20031003: McIDAS Session color problems on windfall (cont.)

>From: address@hidden (Jennie L. Moody)
>Organization: UVa
>Keywords: 200310031507.h93F7vk1026508 McIDAS v2003

Jennie,

re: color flashing problem

>Okay, this was the problem, it is using a private color table, though
>I don't know whats using up all the colors.  I have NOTHING else running
>but the window manager, and I have set that to black/white, leaving all
>colors for the application, and I set the colors for the application
>to 50 by editing the .mcidasrc file.  But, I am wondering if I should
>have a NEW .mcidasrc file for this installation?  More on that in
>a minute.  

You can create a new .mcidasrc file easily by exiting McIDAS, deleting
~/.mcidasrc, and then starting a new session.  This is probably a good
idea at this point.

>With the gui interface off, I do get the behavior of seeing the screen
>go all weird, but the mcidas image window looks fine when the cursor is
>in it, shifting the cursor out of the image display window, the screen 
>looks normal, but the colors on the image go random.  Yeah, I have
>experienced this with the browser when I tell it to use a private
>color table (I think thats what -install after netscape does?).  

Right.  The -install option on Netscape is to use a private color map,
and when you are running in 8-bit mode, you should see the flashing.

>In theory, I can work this way, though it would not be my preference.

I would not recommend this.

>And I didn't, as a rule, have this problem with McIDAS before
>(when before, oh, I don't know, at least two years ago!?, that
>an attempt at humor...)

Something is sucking up all of your colors, otherwise McIDAS would
be able to grab all that it needs.

>So, I went to do the following
(use the -displayVisualMode flag)

>BUT, I cannot find the parameter displayVisualMode in my .mcidasrc
>file, so, maybe that is a problem.

>Should I have copied a new one from somewhere?

No, all you have to do is delete ~/.mcidasrc and then let McIDAS
recreate it the next time you start a session.

>I am wondering if the .mcidasrc file
>in my directory is even the one that is being read, however, since
>it has the following frame information :
>-f 11@700x864
>-f 5@480x640
>However, in my session, I only have 5 small frames available.
>I KNOW this used to work just fine.

My statup script will use the last -f setting in .mcidasrc.  To
use the full set of frame definitions in your existing .mcidasrc,
start using 'mcidasx' instead of 'mcidas' or 'mcidas -config'.

>So, something is messed up in that I think I am reading
>a different config file than mcidas is reading, or something.

No, it is that my startup is setup for the MCGUI, and it does
not support the notion of mulitple sets of different sized frames.

>Hope this gives you some clues regarding what might be the 
>problem. 

Yup.  If you want to run in the image + command and text mode, the
easiest thing to do is start using:

mcidasx

re: changing the default visual

>Where does one do this?  I poked around on the window manager
>but couldn't find it.  

I am familiar with the utility 'kdmconfig' on Solaris x86.  I am
not sure if one uses the same thing under Solaris SPARC.  I called
Mike Schmidt at home (he is not in on Fridays), but got no reply.

The following is what I did under Solaris x86:

Reboot your machine into single user mode and run kdmconfig.  You then
have to traverse a set of menus to get to the one that allows you to
change the display.  You will want to setup the default display to be
24-bit color.  You may have to play with a few of the settings to get
the combination of pixels (e.g., 1024x1280) and number of colors.

I will try to get the real story from Mike as soon as I can reach
him.  I will relay the info I get.

re: not feeling confident
>Well, so the computer is stupid not me, huh...

Yes, computers are very stupid.  Go kick yours right now ;-)

>Thanks for you help.

I still feel that there _must_ be something else running that is using
up all of your colors.  McIDAS simply does not use up all of the colors
on 8-bit systems.  When we ran training workshops using Solaris x86
machines, and when they were running with 8-bit default visuals (GEMPAK
needed that at the time, but not any more), we were very explicit in
telling users to start McIDAS before anything else.  That way, it got
all of the colors it needed.  Other things could be started afterwards
and all would be happy.

I will relay what I learn from Mike as soon as I can track him down.
Fridays right after User Committee meetings are a tough time to find
the people you need.

Talk to you later...

Tom