20030919: 20030918: GEMPAK and pseudo-color on Linux

David,

I don't have any experience with PC graphics cards in this manner. 
The gembud list may be a place to see  if anyone else has such
a configuration.

I have run xnest for creating an 8 bit desktop in a 24 bit display.
The XFree86 server at last dcheck does not allow multiple visuals,
so even though you can have both 8 bit at 24 bit color, they
both are true color. Note that this is a limitation of XFree86, 
and not xnest (which works fine on more advanced X servers that
support multiple visuals).

In the case of GEMPAK, it will use t he default visual of the system, there is
no way to configure it to use a different visual ID.

Steve Chiswell





>From: David Ovens <address@hidden>
>Organization: UCAR/Unidata
>Keywords: 200309191715.h8JHF9k1022085

>Steve,
>
>I'm now thinking about purchasing an nvidia Quadro 4 or FX card that
>would support an 8-bit "Overlay" in 24-bit displays.  If we could have
>the default visual as 24-bit and an optional 8-bit overlay, how could
>I use the 8-bit one for GEMPAK?  In xanim and xv, for example, I can
>specify any of the visuals I have present on my Sun with a
>command-line option.  Is there a command-line option or Xresouce that
>could do this for GEMPAK?
>
>By the way, I did discover that the lowest memory usage way to look at
>the EAST-CONUS/1km/VIS imagery in NMAP/GARP is to do something like
>"Roam" = "6 x Screen Size" and then to do a zoom.  This keeps
>the roam area down to a limited portion of the original 5120x5120
>image.
>
>David
>
>Unidata Support wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> David,
>> 
>> The problem with 8 bit color under Xfree86 4.2 is that
>> the window manager allocates most of the colors, and you
>> are left with only 12 free color cells. There were reportedly
>> some patches to the XFree86 to remedy that problem
>> (I'm assuming you have the same problem under Debian as
>> RH). Likely your old RH7.0 at home is running an older version
>> of XFree86 (which is a good thing in this case!).
>> 
>> I haven't looked at the current state of XFreee86 patches since
>> going to 24 bit under Linux. Users were doing CVS checkout of source for
>> patches and rebuilding....hopefully its easier than that now.
>> 
>> Note that you can also sample the 1km gini in either
>> space or resolution using the SECTOR program which is
>> useful if you want 1 faster loading (less memory) image
>> at top resolution for your area, or don't need 1km resolution for a larger a
> rea.
>> 
>> Steve Chiswell.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> >From: David Ovens <address@hidden>
>> >Organization: UCAR/Unidata
>> >Keywords: 200309182106.h8IL6jk1020275
>> 
>> >Hello,
>> >
>> >I have an older version of GEMPAK on my Linux box (RedHat 7.0) at home
>> >-- 5.6.A? 5.6.D? -- and the only way I can get it to work is to run
>> >with PseudoColor (8-bit) not DirectColor (24-bit).  I've lived and
>> >worked with that just fine.
>> >
>> >Now, I am trying to look at 10 EAST-CONUS/1km/VIS/ GINI images setting
>> >the "Roam" to "Size of Image".  Since my giniinfo program (available
>> >if you want it as a GEMPAK contrib program) tells me the images are
>> >5120x5120, you can imagine that this is going to require some memory.
>> >Close to 1 GB in 24-bit mode, but considerably less in 8-bit.
>> >Unfortunately, at work here, I cannot seem to get any GEMPAK programs
>> >to run under 8-bit (the opposite of home).  
>> >
>> >Is this due to Debian Linux at work or some change in GEMPAK?
>> >
>> >Any idea how I can run in 8-bit with 5.6.H or later GEMPAK on Linux?
>> >
>> >The types off errors I'm getting are these:
>> >
>> >sfmap errors:
>> >Creating process: xw for queue 163843
>> > [GEMPLT -46]  NCLRAL - Can not allocate read/write colors.
>> > Parameters requested: AREA,GAREA,SATFIL,RADFIL,SFPARM,DATTIM,SFFILE,COLORS
> ,
>> > MAP,LATLON,TITLE,CLEAR,PANEL,DEVICE,PROJ,FILTER,TEXT,LUTFIL,STNPLT,CLRBAR,
>> > IMBAR.
>> > GEMPAK-SFMAP>e
>> >
>> >garp errors:
>> >G A R P - v2.1 starting...
>> >Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "deepskyblue4"
>> >InitGempakColorMap:  Can't allocate Graphic colors.
>> >GarpInitialize:  GempakInit failed
>> >Main: Initialization failed.  Exiting
>> >
>> >ntl errors:
>> >Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "grey75"
>> >Resource File:  /home/disk/ldm/NAWIPS-5.6.H/resource/Ntop
>> >graphic, satellite, radar, fax -- 33 95 20 2
>> >         Request total # of colors = 150
>> >X Error of failed request:  BadValue (integer parameter out of range for op
> era
>> > tion)
>> >  Major opcode of failed request:  86 (X_AllocColorCells)
>> >  Value in failed request:  0x0
>> >  Serial number of failed request:  413
>> >  Current serial number in output stream:  413
>> >
>> >freeColors shows 12:
>> >                    CURRENTLY YOUR SYSTEM HAS:
>> >            ========================================
>> >                256 total color cells.
>> >                12 free  color cells.
>> >                244 shared read-only color cells.
>> >                0 private writeable color cells.
>> >            ========================================
>> >
>> >and the rest is xdpyinfo output:
>> >name of display:    :0.0
>> >version number:    11.0
>> >vendor string:    The XFree86 Project, Inc
>> >vendor release number:    40201000
>> >XFree86 version: 4.2.1
>> >maximum request size:  4194300 bytes
>> >motion buffer size:  256
>> >bitmap unit, bit order, padding:    32, LSBFirst, 32
>> >image byte order:    LSBFirst
>> >number of supported pixmap formats:    7
>> >supported pixmap formats:
>> >    depth 1, bits_per_pixel 1, scanline_pad 32
>> >    depth 4, bits_per_pixel 8, scanline_pad 32
>> >    depth 8, bits_per_pixel 8, scanline_pad 32
>> >    depth 15, bits_per_pixel 16, scanline_pad 32
>> >    depth 16, bits_per_pixel 16, scanline_pad 32
>> >    depth 24, bits_per_pixel 32, scanline_pad 32
>> >    depth 32, bits_per_pixel 32, scanline_pad 32
>> >keycode range:    minimum 8, maximum 255
>> >focus:  PointerRoot
>> >number of extensions:    30
>> >    BIG-REQUESTS
>> >    DEC-XTRAP
>> >    DOUBLE-BUFFER
>> >    DPMS
>> >    Extended-Visual-Information
>> >    FontCache
>> >    GLX
>> >    LBX
>> >    MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
>> >    MIT-SHM
>> >    MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD
>> >    NV-CONTROL
>> >    NV-GLX
>> >    NVIDIA-GLX
>> >    RECORD
>> >    RENDER
>> >    SECURITY
>> >    SHAPE
>> >    SYNC
>> >    TOG-CUP
>> >    XC-APPGROUP
>> >    XC-MISC
>> >    XFree86-Bigfont
>> >    XFree86-DGA
>> >    XFree86-Misc
>> >    XFree86-VidModeExtension
>> >    XInputExtension
>> >    XKEYBOARD
>> >    XTEST
>> >    XVideo
>> >default screen number:    0
>> >number of screens:    1
>> >
>> >screen #0:
>> >  dimensions:    1280x1024 pixels (342x271 millimeters)
>> >  resolution:    95x96 dots per inch
>> >  depths (7):    8, 1, 4, 15, 16, 24, 32
>> >  root window id:    0x41
>> >  depth of root window:    8 planes
>> >  number of colormaps:    minimum 1, maximum 1
>> >  default colormap:    0x20
>> >  default number of colormap cells:    256
>> >  preallocated pixels:    black 0, white 1
>> >  options:    backing-store YES, save-unders YES
>> >  largest cursor:    64x64
>> >  current input event mask:    0x0
>> >  number of visuals:    6
>> >  default visual id:  0x21
>> >  visual:
>> >    visual id:    0x21
>> >    class:    PseudoColor
>> >    depth:    8 planes
>> >    available colormap entries:    256
>> >    red, green, blue masks:    0x0, 0x0, 0x0
>> >    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
>> >  visual:
>> >    visual id:    0x22
>> >    class:    GrayScale
>> >    depth:    8 planes
>> >    available colormap entries:    256
>> >    red, green, blue masks:    0x0, 0x0, 0x0
>> >    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
>> >  visual:
>> >    visual id:    0x23
>> >    class:    StaticColor
>> >    depth:    8 planes
>> >    available colormap entries:    256
>> >    red, green, blue masks:    0x7, 0x38, 0xc0
>> >    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
>> >  visual:
>> >    visual id:    0x24
>> >    class:    TrueColor
>> >    depth:    8 planes
>> >    available colormap entries:    8 per subfield
>> >    red, green, blue masks:    0x7, 0x38, 0xc0
>> >    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
>> >  visual:
>> >    visual id:    0x25
>> >    class:    DirectColor
>> >    depth:    8 planes
>> >    available colormap entries:    8 per subfield
>> >    red, green, blue masks:    0x7, 0x38, 0xc0
>> >    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
>> >  visual:
>> >    visual id:    0x26
>> >    class:    StaticGray
>> >    depth:    8 planes
>> >    available colormap entries:    256
>> >    red, green, blue masks:    0x0, 0x0, 0x0
>> >    significant bits in color specification:    8 bits
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Thanks,
>> >
>> >David
>> >-- 
>> >
>> >David Ovens         e-mail: address@hidden
>> >(206) 685-8108          plan: Real-time MM5 forecasting for Pacific Northwe
> st
>> >Research Meteorologist
>> >Dept of Atmospheric Sciences, Box 351640
>> >University of Washington 
>> >Seattle, WA  98195
>> >
>> 
>> ****************************************************************************
>> Unidata User Support                                    UCAR Unidata Program
>> (303)497-8643                                                  P.O. Box 3000
>> address@hidden                                   Boulder, CO 80307
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>> ****************************************************************************
>> 
>
>
>-- 
>
>David Ovens            e-mail: address@hidden
>(206) 685-8108          plan: Real-time MM5 forecasting for Pacific Northwest
>Research Meteorologist
>Dept of Atmospheric Sciences, Box 351640
>University of Washington 
>Seattle, WA  98195
>