI). A GUI determines the `look and feel' of a system -- the shape of windows, buttons and scroll-bars, how you resize things, how you edit files, etc. The OPEN LOOK GUI is specified, developed and maintained jointly by Sun Microsystems and AT&T. See Also: Bibliography @ What is OpenWindows? OpenWindows is a windowing environment that conforms to the OPEN LOOK Graphical User Interface Specifications. It's compatible with the X11 window system from MIT as well as Sun's NeWS and SunView, so you can intermix programs written for any of those systems. It comes from Sun and with System V Release 4 from certain vendors. OpenWindows is sometimes also called openwin or xnews, after the program used to start it and the main executable itself, respectively. You can license the source from Sun. See Also: Mixing X11 and OpenWindows Where can I get it? @ What are OLIT, XView and TNT? These are all toolkits for programmers to use in developing programs that conform to the OPEN LOOK specifications. See the Bibliography for documentation on the individual toolkits. Here's a brief summary: OLIT is AT&T's OPEN LOOK Intrinsics Toolkit for the X Window system; it uses a widget set, and is probably the easiest for people who are already X11 programmers to learn. You can buy the source from AT&T. Sun includes the OLIT library in OpenWindows (q.v.); it may also be included in System V Release 4. It's written in C. The current version of OLIT (included in OpenWindows, or available from AT&T) is 2.5. The release of OLIT in OpenWindows 3.0 is OLIT 3.0. See also: MOOLIT [sic] XView is Sun's toolkit for X11, written in C. This one is more obviously object-oriented than OLIT, and is similar in programmer interface to SunView. There's even a program to help migrate source code from SunView to XView. XView is often said to be the easiest toolkit to learn. The XView toolkit is included in OpenWindows, and full source is available by anonymous ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu (and elsewhere). The current version of XView from Sun is 3.0. The NeWS Toolkit (TNT) is an object-oriented programming system based on the PostScript language and NeWS. TNT implements many of the OPEN LOOK interface components required to build the user interface of an application. It's included in OpenWindows. The current version of TNT from Sun is 3.0; Release 3.0 contains some incompatibilities with tNt 1.0 [other than the NEW cApItAlIzAtIoN :-)]. The C++ User Interface Toolkit (UIT) consists of an object-oriented C++ class library layered on top of XView and a tool to generate code from DevGuide 3 GIL files. The UIT also includes features that simplify event management and the use of PostScript and color. It is said to be compatible with OpenWindows V2 and V3, and presumably V3.0.1, since the release mentions that it works on Solaris 2. UIT is not an official Sun-supported product but an ongoing project of various people within Sun. It can be found on export.lcs.mit.edu in the MIT contrib directory as UITV2.tar.Z (use binary mode!). @ Where does Motif fit in? It doesn't :-). Motif is an alternative Graphical User Interface that is being developed by OSF. It has a `look and feel' reminiscent of Microsoft Windows and the OS/2 Presentation Manager. There are no non- commercial Motif toolkits available, although the Motif source is sold reasonably cheaply by OSF. Although Motif is currently available on more platforms than OpenWindows, the OPEN LOOK GUI is almost certainly used on many more machines, simply because Sun (and SysVR4) have such a large installed base. Sun's CD/WARE Volume 2 contains a roadmap for improving Motif applications by converting them to OLIT [:-)]; there are also notes in the `Periodic Table' OLIT demo, $OPENWINHOME/demo/olittable. | @ What is MOOLIT? MOOLIT is a version of OLIT from AT&T that lets users choose between a Motif and an OPEN LOOK UI feel at run-time. It will be part of System V Release 4.2, which may also contain an X11R5 that supports Adobe's Type Manager (ATM). It isn't clear whether MOOLIT will replace OLIT. Contact: Joanne Newbauer, jo@usl.com, (908) 522-6677 Subject: Window Managers -- olwm, olvwm @ What are olwm and olvwm? They are window managers. A window manager is the part of the X Window system (e.g. X11) that is responsible for deciding how to lay out windows on the screen, and for managing the user's interaction with the windows. Olwm is the standard OPEN LOOK window manager. It's included with all of the OpenWindows (q.v.) implementations, and you can also get the source by ftp, since Sun donated it. Olvwm is a version of olwm that manages a `virtual desktop' (hence the `v' in its name). It shows a little map on the screen, with the currently displayed area represented by a little rectangle. You can move around by dragging the rectangle or with the arrow keys. This lets you run several clients (applications) and move the display around from one to the other. Olvwm was derived from the OpenWindows 3.0 olwm by Scott Oaks; you need to have XView 3.0 to compile it. Get olvwm from an ftp site such as export.lcs.mit.edu (in the contrib directory; there are two patches). @ Can I use my favorite window manager with OpenWindows instead of olwm? Yes. If you use twm, for example, or mwm, you won't be able to use the Pin and Unpin feature of olwm, and you (probably) won't see the footers some windows use to display certain messages. If you use twm, you'll want to use the f.delete function to unpin menus and get rid of programs that don't have a `quit' button when not run under olwm. | For twm, put this in your $HOME/.twmrc: + LeftTitleButton "target" = f.delete + where "target" is a 16x16 icon from /usr/include/X11/bitmaps. + Alternatively, try + # Add a menu to each window managed by twm or tvtwm + LeftTitleButton ":menu" = f.menu "OL.menu" + + menu "OL.menu" { + "Quit" f.delete + } + + For mwm, you can double-click on the menu icon on the left of the title + bar to dismiss a pop-up window (I am told). + + See the manual page for your window manager (twm, etc). | More OPEN LOOK programs are listed under Applications below. Subject: OpenWindows, Terminals, and Other Displays @ Can I use olwm and olvwm without OpenWindows or on an X Terminal? The OpenWindows xnews server combines SunView, NeWS (PostScript) and X11. This means that it can run programs compiled for any of those systems. Unfortunately, it means that some OpenWindows programs need either NeWS or SunView support, and thus won't run on an X terminal. This includes pageview in particular. You can use olwm or olvwm (see above) on an X terminal or a non-Open- Windows display, and most OPEN LOOK clients (e.g. OLIT or XView ones) will work perfectly well. You may find that you get complaints about fonts not being found. If so, see the Fonts section below. If you are running the window manager built-in to an NCD terminal, you may have problems with input focus; setting *Input: True in the terminal's XDefault file in /usr/lib/X11/xdm may or may not help. See Also: Applications: PostScript previewers Subject: Configuration Files: Getting started with OpenWindows @ What configuration files do I need to know about? .xinitrc and .xsessionrc The first time you run OpenWindows, a .xinitrc file will be created in your login directory ($HOME). If it already exists, you might have to edit it somewhat; it's simplest to move it and any other old X11 files you have to another directory, and then merge the old and new files. If your site uses xdm, you should use .xsession instead of .xinitrc, since xdm doesn't look at your .xinitrc file. .openwin-init, .openwin-menu and .openwin-sys These are optional files you can create in your $HOME directory, depending on which version of olwm or olvwm you use. Look in $OPENWINHOME/lib (normally /usr/openwin/lib) for these files without the leading . and copy any you want to change. You may need to edit your .xinitrc to get them recognized. If you are not on an X terminal, you will want to run a console window (such as cmdtool -C, shelltool -C, xterm -C) or Chuck Musciano's "contool" program so that system output will be directed there instead of writing over your screen. Note that .openwin-sys is not executed unless you edit .xinitrc. .Xdefaults You can put X Windows resource specifications in here. In particular, it is a good idea to include at least: OpenWindows.FocusLenience: true *Input: TRUE These allow non-ICCCM-compliant programs to receive input even if they forget to ask for it. Props, the program that runs when you select `properties' from the default root menu under olwm or olvwm, writes your choices into .Xdefaults. Don't put comments in .Xdefaults, since `props' deletes them. .startup.ps This is the NeWS user profile file, read by OpenWindows (actually xnews) on startup. This is documented in the NeWS programming manual, near the back. The most useful thing to put here is PostScript code to change the keyboard repeat rate, although you must be very careful, since a syntax error in the PostScript means that xnews will either not start up at all or will get broken in strange ways. The NeWS manual gives code that is both incorrect and insufficient. WARNING: things in this file rarely work on both OpenWindows 2 and 3. Note that the mouse speed is best set in your .xinitrc with xset m; see the man page for xset ("man xset", and "xset -help") for more information. Here's what $HOME/.startup.ps should look like if you want a delay of about a third of a second (300000 microseconds), and a repeat rate of twenty or so keys per second (30000 microseconds between repeats) for OpenWindows 3. You'll have to experiment a bit because the RepeatTime is the delay between keys sent, and thus doesn't include the time to process each key, which is probably higher on my 4/110 than on your SuperSPARC 10/51 GTi injection :-) Again, this is for OpenWindows 3... % don't want the demos - see p. xxxii of NeWS Toolkit Reference Manual % /IncludeDemos? false def UserProfile begin /KeyRepeatThresh 0 300000 timeval storetimeval def /KeyRepeatTime 0 30000 timeval storetimeval def % Note: 300000 and 30000 differ greatly... end You must also have a .user.ps file in the same directory, like this: /NeWS 3 0 findpackage beginpackage /TNTCore 3 0 findpackage beginpackage /TNT 3 0 findpackage beginpackage ClassRepeatKeys pop % force repeat.ps to autoload endpackage endpackage endpackage If you change these parameters, you can test them without restarting the OpenWindows server like this: $ psh -i .startup.ps Welcome to X11/NeWS Version3 $ psh -i Welcome to X11/NeWS Version3 /classinit ClassRepeatKeys send %%% now press control-D You can also either of these two files (.startup.ps and .user.ps) to make the root window be "retained", so that a PostScript drawing on the background won't be erased when you move windows: frambuffer /Retained true put will do this. Note that this may increase the amount of memory used by the NeWS server (xnews) dramatically. See also: Troubleshooting: It Won't Let Me Type Troubleshooting: Is there an easy way to edit Xdefaults? Environment Variables @ How can I configure OPEN LOOK for a left-handed mouse and keyboard? It's probably best to wait for OpenWindows 3.0, since some of the functions are hard-coded and can't be changed. In the mean-time, you can use xmodmap to change the mouse buttons, but be prepared for one or two occasional surprises. @ How can I get the screen to go blank when the system is idle? Run screenblank from /etc/rc.local if you can; it's a boring but effective screen saver. See `man screenblank'. Subject: Key Bindings, Cut and Paste [please tell me if this section is useful! -- Lee, lee@sq.com] @ How do I cut and paste between XTerm and OpenWindows programs? To go from XTerm to textedit (say): * Select the text you want to copy by dragging the SELECT mouse button in xterm * Press COPY in the XTerm (this key is L6, or Meta+c (the O'Reilly XView manual gets this wrong) * Move to the textedit window, and press PASTE (L8 or Meta+v) If this doesn't work, see Troubleshooting: Cut and Paste To go the other way, from textedit to XTerm: * Select the text in textedit. No need to use COPY * Move to the XTerm window and press ADJUST (the middle mouse button). * You can also use the COPY/CUT and PASTE buttons. @ COPY/PASTE is boring. What short-cuts are available? Quick Copy within textedit, mailtool, etc: * Click SELECT to get a text caret where you want the copied text to go * Press and HOLD DOWN the COPY (or CUT) button * Select the text you want to copy/move. You'll see that it's underlined or crossed out, as appropriate. (In the jed demo it goes grey) * Let go of the COPY or PASTE button. * The text you underlined or crossed out appears at the insert caret. Drag and Drop to Move a Selection * Select the text you want to copy or move, by dragging or miltiple- clicking the SELECT or ADJUST mouse button * Put the mouse pointer anywhere within the selection * Press and HOLD DOWN down the SELECT mouse button, and move the mouse pointer a little to the right; you'll see the cursor changes to be the first 3 letters of the text (or some other icon). * Still holding SELECT down, move the mouse over the point where you want to drop the text * You may see the mouse pointer change to a rifle-sight or target, to show that it's OK to drop things here * Let go of SELECT, and the text is moved. This works in text fields of dialogue boxes as well as in text subwindows. Drag and Drop to Copy a Selection * This is the same as using Drag and Drop to Move a Selection, except that you must hold the CONTROL key down as well as the SELECT mouse button. @ What are the default key bindings in textedit and elsewhere? See the man page for textedit(1) for some of them. In general, the editing/moving commands go in the opposite direction when shifted - e.g. Ctrl+w deletes a word, and Ctrl+W deletes the word to the right of the insert point. Meta-i - include file Meta-f - find selection (forward/backward) Ctrl-a - start of line Ctrl-< - back word Ctrl-e - end of line Ctrl-> - forward word Ctrl-w - delete word Ctrl-u - delete to start/END of line Ctrl-Return - move to end/START of document See the O'Reilly XView Reference Manual for a list of some of the default keys; see also the olwm or olvwm manual page. @ What can I put in my .ttysrc? Where is it documented? See the manual page for shelltool. Subject: Applications: General bibcard (ftp from iam.unibe.ch [130.92.64.10]; /X11/Bibcard-1.0.tar.Z) an OPEN LOOK font end to BibTeX. Includes source (needs XView) and SPARC binary for SunOS 4.1.1. contool (ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu) a special-purpose console-window that can filter out or take special action on specified console messages; written by Chuck Musciano. ftptool (ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu) an OPEN LOOK front-end to ftp (it uses XView) Hyperlook, from the Turing Institute Hypertext package written entirely in NeWS. Runtime from turing.com in /pub or ftp.uu.net (graphics/NeWS/HyperLook1.5-runtime.tar.Z) Maestro (ftp from sioux.stanford.edu) Multimedia authoring tools, including support for sound, text & video. Spider (Included in OpenWindows under `demo' and `share/src') A patience-style card game with two packs of cards and excellent bitmap cards. I suggest recompiling to allow the cards to have rounded edges. xvnews (ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu) An xview-based newsreader for netnews. xvttool (ftp from titan.rice.edu:sun-source) A vt100/102 emulator, in both XView and SunView versions. Includes buttons for the PF keys, etc. Commercial: Unfortunately it isn't possible to include commercial OPEN LOOK applications here, because of usage restrictions on networks. Contact SunSoft (or Sun) and ask for the Catalyst OPEN LOOK guide, which lists over 200 pages of applications. You can also get the free CDWare CD/ROM, which contains demo versions of several popular OPEN LOOK applications. Once you've done this, you can simply contact the vendor concerned to have the license upgraded from demo, and receive the full product documentation. Subject: Applications: PostScript previewers... pageview (included with OpenWindows) Only runs under OpenWindows. No Type 1 font support A good thing to try with colour OpnWindows 3 is pageview -aa -dpi 150. xps (included with OpenWindows under demo and share/src) Only runs under OpenWindows. psh (included with OpenWindows) simple interface to NeWS and the OpenWindows server Note that pageview, xps and psh are simply front ends to the X11/NeWS server in OpenWindows, and thus won't run on an X terminal or other non-OpenWindows server. ralpage (ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu in contrib/clients) Crispin Goswell's PostScript interpreter, much hacked. Not OPEN LOOK compliant. No Type 1 font support. There are other versions of this called `xps', `postscript', etc.; don't confuse this `xp' with the one mentioned above. ghostscript (from the Free Software Foundation) Supports Type 1 fonts. Subject: Applications: Application Builders DevGuide 3.0 (from Sun) [commercial] lets you use Drag and Drop to create an OPEN LOOK application with XView, OLIT, UIT or TNT (see Toolkits above). Very easy to use. XVT (from XVT Systems) [commercial] Lets you write code to a common subset of OPEN LOOK, Motif, Microsoft Windows, the Macintosh GUI, and even terminals (using curses). You buy an XVT toolkit for each environment. The XVT programmer's interface was recently selected by an IEEE committee as the basis for a portable GUI standard. ExoCode (from Expert Object) [commercial] was one of the first third-party GUI builders to support OPEN LOOK, using the XView toolkit. It was reviewed in SunExpert magazine in 1990. uib (from Solbourne) [commercial] uib is a user interface builder which supports building applications that support both OPEN LOOK and Motif. It generates code for Solbourne's OI C++ toolkit and can use user created subclasses. It is available from Solbourne. Contact Debra Frances debra@Solbourne.COM, +1 303 678-4626 There are OPEN LOOK versions of dirt and wcl either in progress or already available. Subject: Applications: XView Extensions Slingshot provides rectangles (like the Xt Intrinsics' RectObj gadget), drag-and-drop-aware images, icons and text, trees, lines, arrows... You will need a total of 3.3 Megabytes of disk space to compile the library and the example programs. Get it by ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu, in /contrib/slingshot-pkgs.tar.Z (remember to use binary mode in ftp!). You can also get it by sending mail to archive-server@gazooch.eng.sun.com with the body of each message containing a line like send sspkg Part01 Part02 going up to send sspkg Part15 Part16 You can ask for one file at a time to reduce the impact on intermediate mail sites. Ask the mail server for help with the Subject line: "help". A human can be reached at archive-manager@gazooch.eng.sun.com. There are also a number of commercial XView extensions, again listed in the Catalyst OPEN LOOK guide, such as XRT/Graph (for bar charts etc.), | as well as ports of XView and C++ wrappers such as Qualix's XV++. + I am making a list of commercial and free OPEN LOOK UI products; if you | send me details I shall be happy to include your product/pogram/... | Subject: Fonts @ Does OpenWindows support Type 1 PostScript fonts? No. If you have FrameMaker there is a utility to import them, I'm told. The 57 fonts supplied with OpenWindows are fully hinted, though, and comparing them to the Microsoft Windows and Apple TrueType fonts is interesting... The F3 font format is described in a publication from the Sun OpenFonts group, listed in the Bibliography below. Documentation on the unbundled version of TypeScaler is also available from Sun OpenFonts. Sun has a program that converts Type 1 fonts to Folio format, but it's not cheap. You can buy Folio fonts, although the Sun sales office I called weren't able to help me do so :-( The latest release of Sun's NeWSPrint supports Type 1 fonts. @ Improving font rendering time Although the Sun type renderer (TypeScaler) is pretty fast, it's not as fast as loading a bitmap :-). You can pre-generate bitmap fonts for sizes that you use a lot, and you can also alter and access the font cache parameters. If you have a lot of memory you might want to increase the font cache size. $ psh -i Welcome to X11/NeWS Version3 <--- psh will say this at you currentfontmem = % type this line ... 300 % and here's whai my server was using -- 300 Kbytes 1024 setfontmem % Just to check: currentfontmem = 1024 See pp. 328ff of the NeWS 3.0 Programmer's Guide. You need to say psh -i so that the PostScript packages are loaded - see the psh man page. @ Making bitmap fonts for faster startup: $ mkdir $HOME/myfonts $ cd $HOME/myfonts $ makeafb -20 -M $OPENWINHOME/lib/fonts/Bembo.f3b Creating Bembo20.afb $ convertfont -b Bembo20.afb Bembo20.afb->./Bembo20.fb Chars parameter greater than number of characters supplied. $ ls Bembo20.afb Bembo20.fb Synonyms.list $ bldfamily * Bembo ./Bembo.ff (Encoding: latin) cat: ./Compat.list: No such file or directory $ xset +fp `pwd` $ xset fp rehash If you want the server to see your new font directory every time, add this directory to your FONTPATH environment variable in one of your start-up files, e.g. .login or .profile. @ Converting between font formats (convertfont, etc.) You can also use Folio fonts with an X11 server, by converting them to a bitmap (X11 bdf format) first. Your licence forbids you from using the fonts on another machine, and unless you have NeWSPrint you shouldn't use them for printing. Having said all that... you can use makeafb and convertfont to generate bdf files that you can compile with bdftosnf or bdftopcf. Use mftobdf (from the SeeTeX distribution) to convert TeX pk fonts to X11 bdf format, which you can then use with either X11 or OenWindows. @ Xview/OLIT fonts at 100 dpi There aren't any. More precisely, the various text fonts, such as Lucida Typewriter Sans, are available at 100 dpi, and in fact are scalable under OpenWindows. The glyph fonts are bitmaps, and don't scale very well. Subject: Troubleshooting: It Won't Let Me Type @ When I try to type into some programs, I just get beeps or nothing happens It is a good idea to include at least: OpenWindows.FocusLenience: true *Input: TRUE in your .Xdefaults file, as these allow non-ICCCM-compliant programs to receive input even if they forget to ask for it. See the next item for editing .Xdefaults Subject: Troubleshooting: Cut and Paste not working @ I can't paste between xterm and XView or deskset programs Under OpenWindows 2, you need to add the following either to your $HOME/.Xdefaults file, or to $OPENWINHOME/lib/app-defaults/XTerm instead: XTerm*VT100.Translations: #override \ <Key>L6:select-set(CLIPBOARD)\n\ <Key>L8:insert-selection(CLIPBOARD) You must not move the mouse between ending the selection and pressing + L8 (the Paste key)! + + Under OpenWindows 3, this is already in the app-defaults file, so if it isn't working, check that XFILESEARCHPATH is set to /usr/openwin/lib/%T/%N%S and if it isn't, either set it or copy/merge the above lines from $OPENWINHOME/lib/app-defaults/XTerm into /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/XTerm. [See also: Environment Variables] This version automatically puts each xterm selection onto the clipboard: + XTerm*VT100.translations: #override\n\ + ~Ctrl ~Meta<Btn2Up>: insert-selection(PRIMARY,CUT_BUFFER0)\n\ + ~Ctrl ~Meta<BtnUp>: select-end(PRIMARY,CUT_BUFFER0,CLIPBOARD)\n\ + <KeyPress>L8: insert-selection(CLIPBOARD) + [Note: be sure that the \n\ is at the very end of the line, there must + be no following spaces, and any + or | signs showing that this FAQ file + was altered must also be removed!] + + Adding the lines + <Key>L10: start-extend() select-end(PRIMARY, CLIPBOARD, CUT_BUFFER0)\n\ + <KeyRelease>L10: kill-selection() \n + will even make L10 (CUT) work as a cut key! [untested] + + If you alter $HOME/.Xdefaults instead, you must use what X calls a + `more specific' resource name: + xterm.vt100.translations + will do. + + @ I always get the same piece of text whn I press PASTE (L8, Meta+v) Remove the file /tmp/textsw_shelf and see if that helps; see also the next item. * Cut Copy and Paste don't work at all (OpenWindows only) Oh dear. Use ps -xuaww | grep xv to check that sv_xv_sel_svc is running and that either you or root started it, depending on whether you started OpenWindows with "openwin" or by logging in through xdm. If not, start it. If it dies, check that there is no /tmp/.sv_xv_sel_svc before restarting it - you may need to be root to remove it, or you can reboot your workstation. Check that there is space in /tmp (use "df /tmp"), and also see if there are a lot of files there with names like /tmp/tty.txt.a01246; if there are several hundred of them, cut and paste may take so long that it times out. Quit any deskset tools such as mailtool, filemgr and cm (calendar), start a terminal emulator and remove and /tmp/tty.txt* and /tmp/Text* files that are still there. It's simplest to quit openwin and start it again after doing that, if cut and paste was broken, but if it starts working again you can just carry on. Note that files in /tmp not owned by you might be in use by another worker comrade, so don't remove thos without checking first! Subject: Troubleshooting: Not authorized to use display If you get error messages that look like Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server Xlib: Internal error during connection authorization check Error: Can't Open display try, on the machine running OpenWindows or X11, xhost +machine where "machine" is the computer on which you ran the command that failed. If you want to let other users run programs on the same machine as you, using your display, you will have to type the bizarre-looking xhost +`hostname` (or xhost +happyboy, if happyboy is the name of your workstation). This lets ANY user on `happyboy' access your display. With OpenWindows 3.0 you can also use xauth, and the Programmer's Guide describes how to do this in Chapter 8, p. 101. This is more secure. [Also note that there is a CERT advisory notice and a Sun patch for users of OpenWindows 3.0 under SunOS 4.1.1 to fix a serious security problem.] On an X Terminal, there may be a setup menu that lets you change or disable the list of hosts that can access the display. If you start getting this message after you've been logged in overnight, + there might be a cron job that's removing the Unix sockets in /tmp + that are used to communicate with the server when $DISPLAY doesn't have + a hostname before the :, or is empty. Have the system administrator + change the cron script to skip sockets. + + Subject: Trouble Shooting: other common problems @ I get console error messages on my screen and they don't go away (Sun 3 or 4) If "refresh" makes the messages vanish, but new ones come along later, you need to run "xterm -C" from your .xinitrc, or start one up in the background and then choose Save Workspace from the Workspace->Utilities menu. Better still, pick up "contool" and run that. Get it from export.lcs.mit.edu in the contrib directory. It will monitor the console and open, flash its icon or beep when a message appears; it's very easy to configure. If "refresh" from the Workspace->Utilities menu doesn't make the messages, go away... a Sun with a cg4 frame buffer has two screens - you can move the mouse off the right-hand (by default) edge of the screen and onto a whole new (but monochrome) display, called ":0.1". See the man. page for openwin; I have a shell script that checks for this and, if there's a /dev/cgfour0, does openwin -dev /dev/cgfour0 -dev /dev/bwtwo0 If you are running X11 or OpenWindows 2, you might need to add this to your .xinitrc or other startup file: ( eval `svenv -display unix:0.1 -env` olvwm -display unix:0.1 ) & Later releases of olwm and olvwm do this automatically. You can also run switcher -e 0 to get rid of the messages. Also, see the note about contool, above. @ Is there an easy way of editing .Xdefaults? Use `props', which appears in the default root menu as `properties'. This starts `props', a property editor which will re-write your .Xdefaults after removing comments. It then applies any changes. Keep comments by using "comment." instead of "!", for example, | comment.*.font: Palatino-Italic-37 | @ How do I get the File manager to use emacs instead of textedit? set the default editor to sh -c "exec emacs -font lucidasanstypewriter-18 \"$FILE\"" (you can change the font if you prefer a smaller one) @ How do I run OpenWindows in inverse video? This tends not to work under OpenWindows 2. With OpwnWindows 3.0, there are various ways, including using -bg and -fg options. If you're using OpenWindows 2 on a Sun 3 , probably the best you can do (short of upgrading the workstation to a SPARC!) is to use xterm instead of cmdtool. @ Why don't flat check-boxes work? A known bug may make Guide's output dump core if you use these. A workaround is to edit the Guide output, as it's only Guide's output that's broken, not the actual check-box code. This applies only to versions of DevGuide before Devguide 3.0. If you're still using an ancient DevGuide, you should upgrade as soon as possible; the new one is fantastic! @ When I leave OpenWindows, my screen goes blank or my mouse cursor stays on the screen. Try running clear_colormap; if this helps, put it as the last line in the shell script you use to start OpenWindows (e.g. `openwin'). @ When I use snapshot, the system crashes, or the server hangs, or something. This was a bug related to some systems only. The only work-round was to use some other screen dump program, such as xwd, xv 2.21 or xgrabsc. @ Why have some of my function keys stopped working? Keys F11 and F12 changed from SunF36 and SunF37 to SunXK_F36 and SunXK_F37 respectively in OpenWindows 3. Applications must be recompiled, or you might be able to use xmodmap or the public domain xkeycaps program to change your keyboard layout back again. @ When I type shelltool or cmdtool or textedit, I get the Sunview version Set your path so that $OPENWINHOME/bin and $OPENWIN/bin/xview come before /bin (or /usr/bin, they're the same), or you'll get the SunView versions of mailtool, cmdtool, shelltool, etc. (see also next item) @ Mixing X11 and OpenWindows (see also next item) Note that OpenWindows 3.0 includes the X11R4 core distribution (to patch level 18), but not the contrib directory. These notes apply to OpenWindows 2.0, although you could also the same sort of thing with OpenWindows 3.0 and X11R5. Install the X11 libraries in /usr/lib/X11. You can intermix OpenWindows and X11R4 or X11R5, they're all compatible in this respect. Put the X11 binaries in (for example) /usr/bin/X11. Put /usr/bin/X11 last in your PATH, so that you get OpenWindows versions of programs instead of X11 ones where appropriate, although this is a matter of preference. In any event, put the OpenWindows bin directory first -- see the preceding item for more details on that. If you have /bin (or /usr/bin, they're the same directory on SunOS) earlier in your PATH than $OPENWINHOME/bin/xview, you'll get SunView programs instead of OpenWindows ones! Set LD_LIBRARY_PATH so that /usr/openwin/lib is last, after the X11 library directory. This doesn't matter with OpenWindows 3.0, but with older versions you'll get error messages from X11 programs if you don't do this. The messages are generally harmless (see next item), although xdm core dumps if this isn't right. Set OPENWINHOME to the directory containing OpenWindows if it isn't /usr/openwin. See Also: Environment Variables @ I get error messages on my screen about ld.so: libX11.so.4 not found set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to be /usr/openwin. If you also use X11, use /usr/lib:/usr/5lib:/usr/openwin/lib If you put this in a shell script or your .profile, use ${OPENWINHOME-/usr/openwin}/lib instead of /usr/openwin; this is for /bin/sh; for csh it is different. @ I launch my filemgr and I get ld.so:map heap error (9) at /dev/zero Your system needs to be patched. Look in $OPENWINHOME/lib/OSpatches and install the patch. @ Why doesn't AnswerBook run for me? You must be running OpenWindows to use AnswerBook. It won't run under X11 (on an X terminal or on anything else) because it uses NeWS to draw the PostScript text and pictures. If you are using OpenWindows 3.0, you need to use the OpenWindows 3.0 compatible navigator; it's called .navigator.ow3 on the AnswerBook CD/ROM. If all AnswerBook users are using OpenWindows 3.0, you can replace navigator wih .navigator.ow3 altogether (rename the old one first to satisfy your sense of paranoia!) The navigator.ow3 binary is also on CD/Ware Vol 2. @ Why aren't there any fish in realxfishdb? + A fixed version of realxfishdb is available by ftp from + ftp.eng.auburn.edu [131.204.10.91] as /pub/xrealfishdb.Z + + @ Why is the Properties choice disabled in the Window menu? It isn't implemented yet. Many programs do respond to the Properties + Key (L3), though, or have a pop-up menu with Properties on it. + @ File completion in the C-shell is broken in cmdtool Sadly true, but use shelltool or xterm instead and it's fine. It also works if you run command tool on a remote machine. Fixed in OpenWindows 3.0.1 shipped with Solaris 2. @ When I run OLIT programs, some of the widgets are red! Release 3 of OLIT added mouseless operation; action widgets can be selected via the keyboard. The currently selected item is highlighted in red (the `Red Stain') to show that it has the input focus. | To disable it in most places, add this to your $HOME/.Xdefaults file: *traversalOn: off *TextEdit.traversalOn: on *TextField.traversalOn: on You can change the colour using (for example) *InputFocusColor: grey50 *input*FocusColor: green See the man page resources(3w), at the start of the OLIT 3 Widget Set Reference Manual included in the OpenWindows 3 programmer documentation. There is an OLIT `Jumbo Patch' that lets you make the Red Stain go away + altogether; I assume that this is available from Sun. + @ XDM breaks things Command tool doesn't like being run without a Unix `controlling terminal'. Use /etc/setsid to start your command tools and all will be well. SunView applications may need to be run with svenv, as in svenv -exec /usr/bin/traffic because xdm won't set the necessary environment variables. Note that the MIT xdm starts up the X server as root, which is a security hole for OpenWindows; use the OpenWindows 3.0 xdm or be aware that your users can access files and start Unix processes ass root... @ Function keys 11 and 12 stopped working In OpenWindows 3.0, the X11 names ("keysyms") for these keys was changed to SunXK_F36 and SunXK_F37. Code which uses them should be recompiled, or you might be able to get away with xmodmap -e 'keysym SunXK_F36 = SunF36' Subject: Trouble Shooting: XView problems This section is here only until an XView FAQ appears, which has been promised, but hasn't reached here. Note that there is also a usenet newsgroup, alt.toolkits.xview, although it doesn't sem to have very wide distribution and has triffic of the order of one or two articles per month. You should also look at the FAQ in comp.windows.x. @ how do I set the font of individual Scrolling List items? PANEL_LIST_FONT takes an int row_number and an Xv_opaque font_handle. PANEL_LIST_FONTS take a NULL terminated list of Xv_opaque font_handles. There is no easy way to make an entire list fixed width font. You have to make sure that you always specify PANEL_LIST_FONT when you insert a new row into that list, or write a convenience function insert_row(list, row, string) that hides the nasty bits. @ how do I keep an XView pop-up window displayed after a button is pressed? + In the button callback, do + xv_set(button, PANEL_NOTIFY_STATUS, XV_ERROR, NULL); + This will keep the window visible. + + @ how do I make an XView button look pressed? + call panel_begin_preview() and panel_cancel_preview(); these are + documented in -- er -- the XView 3 source... + + @ OpenWindows 3 imake doesn't work properly + Here is Greg Earle's patch, to be applied in $OPENWINHOME; note that you + should edit lib/config/sun.cf afterwards to get OSName and + OSMinorVersion right (MinorVersion is 1 in SunOS 4.1.2, for example). + I have edited the patch a little, so any bugs are mine [lee@sq.com] :-) + *** bin/xmkmf.orig Wed Sep 18 07:02:02 1991 --- bin/xmkmf Tue Aug 6 00:39:20 1991 *************** *** 30,34 **** elif [ -n "$OPENWINHOME" ]; then ! args="-DUseInstalled "$OPENWINHOME/lib/config else --- 30,34 ---- elif [ -n "$OPENWINHOME" ]; then ! args="-I$OPENWINHOME/lib/config -DUseInstalled -DXCOMM="/**/#" else *** lib/config/site.def.orig Wed Sep 18 01:26:19 1991 --- lib/config/site.def Tue Aug 6 00:44:37 1991 *************** *** 0 **** --- 1,7 ---- + #define BinDir $(OPENWINHOME)/bin + #define LibDir $(OPENWINHOME)/lib + #define IncRoot $(OPENWINHOME)/share/include + #define InstallNonExecFile(file,dest) @@\ + install:: file @@\ + $(INSTALL) -c $(INSTDATFLAGS) file dest + #define NullParameter [Note: the patch is new, but I have not marked each line with a "+" -- Liam] Subject: Environment Variables Environment variables, and plausible values to use -- this list doesn't take into account any local changes that you might have made, of course. This list is for OpenWindows 3.0 -- differences for OpenWindows 2.0 are marked, and I've added some comments for users of X11R4 and X11R5, too. DISPLAY The name of the X Windows Display to use :0.0 (on the local machine, the one actually running X11 or xnews) :0.1 (on some machines for a second, monochrome screen) machine-running-unix:0.0 (on other machines) (You may need to do "xhost +other-machine" to let programs on other machines use your display; see also under Troubleshooting, and see the section on xauth in the OpenWindows Version 3 Programmer's Guide, pp. 101ff) See also: console messages, under Trouble Shooting FONTPATH Where xnews searches for fonts /usr/openwin/lib/fonts (you can also use "xset fp+ dir" to add a directory to the font path, but you may have to do "xset fp rehash" afterwards. This is fine under OpenWindows, but many X11 servers have font problems) HELPPATH Where XView looks when you press the Help key (or F1) /usr/openwin/lib/locale:/usr/openwin/lib/help (On SunOS 4.0.*, or with OpenWindows 2.0, omit the first entry, which is for sites using a local other than "C" or "USA"). LD_LIBRARY_PATH Where to look to find shared C libraries /usr/lib:/usr/5lib:/usr/openwin/lib:/usr/CC/`arch` (the /usr/CC/`arch`/lib entry is only needed if you use C++ programs) OPENWINHOME Where OpenWindows lives /usr/openwin KEYBOARD, MOUSE -- serial devices to use instead of the console (don't set these for normal use; /dev/kbd and /dev/mouse) PATH Where the Shell searches for programs to run $(OPENWINHOME)/bin:$(OPENWINHOME)/bin/xview:/usr/local/bin:.\ $HOME/bin.`arch`:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/usr/hosts:\ (you will certainly want to change this example! There is no $(OPENWINHOME)/bin/xview in OpenWindows 3.0) XFILESEARCHPATH Where programs look for app-defaults files /usr/openwin/lib/%T/%N%S (This is set automatically by "openwin" in OpenWindows 3.0) | You might want to use /usr/lib/X11/%T/%N%S, or perhaps both, + separated with a :, for example (for sh users) + XFILESEARCHPATH=$OPENWINHOME/lib/%T/%N%S:/usr/lib/X11/%T/%N%S + export XFILESEARCHPATH Subject: Where Can I get It? Ftp, implementations, etc... XView 3.0 is available by anonymous ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu and elsewhere. OLIT can be bought from AT&T in source form. OpenWindows can be obtained from Sun, or you can get the source from Interactive Systems Inc. It is also included in some vendors' System V Release 4 implementations, although that's not always the latest version. The current release of OpenWindows from Sun for supported architectures is 3.0; for the Sun 3 series it is frozen at OpenWindows 2.0. Note that Sun includes OpenWindows with SunOS, and it is also included as the windowing system for Solaris. There are said (by Sun) to be over 35 ports of OpenWindows either available now or in progress. Contact Anthony Flynn at Open Vistas International (anthony@ovi.com) for more information. Subject: Bibliography: books, manuals, journals, papers, beer-mats The OPEN LOOK (tm) Graphical Interface is documented in two books: Sun Microsystems Inc., ``OPEN LOOK Graphical User Interface Application Style Guidelines'', Addison Wesley, 1989 and Sun Microsystems Inc., ``OPEN LOOK Graphical User Interface Functional Specification'', Addison Wesley The Main documentation for the X Window system comes from O'Reilly & Associates in about nine or ten volumes. The most useful for OPEN LOOK users are: Volume 1: XLib Programming Manual Volume 2: XLib Reference Manual Volume 3: X Window System User's Guide (An OPEN LOOK edition of Volume 3 should appear later this year) Volume 7: XView Programmer's Manual [Dan Heller] [make sure you get the 3rd edition for XView 3.0] Companion to Volume 7: XView Reference Manual [Ed. Thomas Van Raalte] The Companion to Volume 7 is an expanded version of the Attribute Summary from the previous edition of the XView Programming Manual, together with other reference information, so that in practice you have to buy both books. O'Reilly also have a thinnish orange book on the differences between X11R4 and RX115. OLIT programmers will also want the Xt books - volumes 4 and 5. There is a new big fat green Vol 5 updated for X11R5. A journal, The X Resource, may also be of interest. O'Reilly & Associates, 103 Morris Street, Suita A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 +1 707 829-0515, or, in the USA and Canada only, 1-800-998-9938 Fax: +1 707-829-0104. Email nuts@ora.com or uunet!ora!nuts. For other distributors: mail, FAX, or call +1 707-829-0515. Some of the O'Reilly examples are available fro ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu in the contrib/OReilly directory. The System V Release 4 Documentation from Prentice Hall may also include a section on OpenWindows. David Miller describes programming with OLIT in his ``An OPEN LOOK At Unix'' (M&T press). Nabajyoti Brkakati gives an excellent introduction to X and to OLIT programming, as well as setting up and using X and OpenWindows, in: ``Unix[R] Desktop Guide to OPEN LOOK'' SAMS, 1992 ISBN 0-672-30023-0 You can get the examples from this book as export.lcs.mit.edu:contrib/naba-olguide-examples.tar.Z Also about using OLIT, and Xt in particular: The X Window System: Programming and Applications with Xt, OPEN LOOK Edition, Doug Young and John Pew, Prentice Hall, 1992, ISBN 0-13-982992-X There are also HP Widgets and Motif (ugh) versions of this book. The example source code in this book can be obtained by ftp from export.lcs.mit.edu, file "contrib/young.pew.olit.Z". There is an introduction to XView in ``Writing Applications For Sun Systems'', Vol 1, ``A Guide for Macintosh(R) Programmers'' (Sun Microsystems, pub. Addison Wesley) To learn more about the NeWS and PostScript languages, see The NeWS Book, Springer Verlag, 1989 (sadly, a little out of date) PostScript Language Reference Manual, Second Edition, Adobe Systems Inc., Addison Wesley, 1990 ["the Red Book"] Note that OpenWindows 3 is a level 1 PostScript implementation, with certain Level 2 features (such as Composite Fonts) to some degree. PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook, Adobe Systems Inc., Addison Wesley, 1985 ["The blue book"] There's at least one book on using Solaris (i.e. SunOS). Sun also supplies a large amount of documentation with OpenWindows, although you may have to order it separately. Here's what I have; they are each a little over 21 cm square (wider than A4 paper), and vary from about 1 cm to about 3cm thick. They say `User's Guide' or `Programmer's Guide' on the front. The User manuals have a red stripe on the bottom, and the Programmer ones have a green stripe. 800-6006-10 OpenWindows Version 3 Release Manual 800-6029-1- OpenWindows Version 3 Installation and Start-Up Guide ??????? OpenWindows Version 3 DeskSet Reference Guide (does this exist?) 800-6618-10 OpenWindows Version 3 User's Guide 800-6323-10 Desktop Integration Guide [also available in bookstores?] 800-6027-10 Programmer's Guide 800-6005-10 OpenWindows Version 3 Reference Manual [the man pages] 800-6319-10 The NeWS Toolkit 3.0 Reference Manual 800-6736-10 NeWS 3.0 Programming Guide 800-6055-10 OLIT 3.0 Widget Set Reference Manual 800-6198-10 XView 3.0 Reference Manual: Converting SunView Applications 800-6854-10 F3 Font Format Specification [order separately] There are also some other sets of documentation, including the TypeScaler documentation from the OpenFonts group, for example. There doesn't seem to be a complete list anywhere. ??????????? ToolTalk 1.0 Setup and Administration Guide (SunSoft, 1991) 800-6093-10 ToolTalk 1.0 Programmer's Guide (SunSoft, 1991) There might be documentation about the Link Manager somewhere, too. AT&T includes several large thorny bushes' worth of paper with OLIT. Sun's AnswerBook CD/ROM contains a lot of the above documentation, including some of the O'Reilly books (not the XView 3 Volume 7, though). Several other books are in the works... Subject: Getting this File, Revision History, Recent Changes Mail lee@sq.com to ask for it. Douglas N. Arnold (dna@math.psu.edu) keeps an up-to-date copy on ftp.math.psu.edu (currently 128.118.24.22) in the file ~ftp/pub/FAQ/open-look. The net.answers archives and servers may or may not know about this file, since they've just changed hands and this file was previously in one archive but not the other. $Id: open-look.faq,v 1.35 92/09/06 23:03:52 lee Exp $ Acknowledgements: Bryan Boreham <bryan@s-strat.co.uk> Dave Cunningham <D.Cunningham@gdr.bath.ac.uk> Charles Ditzel <Charles.Ditzel@West.Sun.COM> Greg Earle <earle@poseur.JPL.NASA.GOV> Richard Elling <Richard.Elling@eng.auburn.edu> [realxfishdb ftp site] Frank Greco <uunet.uu.net!slcpi!fis1026!fgreco> Rick Heli <Rick.Heli@Eng.Sun.CO> Dave Kemp <dpkemp@afterlife.ncsc.mil> Tom McConnell <tmcconne@sedona.intel.com> Dave MacLean <Dave.Maclean@Eng.Sun.COM> Barry Margolin <barmar@think.com> Steve Olson <olson@juliet.ll.mit.edu> Rob Scott <zeke@mpl.UCSD.EDU> Rainer Sinkwitz <sinkwitz@ifi.unizh.ch> Mark Smith <smith@canon.co.uk> Larry W. Virden <lvirden@cas.org> And many others... You get deleted from this list after a while. This month it was tricky to get everyone in alphabetical order, sorry | if it isn't quite right! It's those sneaky Scots again :-) | -- Liam Quin, lee@sq.com, SoftQuad, Toronto, 416 239-4801; the barefoot programmer lq-text (Unix text retrieval package) mailing list: lq-text-request@sq.com