More problems building grass5.0beta3 on IRIX :-(

[Justin Hickey]

Hi Terry

On Sep 23,  2:17pm, Terry Duell wrote:
> I cannot get NVIZ, or SG3d (either the CERL or the GMSL versions) to
> build. The errors I am getting are listed in the attached text file.
> Whilst I can get Grass5 to run, I cannot start an graphics window (X
> driver) from the Tcltk Gui, and have only had success by starting it at
> the command line, then starting Tcltkgrass. After that the Gui commands
> seem to control the window OK and it can be shut down from the gui.
> Another mystery is the use of XDRIVER24. Whilst I think this was built,
> there is nothing that shows that it is working. Should I expect to have
> to do anything other than ensure xo, x1 etc are connected to fifos. I
> certainly cannot see anything in the displays thus far which would
> indicate we have progressed very far.
> If there are Grass5 users out there who have built beta3 on an SGI box,
> preferably with Irix 6.5.x, and have all these things sorted out, please
> let me know.

I didn't get beta 3 installed, but I did manage to get beta2 installed on our
Origin 2000 with IRIX 6.5.3m. However, I didn't try to compile NVIZ or SG3d.
You may be able to fix the error for these by casting the faulty variable to
the approriate type, but you will have to check to be sure the cast makes
sense.

As for the X problem, I didn't experience any problems starting the graphics
monitors. However, if you are worried about the 24 bit color usage, then you
have to make sure the X server is running in 24 bit mode. Remember that the X
server is on the client. What you need to do on SGI machines is change the file
/var/X11/xdm/Xservers. This file contains the command line that starts the X
server. You need to add the option -depth 24 to the command line. Also, if you
see the option -pseudomap 4sight on the command line then delete it. I found it
somehow overrides the 24 bit depth specification. Finally you might want to add
-class TrueColor if you want. I'm not sure if it does anything but it doesn't
seem to hurt. The line in my version of the file is as follows:

:0 secure /usr/bin/X11/X -class TrueColor -depth 24 -bs -nobitscale -c
-solidroot sgilightblue -cursorFG red -cursorBG white

To reset the display console so that this change takes effect, you should be
able to use the following key sequence holding down all the keys at the same
time (like the 3 finger salute - Ctrl-Alt-Del - of Microsoft Windows)

Left-Ctrl Left-Shift F12 /-key-on-the-keypad (above the 8 key)

Note that this command logs you out of the console so make sure you log out
before you try it.

To check whether your display is actually 24 bit you can use the command
xwininfo or xdpyinfo. They basically report the same type of information but
xdpyinfo displays more.

I don't know if this will solve your problem. I had already installed beta2
before I made this change and like I said, we didn't have problems with the
displays. But you never know.

One last note. I wouldn't put a lot of faith on beta3 unless you carefully test
the programs you want to use. We found at least 3 programs that didn't work
properly, so we don't use Grass 5 yet.

Hope this helps.

-- 
Sincerely,

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