This archive contains answers to questions sent to Unidata support through mid-2025. Note that the archive is no longer being updated. We provide the archive for reference; many of the answers presented here remain technically correct, even if somewhat outdated. For the most up-to-date information on the use of NSF Unidata software and data services, please consult the Software Documentation first.
Chris, If you running straight openwindows on Solaris, you probably don't have Xvfb in your /usr/openwin/bin directory. Many OS's like Linux and OSF ship with Xvfb already installed. You can build the entire system from scratch (ftp.x.org), or there are binary distributions out there: ftp://ferret.wrc.noaa.gov/special_request/xvfb/solaris/ I tested out the ferret set above. It requires that you unpack it into a /usr/X11R6 directory. Then, as root, you can launch the server like: /usr/X11R6/bin/Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1280x1024x8 & This creates a host:1.0 display with 1280x1024 pixels and 8 bits. You can create a list of hosts in /etc/X1.hosts which you allow to contact the server with their DISPLAY variable (if you want several machines in your lab to connect to it). I start it in the /etc/init.d startup section on our server. Steve Chiswell Unidata User Support >From: address@hidden (Chris Hennon) >Organization: UCAR/Unidata >Keywords: 200005031936.e43JaRG24797 >Steve - > >It sounds like Xvfb is what I need. Can you clear up some confusion I >have regarding it? Do I have to install an entire X11R6 distribution to >gain access to Xvfb? Or is it something I can get seperately that will >work within my Solaris operating system. There is some confusion between >me and my system administrator about this. He seems to believe that I may >already have Xvfb on my machine, but I can't find it. Thanks. > >Chris > >On Tue, 2 May 2000, Unidata Support wrote: > >> >> Chris, >> >> If you are generating gifs to the console display, then yes, you >> really want ntl to be running so that the shared color map exists >> between all gempak programs, and any other programs like browsers, desktops, >> etc. aren't competing with the cron programs for the colors. >> >> If you do a lot of gif generation, then running a virtual X server such as X > vfb >> works well so that you don't have to worry about your desktop colors >> and conflicts with cron jobs. In those cases, you would then have a shear:1 >> display to draw to. >> >> The output you see with >0.0u 0.0s 0:07 0% 0+0k 0+0io 0pf+0w >> is indicative of running the unix "time" command with a job that shows tha >> cpu usage. Typically, you would run "time eta_sfc.csh" if you wanted to >> keep track of how much cpu usage a program took, or if you had >> quotas invoked on your users. Otherwise, something in your environment >> may be defined. Since the script is run from cron with csh -f, you >> should not be inheriting your environment in those cases. >> >> Steve Chiswell >> Unidata User Support >