ximtool and linux
Philip Massey wrote on Apr 28, 2006
Mike,
I've resurrected my old Linux box (running RH 9) for my summer student,
and in trying things out I find I cannot get ximtool (V1.3) to work correctly:
both under "gnome" and under "kde" I have the problem that I cannot change
the brightness or contrast of the display. If I move the mouse around as normal,
I can see the slider bars changing in ximtool's control panel, but the image
itself remains unchanged.
I'm pretty sure we corresponded about this before---maybe extensively---but I admit that it's been a couple of years and I've forgotten the solution, if there was one.
It's been great not having to deal with this sort of stuff on my Mac...
thanks,
phil
I've resurrected my old Linux box (running RH 9) for my summer student,
and in trying things out I find I cannot get ximtool (V1.3) to work correctly:
both under "gnome" and under "kde" I have the problem that I cannot change
the brightness or contrast of the display. If I move the mouse around as normal,
I can see the slider bars changing in ximtool's control panel, but the image
itself remains unchanged.
I'm pretty sure we corresponded about this before---maybe extensively---but I admit that it's been a couple of years and I've forgotten the solution, if there was one.
It's been great not having to deal with this sort of stuff on my Mac...
thanks,
phil
Philip Massey wrote on Apr 28, 2006
Let me add: when I was using 8-bit color (so I could use ximtool), ds9 had
the exact same problem: I could not change the brightness/contrast.
Going to 16-bits on the display solved THAT problem, but of course can't
work with ximtool...
the exact same problem: I could not change the brightness/contrast.
Going to 16-bits on the display solved THAT problem, but of course can't
work with ximtool...
Mike Fitzpatrick wrote on Apr 28, 2006
First thing to check is that the keyboar NumLock isn't enabled, this changes the event mask and keeps it from working. Otherwise, there are several known colormap-focus issues with certain window managers. Both of these will be addressed in a future version but check the keyboard first and if that;s not it let m e know.
-Mike
-Mike
Philip Massey wrote on Apr 28, 2006
I liked the suggestion, but it turns out not to be the case: I repeated the test,
and confirmed that the Num Lock was really off.
See the same behavior with "gnome" and with "kde" (the only window manager flavors that came with my RH9 installation).
and confirmed that the Num Lock was really off.
See the same behavior with "gnome" and with "kde" (the only window manager flavors that came with my RH9 installation).
Mike Fitzpatrick wrote on Apr 28, 2006
Phil,
Then it's probably the colormap-focus issues with the window manager (note KDE/Gnome are considered "desktops", the WM can be anything and depends on the distribution. For RH9 and KDE this defaults to 'kwin' which is known to be bad for ximtool in this way).
There are two workarounds I can think of: Use VNC for the ximtool window and avoid this altogether, or else install a different window manager. I remember that 'sawfish' used to work correctly and I've put the RPMs for RH9 at
http://iraf.net/ftp/pub/fitz/rpms
Install the librep/rep-gtk/sawfish files in that order and then define a KDEWM environment variable with the value 'sawfish' in your login files and restart X. Verify that sawfish is running with a "ps-efw" looking for "ksmserver --windowmanager sawfish" in the output. For Gnome I think the default WM is 'metacity' and this can be selected through the control panel but its been a while since I used gnome much.
This is the first I heard this affects DS9 as well, was this DS9 in an 8-bit screen or using the 24-bit display? Hope this helps.
Cheers,
-Mike
Then it's probably the colormap-focus issues with the window manager (note KDE/Gnome are considered "desktops", the WM can be anything and depends on the distribution. For RH9 and KDE this defaults to 'kwin' which is known to be bad for ximtool in this way).
There are two workarounds I can think of: Use VNC for the ximtool window and avoid this altogether, or else install a different window manager. I remember that 'sawfish' used to work correctly and I've put the RPMs for RH9 at
http://iraf.net/ftp/pub/fitz/rpms
Install the librep/rep-gtk/sawfish files in that order and then define a KDEWM environment variable with the value 'sawfish' in your login files and restart X. Verify that sawfish is running with a "ps-efw" looking for "ksmserver --windowmanager sawfish" in the output. For Gnome I think the default WM is 'metacity' and this can be selected through the control panel but its been a while since I used gnome much.
This is the first I heard this affects DS9 as well, was this DS9 in an 8-bit screen or using the 24-bit display? Hope this helps.
Cheers,
-Mike
Philip Massey wrote on Apr 28, 2006
Hi, Mike---
I will give it a try! Thanks for the rpms; I will grab them next week.
The problem with ds9 was only when I was in 8-bit mode.
---phil
I will give it a try! Thanks for the rpms; I will grab them next week.
The problem with ds9 was only when I was in 8-bit mode.
---phil
Last post on Apr 28, 2006