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Archive-name: sgi/faq/graphics

           SGI graphics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


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This FAQ contains errors! Finding them is an exercise for alert readers.

Please send additions and changes to sgi-faq@archone.tamu.edu.

This FAQ is one of the SGI FAQ series, which consists of:

     SGI Admin FAQ - IRIX System Administration
     SGI Apps FAQ - Applications & Compilers
     SGI Graphics FAQ - Graphics & Windowing
     SGI Hardware FAQ - Hardware issues
     SGI Misc FAQ - Introduction & Miscellaneous Information

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and comp.answers newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) every two weeks.
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 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/graphics
 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.sys.sgi.misc/SGI_graphics_Frequently_Asked_Questions
 archone.tamu.edu:ftp/pub/sgi/faq/graphics
 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.answers/sgi/faq/graphics

Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational documents,
and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer here.

Topics covered in this FAQ:
--------------------------
  -1- How can I quickly find the question I want in this FAQ?
  -2- What books about the X Window System and OSF/Motif
      do you recommend?
  -3- Sun XView applications like "mailtool" are hanging
      my X server in 4.0.5.  They come up fine, but as soon
      as I click on them the server freezes.
  -4- Why do I get DGL errors when trying to run Jot,
      Workspace, or other IRIS GL applications on an
      X terminal or other non-SGI workstation?
  -5- After running a few programs, the colors change as
      the cursor moves. The colors are usually all wrong
      in other windows.
  -6- How can I change my X Server to use a 12-bit PseudoColor, 
      12-bit TrueColor, or 24-bit TrueColor visual by default?
  -7- The library /usr/lib/libgl_s.a isn't on my R4000 Indigo.
      Where is it?
  -8- How do I run a program on one machine and display
      it on another?
  -9- Does the DISPLAY environment variable work for
      GL applications?
  -10- The DISPLAY variable doesn't seem to work.  Why?
  -11- I'm getting DGL errors when I display an Iris GL
       application to another SGI machine.
  -12- Can I save my screen layout?
  -13- Sometimes an extra 4Dwm is running, using a lot of
       the CPU.  Is this necessary?
  -14- I'm running IRIX 4.0.1, and can't log in correctly.
       After logging in the screen turns blue then goes back
       to Pandora.
  -15- How do I run 'xinit' manually, (not automatically
       from 'xdm')?
  -16- How do I start X on a remote host with no users logged in?
  -17- What do the errors in my 'xdm-errors' file mean?
  -18- How do I log into pandora without bringing up graphics?
  -19- How do I start and stop the graphics system?
  -20- Pandora won't come up, and /usr/adm/SYSLOG says
       "helvetica font missing"
  -21- How do I restart the console?
  -22- What are resources?
  -23- How do I set resources?
  -24- How do I know what resources I can set for an application?
  -25- How do I run the same program twice with different attributes?
  -26- Does the GL recognize resources?
  -27- How do I find out what fonts are available?
  -28- Does SGI provide any tools to help with the
       customization process?
  -29- What is a good approach to take in looking for resources?
  -30- What is the precedence for resource files?
  -31- What files affect the window manager and what is
       their relationship to each other?
  -32- Do I need my own .4Dwmrc file?
  -33- Can I run different window managers?
  -34- How do I choose a different window manager as the default?
  -35- Where can I learn more about the Window Manager behavior?
  -36- How do I recover from a failed customization attempt?
  -37- What is the difference between .xsession and .sgisession?
  -38- After copying /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession to .xsession,
       I can't login.
  -39- What are the important login and resource files
       for IRIX 4D1-4.0?
  -40- What is the sequence of events that occur at login time?
  -41- How can I convert RGB Bitmaps to & from other formats?
  -42- Can I compress RGB bitmaps?
  -43- How can I look at a Postscript file?
  -44- How do I make a screen dump?
  -45- Can I use 4Dgifts code in my application?
  -46- What does ERR_WMANIPC mean?
  -47- How can I translate screen (x,y) coords into world
       (x,y,z) coords?
  -48- How can I translate world (x,y,z) coords into
       screen (x,y) coords?
  -49- I call mapcolor(index, R, G, B) but nothing happens.  Why?
  -50- What's wrong with blink()?
  -51- When I try to run UIM/X uxserverd, I get an
       error message saying, "license file has been
       modified, cannot start the UIM/X license server".
  -52- What is a GL widget?
  -53- I'm using the GlxMDraw widget and it doesn't seem
       that colors are being installed correctly.  Overlays
       in the GlxMDraw widget are displayed in red and gray
       instead of the colors I specify.  What is the problem?
  -54- I get a "Broken Pipe" error when I close the window
       of an X client, such as xman or xterm.  What does
       this error mean?  Is there something wrong with my system?
  -55- Is there a way to switch on the fly between single
       and double buffering within a GL widget?
  -56- Why doesn't SGI's xlock lock my screen?
  -57- Why do I get compilation errors when compiling the 
       Inventor C++ examples, using C++ 3.0?
  -58- Credits

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject:   -1- How can I quickly find the question I want in this FAQ?
Date: 27 May 93 00:00:01 EST

- This FAQ follows the RFC1153 recommendations for message digests and thus
  can be viewed easily with newsreaders that understand message digests.
- Each question has a Subject: line, so you can easily step through the answers
  with rn's ^G command.
- Each question is marked with a "dash number dash" so that you can find any
  answer with a simple search pattern.
- Questions marked with a '+' are new this posting; those marked with a '!'
  have significant new content since the last edition.

------------------------------


Subject:   -2- What books about the X Window System and OSF/Motif
               do you recommend?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Introductory Texts on the X Window System

     - O'Reilly and Associates Inc., "The Definitive Guides to
       the X Window System", by Valerie Quercia and Tim O'Reilly. Vol.  3,
       "X Window System User's Guide", Sebastopol, CA., 1988, 1989.

       Discusses being an end user of the X window system.  Covers
       topics like window manages, font specifications, standard X
       clients and resources.

     Texts on X Window System Programming

     - O'Reilly and Associates, Inc. "The Definitive Guides to the
       X Window System", by Adrian Nye. Vol. 1, "Xlib Programming
       Manual",  Sebastopol, CA., 1990.

       Contains the introductory elements for programming with the
       Xlib, the lowest level of the X window system.  Discusses
       concepts such as X color capacities, windows, events,
       drawing primitives.

     - Young, Douglas A., "X Window Systems Programming and Applications
       with Xt" (OSF/Motif Edition). Prentice Hall. Englewood
       Cliffs, NJ. 1990.

       A thorough book starting with the basics of programming with
       a toolkit though advanced topics.  Contains source code for
       several small complete applications.  (Source code for this
       book is also available on line in the /usr/src directory of
       the Motif Development option.)

     - O'Reilly and Associates Inc., "The Definitive Guides to
       the X Window System", by Adrian Nye and Tim O'Reilly. Vol. 4,
       "X Toolkit Intrinsics Programming Manual", Sebastopol, CA., 1990.

       Another reference for programming with the OSF/Motif
       toolkit.  Covers topics including basic programming,
       widgets, resources, and more advanced topics.

     Reference Texts for the X Window System :

     - O'Reilly and Associates Inc., "The Definitive Guides to
       the X Window System", by Adrian Nye. Vol. 2,
       "Xlib Reference Manual", Sebastopol, CA., 1988.

       Complete reference for Xlib library routines.

     - Scheifler, Robert and James Gettys, X Window System, Second Edition,
       Digital Press, 1990.  ISBN 1-55558-050-5.

       Referred to as "the Bible" of Xlib and X Protocol reference.

     Reference Texts for the OSF/Motif Toolkit :

     - Open Software Foundation, "OSF/Motif Programmer's Guide".
       Release 1.1, Prentice Hall. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1990.

       Exhaustive reference of every widget in the OSF/Motif library.

     - Asente, Paul J. and Ralph R. Swick. "X Window System Toolkit".
       X Version 11, Release 4. Digital Press. 1990.

       Very in-depth reference to the structure and operation of
       an X window system toolkit.


------------------------------

Subject:   -3- Sun XView applications like "mailtool" are hanging
               my X server in 4.0.5.  They come up fine, but as soon
               as I click on them the server freezes.
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Any XView application run under the Xsgi X11-server shipped in
     IRIX versions 4.0.5A through 4.0.5G will lock the X Server on 
     the first mouse click and will not release it until killed from 
     somewhere else.  Fortunately there is a workaround:

     a) Run the application with '-Wfsdb' on the command line.
        Alternatively you could use '-fullscreendebug'.  For example:

	% mailtool -Wfsdb

     b) If you have the sources, add
            extern int fullscreendebug;
        before main() and
            fullscreendebug = 1;
        after the xv_init() call.  This forces the program to set this
        flag in any case - even when run with non-SGI X servers.  It 
	releases you of the danger of omitting -Wfsdb and locking
	your screen.

     c) if the program uses the 'fullscreen' package, you might add
           Fullscreen.Debug: True
        in $HOME/.Xresources or specify this resource on the command
        line.  This flag currently disables grabs in both the 'window'
        and the 'fullscreen' package, but is only set from resources
        in the 'fullscreen' package.

------------------------------

Subject:   -4- Why do I get DGL errors when trying to run Jot,
               Workspace, or other IRIS GL applications on an
               X terminal or other non-SGI workstation?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     This occurs because X Terminals and other vendors X servers
     only understand X protocols.  The above applications use Iris GL,
     which is not an X server extension.

     It is not currently possible to display IRIS GL-based applications
     on X terminals or other non-SGI workstations.

     Typically the error message resembles the following:

     dgl error (TCP connect): Connection refused
     dgl error (default init): default dglopen(host:0,4) returned -127

     When OpenGL is available from other vendors, then you will be able
     to do OpenGL rendering to those servers that export the GLX extension.
     OpenGL is a normal X extension and the transport happens automatically
     via the X transport stream.


------------------------------

Subject:   -5- After running a few programs, the colors change as
               the cursor moves. The colors are usually all wrong
               in other windows.
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     This is known as colormap flashing. It is caused by the server
     maintaining 2 seperate colormaps, one for GL windows and one for
     X windows.  As the cursor moves around, the window manager will
     install the correct colormap for each window.  This will cause
     colors to be wrong in other windows.  For more information on
     colormaps and installation please see the Xlib Programming manual,
     chapter 7 (Vol I of the O'Reilly series).

     You can sometimes avoid colormap flasing by configuring your
     X Server to use a 12-bit or 24-bit visual by default.

------------------------------

Subject:   -6- How can I change my X Server to use a 12-bit PseudoColor, 
               12-bit TrueColor, or 24-bit TrueColor visual by default?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     By default, the SGI X Server is configured to use an 8-bit
     PseudoColor visual.  X-based applications can request other
     visuals directly if they are available.  Alternatively, you 
     can change the default visual by performing the following steps:

     a) Run "/usr/bin/X11/xdpyinfo" and check that your server is
        capable of using a 12-bit or 24-bit visual.  If it is,
	you will see lines similar to the following:

        visual id, max buffers, depth:    0x28, 0, 12
        visual id, max buffers, depth:    0x29, 0, 12
        visual id, max buffers, depth:    0x2a, 0, 24

	The last number on each line represents the number of
	bits available for that visual.
	
     b) Log in as root

     c) Edit the file /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers.  By default it
	will contain the string:
          :0 secure /usr/bin/X11/X -bs -c -pseudomap 4sight
        for a 24-bit TrueColor visual change it to:
	  :0 secure /usr/bin/X11/X -bs -c -class TrueColor -depth 24
        for a 12-bit PseudoColor visual change it to:
	  :0 secure /usr/bin/X11/X -bs -c -class PseudoColor -depth 12

     d) Restart your X server.  You can do this by invoking either
	of the following commands:

	% killall -TERM Xsgi

	% /usr/gfx/stopgfx; /usr/gfx/startgfx

     Note:  X Server visuals are an advanced topic; before making 
     the above changes you should be aware that some 3rd-party and 
     freeware applications might not gracefully adapt to an X Server
     which supplies anything but an 8-bit PseudoColor visual by default.

------------------------------

Subject:   -7- The library /usr/lib/libgl_s.a isn't on my R4000 Indigo.
               Where is it?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     It's in the "maint" software, in the maint_gl_x_dev package.


------------------------------

Subject:   -8- How do I run a program on one machine and display
               it on another?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Use the DISPLAY environment variable to specify the remote host
     on which you want the X client to be displayed; then invoke the
     appplication.

     To specify the remote host:

     setenv DISPLAY <destination>:0

     where <destination> is the name or IP address of the remote host.

     To specify the local host (console):

     setenv DISPLAY :0


------------------------------

Subject:   -9- Does the DISPLAY environment variable work for
               GL applications?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Yes.  Iris GL programs display on the machine specified by the
     DISPLAY environment variable.  This occurs because the GL now uses
     the Distributed Graphics Library (DGL) capabilities by default.  It
     is important to remember that only Silicon Graphics' machines can
     display GL.  For networks running NIS (formerly yellow pages),
     it is sometimes necessary to add the flag "-lsun" when compiling.


------------------------------

Subject:   -10- The DISPLAY variable doesn't seem to work.  Why?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     There are several possibilities.  First, check your DISPLAY
     variable to make sure it is syntactically correct.  For example,
     to display applications on a machine named "enterprise" whose
     IP address is 123.45.678.90, it should be set to "enterprise:0"
     or "123.45.678.90:0".

     Also, try to "ping" the machine to which your DISPLAY variable
     is set.  If this does not work, you have either specified an
     invalid hostname, the host is down, or you are having network
     problems.

     Sometimes, when trying to display to a remote server, you see
     messages like "permission denied" or "can't connect to server".
     To solve permission problems, you need to disable access control
     on the remote server using the xhost command.  By default, access
     control is disabled on Silicon Graphics' machines.

     For more information see Chapter 3 of the X Window System
     User's Guide, (Vol. 3 of the O'Reilly series)

     If NIS is used, make sure the client is linked with "-lsun".


------------------------------

Subject:   -11- I'm getting DGL errors when I display an Iris GL
                application to another SGI machine.
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Commonly the errors will look like:

     dgl error (TCP connect): Connection refused
     dgl error (default init): default dglopen(enterprise:0) returned -127

     If this is the case, check the files /etc/services and
     /usr/etc/inetd.conf on both machines.  Make sure neither
     of the lines below have been commented out.  The services
     file should contain a line which reads:

     sgi-dgl         5232/tcp

     inetd.conf should contain a line which reads:

     sgi-dgl stream  tcp   nowait  root   /usr/etc/dgld  dgld -IM -tDGLTSOCKET


------------------------------

Subject:   -12- Can I save my screen layout?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Not very easily.  You must run "xwininfo" to find the X and Y
     position of each window, then use that information to customize
     your .sgisession or .xsession files.

     There is also a tool called "xtoolplaces" that was posted to
     comp.sources.x in volume14.

     For more information see Chapter 3 of the X Window System
     User's Guide, (Vol. 3 of the O'Reilly series)


------------------------------

Subject:   -13- Sometimes an extra 4Dwm is running, using a lot of
                the CPU.  Is this necessary?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     No, there should only be one.  This multiple window manager
     problem usually is triggered by the "kill" feedback of the
     window manager when a user logs out.  The workaround for the
     problem is to remove the "kill" feedback.

     The "kill" feedback is controlled by the resource "showFeedback."  For
     4Dwm, this resource is defined in /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/4DWm as:

          *showFeedback:       behavior restart quit kill

     Modify the resource to read:

          *showFeedback:       behavior restart quit

     For mwm, set a "showFeedback" resource that does not include the
     "kill" feedback in /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Mwm.  A sample setting is:

          Mwm*showFeedback:  move placement resize behavior restart quit


------------------------------

Subject:   -14- I'm running IRIX 4.0.1, and can't log in correctly.
                After logging in the screen turns blue then goes back
                to Pandora.
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The problem is caused by an incorrect shutdown.  When you log
     out, xdm runs /usr/sbin/gamma and writes the current value to
     /etc/config/system.glGammaVal.  IRIX buffers this data in main
     memory in the buffer cache.  If the system is powered off right
     after logout, the data is not written to the file.

     a) Login to your system as root, either via the network or
        by taking the machine down to single-user mode.

     b) enter these commands at the # prompt:

        # cd /etc/config
        # cat system.glGammaVal

     If the cat command returns a value of 1.7000, contact your technical
     support provider for additional troubleshooting.  If the command
     returns nothing (empty file) or "0", it means the problem can be
     fixed by entering the following command:

	# /bin/rm system.glGammaVal
        # /bin/echo "1.7" > system.glGammaVal

     Check your work:
        # cat system.glGammaVal

     The command above should now return 1.7.

     Your login should now be successful. If you edited the file while
     Pandora was running, you'll find the first login attempt will fail,
     but any later attempts will be successful. After the first login
     attempt, Pandora will read in the correct gamma value.


------------------------------

Subject:   -15- How do I run 'xinit' manually, (not automatically
                from 'xdm')?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Note that this change would affect all users.

     1) log in as root
     2) Type:
	/usr/gfx/stopgfx
	chkconfig xdm off.
     3) all users need to copy /usr/bin/X11/X to their home directory
        (renaming the file to .xserverrc), removing the if test for
        windowsystem, OR be familiar enough with xinit to have an
        alternate command line.
     4) transfer all startup programs from .xsession/.sgisession to .xinitrc.
     5) the last program to start from .xinitrc must not exit.  When this
        one exits, the session terminates.


------------------------------

Subject:   -16- How do I start X on a remote host with no users logged in?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     This example starts up an xclock on the remote system.  The easy
     way to test this for now is to rlogin to the system and type the
     commands.  Once something works you can write some shell scripts
     and use rsh to run them:

     hydra is being used to login to oscar and start graphics on oscar.
     oscar is displaying the pandora login when this is done:

     hydra 2% rlogin oscar -l root
     oscar 1# /usr/gfx/stopgfx     (screen blanks)
     oscar 2# chkconfig windowsystem on
     oscar 3# setenv DISPLAY :0.0  (display on local screen)
     oscar 4# /usr/bin/X11/X &  (start Xsgi)
     oscar 5# xclock &  (clock is displayed)

     To clean up:

     oscar 6# /usr/gfx/stopgfx     (screen blanks)
     oscar 7# /usr/gfx/startgfx  (re-start pandora)


------------------------------

Subject:   -17- What do the errors in my 'xdm-errors' file mean?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     It depends on the error message, obviously.  Some are:

       unable to load display mode, rnid = 196614, errno = 22
       Failed to unbind rn from clip, rnid = 3,errno = 22
       bogus window id in rrm request type(2)

     These are messages related to the communication between the rrm 
     layer in the kernel and the X server.  The messages usually occur
     when a GL window is being destroyed in a sequence that the X server
     did not expect.  They are quite benign.

------------------------------

Subject:   -18- How do I log into pandora without bringing up graphics?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     In IRIX 3.3 you could specify the "NOGRAPHICS" option on the
     login screen.  The "NOGRAPHICS" option has been replaced with
     the keyword "failsafe" that is typed after the users name on
     the login screen.  However, this command no longer brings up
     a "textport" window without graphics.  Instead, it now starts
     a single xwsh on the center of the screen with no window manager.
     Example login:

       login: root failsafe

------------------------------

Subject:   -19- How do I start and stop the graphics system?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Use /usr/gfx/startgfx and /usr/gfx/stopgfx.  Be aware that
     stopgfx will kill any active windows and log you out.  Under
     IRIX 3.* use /etc/gl/restartgl.

------------------------------

Subject:   -20- Pandora won't come up, and /usr/adm/SYSLOG says
                "helvetica font missing"
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     It appears that the subsystem, "eoe2.sw.fonts" did not get loaded.
     Re-install the subsystem using the following sequence from 'inst':
     1) type "inst" or boot the mini-root, as documented in Section 4.5
        of the "IRIS Software Installation Guide"
     2) keep *
     3) set neweroverride on
     4) install eoe2.sw.fonts
     5) exit

------------------------------

Subject:   -21- How do I restart the console?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Use /usr/sbin/startconsole.  In IRIX 3.*, use /etc/gl/startconsole.

------------------------------

Subject:   -22- What are resources?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Basically, resources are "attributes" that control the
     look and feel of an application. Resources include color, fonts,
     size, location, and more.  Resources can have a complex format for
     binding strengths.

     For a complete description of resources, including a description
     of "loose" and "tight" bindings, consult a book listed in the
     bibliography for question #25.


------------------------------

Subject:   -23- How do I set resources?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     There are many ways to set resources. Resources may be listed
     in files or contained in a data base. It is recommended that
     you consult a Book on X as well as the man page for "xrdb"
     for detailed descriptions. Generally speaking, if xrdb is not
     used, resource files are specified through environment
     variables. Question #14 addresses the precedence of these
     files and variables.

     For some examples, see the file /usr/tutor/Customize/example.Xdefaults.


------------------------------

Subject:   -24- How do I know what resources I can set for an application?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The most common place to find resource variables for a particular
     application is in the man page for that application.

     For example, take a look at the man page for `xwsh'.  Look for
     the section heading called `RESOURCES'.  This section lists
     each resource for `xwsh', and in some cases, the valid
     values for that resource.

     Also, many major applications are built on top of the
     Xt toolkit. There are standard resources that these
     applications recognize. For a more complete description,
     see one of the books on Xt listed in the bibliography.


------------------------------

Subject:   -25- How do I run the same program twice with different attributes?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     To accomplish this task, you need to take advantage of the
     "instance vs class" concept. This concept is explained further
     in most books on Xt.

     Many applications have a resource that lets you to give it a unique name.
     For example, from the xwsh man page :


     -name instance-name
      Provide a unique name for an xwsh window.  This name becomes
      the instance name of the specific xwsh, with the class name
      always being "XWsh".

      Using the -name option allows you to give "names" to different
      instances of xwsh and assign different resources to each one.
      So if you want two different xwsh's with different resource sets,
      give them two different names, say howdymom and howdydoody, for example.
      Add the following to your ~/.Xdefaults file (if you use .Xdefaults) :

      howdymom*foreground:       SeaGreen
      howdydoody*foreground:     SGIBeet

      Now all you have to do is start them up :
      xwsh -name howdymom&
      xwsh -name howdydoody&


------------------------------

Subject:   -26- Does the GL recognize resources?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Yes. In IRIX 4.0 and later, the GL responds to several X resources,
     allowing run-time control over some aspects of GL programs.

     The man page assumes you are somewhat familiar with X resources, if you
     are not, you should read some X documentation such as Volume 3 of the
     O'Reily X books.

     The GL uses resources names with the prefixes
          appname.gl.                (instance prefix)
          Appname.GL.                (class prefix)
     where appname and Appname are derived from the argument to the GL
     program's first call to winopen(3G) upper case.

     For complete information see the man page for GLRESOURCES.


------------------------------

Subject:   -27- How do I find out what fonts are available?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The xfontsel and xlsfonts utilities help you find appropriate fonts.
     xlsfonts lists the fonts; xfontsel provides an interface for selecting
     a desired font. To use xfontsel, choose "Font Names" from the
     Customization rollover menu in the Toolchest.  Please see the man
     pages and the IRIS Utilities Guide for further information.


------------------------------

Subject:   -28- Does SGI provide any tools to help with the
                customization process?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Yes. The Customization rollover menu in the Toolchest contains three
     entries: Window Info, Color Names, and Font Names.  Please refer
     to the man pages on these commands for details: xfontsel, xlsfonts,
     xwininfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, appres, listres, and xrdb.

     Also, see the "WorkSpace User's Guide" and the example files in
     /usr/tutor/Customize.


------------------------------

Subject:   -29- What is a good approach to take in looking for resources?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The following is a recommended list  of steps
     to take when searching for a resource, binding, behavior, etc.

     1)  Look in the 4.0 Transition Guide.
     2)  Look in /usr/tutor/Customize.
     3)  Look in /usr/demos.
     4)  Look in ~4Dgifts.  (Available with the development option.)
     5)  If the client you are interested in is a GL client, see the
         man page for GLRESOURCES.
     6)  Look in /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/ClientName.
     7)  Look in /usr/lib/X11/system.* .
     8)  Look through the man page for the client you are interested in.
     9)  Look in O'Reilly & Associates Vol. III. It has many gems
         pertaining to standard X clients.
     10) Look in the documentation that came with your application.
     11) Look in the OSF Motif manuals.
     12) Post to comp.windows.x if you can not find
         an answer using steps 1 through 11.


------------------------------

Subject:   -30- What is the precedence for resource files?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The following list indicates the weight of set resources.
     Items at the top have the greatest weight.

     1) Hard coded values for resources.
     2) Command line arguments.
     3) Resources pointed to by $XENVIRONMENT.
     4) Resource values loaded into the Resource Data Base via xrdb.
     5) Resources pointed to by other environment variables :

     IF $XUSERFILESEARCHPATH is set
         then it contains a list of directories to search.

     ELSE IF $XAPPLRESDIR is set
         it contains a single directory, and a short list of related
         directories (e.g. adjusted for language) is where resource
         files must be found.

     ELSE
         Look in a short list of places related to $HOME (e.g.
         language adjusted). This includes files in $HOME that have
         the
                name of the class of the application.

     6) Resource values set in $HOME/.Xdefaults, provided that the
        RESOURCE_MANAGER property hasn't been set via the xrdb command.
        (see the third paragraph in the xrdb man page)
     7) Values set in /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/*.
     8) Values set through through the application's fall back mechanism.


------------------------------

Subject:   -31- What files affect the window manager and what is
                their relationship to each other?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     1)~/.4Dwmrc, if you have one
     2)/usr/lib/X11/system.4Dwmrc
     3)/usr/bin/X11/4Dwm
     4)/usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/4Dwm
     5)~/.Xdefaults (or wherever you set resources)

     When 4Dwm is started, it looks for ~/.4Dwmrc. If it does
     not exist, it looks at /usr/lib/X11/system.4Dwmrc. The
     definitions for button bindings, menus, etc are contained
     in these files. For a better description of bindings,
     look in /usr/tutor/Customize/example.4Dwmrc and /usr/people/
     4Dgifts/.4Dwmrc. Also see the man pages for 4Dwm.

     The resource set for the bindings will actually "choose"
     which binding definition is set.


------------------------------

Subject:   -32- Do I need my own .4Dwmrc file?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Not necessarily. As mentioned in the previous question,
     actual bindings are determined by resource names. If there
     is a binding definition in /usr/lib/X11/system.4Dwmrc
     that you like, you may choose it by setting the appropriate
     resource.


------------------------------

Subject:   -33- Can I run different window managers?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     In Irix 4D1-4.0, you may choose 4Dwm, mwm, twm, or uwm. Note that GL
     programs are guaranteed to work only under 4Dwm.


------------------------------

Subject:   -34- How do I choose a different window manager as the default?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     You must use a .xsession file and explicitly invoke the
     window manager and any other applications you want to
     use, such as 'toolchest' and 'xwsh'.

     After making this change, you may only be able to log out
     by using the "Log Out" selection in the toolchest, or by
     executing /usr/bin/X11/endsession.

     Here are the contents a sample .xsession file:

	xhost + &
        toolchest -name ToolChest > /dev/console 2&>1 &
        winterm -bg red &
        winterm -bg blue &
        mwm > /dev/console 2&>1 &
	/usr/bin/X11/reaper

     Note that 'reaper' is not put into the background.
     When 'reaper' exits you will be logged out.

     Alternatively, you can do the following steps:

     1.  cp /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession ~/.xsession

     2.  Remove the lines in ~/.xsession that say:
         if [ -r $xsession -a "$0" != $xsession ]; then
                 if [ -x $xsession ]; then
                         exec $xsession
                 else
                         exec /bin/sh $xsession
                 fi
         fi

     3.  Change the line that says:
         /usr/bin/X11/4Dwm >/dev/console 2>&1 &
         to:
         /usr/bin/X11/mwm > /dev/console 2>&1 &


------------------------------

Subject:   -35- Where can I learn more about the Window Manager behavior?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The man pages for 4Dwm and mwm contain a wealth of
     information on the window manager. There are
     also online files. You may want to read
     /usr/tutor/Customize/example.4Dwmrc as well as
     /usr/people/4Dgifts/.4Dwmrc (if you have the IDO option).
     The OSF/Motif manuals listed in the bibliography are
     also good places to find information. (4Dwm is based
     on mwm).


------------------------------

Subject:   -36- How do I recover from a failed customization attempt?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     If your attempt at customization leaves you in a state
     where buttons and menus are no longer recognized, you
     can recover by pressing the <Alt><CTRL><Shift><!>keys
     simultaneously. A menu appears that will let you
     choose Motif, Iris, or user defaults. Choose either
     Motif or Iris defaults and then push OK. This
     restarts the window manager to a usable state.


------------------------------

Subject:   -37- What is the difference between .xsession and .sgisession?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The system Xsession file (/usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession or Xsession-remote)
     starts up a number of important things when you log in, eg. 4Dwm,
     toolchest, loads resources, sets your XUSERFILESEARCHPATH, sets your
     root background, etc.

     One of the last things it does is look in your home directory for
     a .sgisession file.  This allows you to start additional programs
     at login time. This is the file that you would use to start a mailbox,
     additional window, a calendar, etc.

     ADVANTAGES OF $HOME/.sgisession :

     1) You don't need to read through yet another system file to see
        what you need or don't need.

     2) You can override some of the defaults the system default has
        given you.

     DISADVANTAGES OF $HOME/.sgisession :

     1) You cannot override ALL of the defaults set for you.

     2) Some things you can't change from a .sgisession file :
        A) You can't start a different window manager.
        B) You can't change the way the console starts.
        C) You can't change toolchest output redirection to
             the console.

     3) Users of other vendors equipment are used to seeing a .xsession file.

     After checking for a "failsafe" (ie. no graphics) login, one of
     the first things that /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession does is check for
     $HOME/.xsession.  If it exists, Xsession will exec your .xsession
     file.  This means that if you are REALLY sure you know what you are
     doing, you can login with a different window manager, xterm as a
     console, or xwsh not already iconified, etc.  You can also turn
     off the toolchest output redirection, and start anything else you
     might have done in $HOME/.sgisession. There is a discussion on
     xsession files in volume 3 of the O'Reilly series.

     This next part might be redundant

     From the login event sequence mentioned earlier, you will note
     that /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession tries to exec $HOME/.xsession
     if it exists. This is how you would go about changing
     programs started by default. An example is the start of the
     window manager. There is a discussion on xsession files in volume
     3 of the O'Reilly series. For examples of alternate xsession files
     look at /usr/people/4Dgifts/.xsession or /usr/demos/.xsession.

     If you don't have a $HOME/.xsession file, /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession
     starts things for you and eventually looks for $HOME/.sgisession.
     This is a good way to start additional programs without
     changing what is started by default.


------------------------------

Subject:   -38- After copying /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession to .xsession,
                I can't login.
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     After copying this file to your home directory, you need
     to remove all references to "xsession". References to xsession
     cause the system to try to execute $HOME/.xsession, which will
     create an infinite loop.

     Remove the lines in ~/.xsession that say:

       if [ -r $xsession -a "$0" != $xsession ]; then
               if [ -x $xsession ]; then
                       exec $xsession
               else
                       exec /bin/sh $xsession
               fi
       fi


------------------------------

Subject:   -39- What are the important login and resource files
                for IRIX 4D1-4.0?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The following three file groupings indicate where files that
     affect your login session reside.

     1) /usr/lib/X11/* - This is THE starting place. Here you find
     the system default bindings for Motif, 4Dwm, and the
     Toolchest. The xdm directory lives here as well as the
     app-defaults directory. xdm controls the session management.Many
     application defaults are set in the app-defaults directory.

     2) $HOME/[.Xdefaults, .4Dwmrc, .chestrc, .xsession, .sgisession]
     Here you find the files that control your system set-up.
     You create these files; they don't exist when you first log in.

     3) /usr/bin/X11 - This is where the binaries live. It makes
     life nice to include this directory in your path.


------------------------------

Subject:   -40- What is the sequence of events that occur at login time?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     This is a bare bones synopsis of the events that occur when
     you log in to the console via xdm (xdm is the default method
     of logging in).

     1) Provide a "failsafe" (nographics) login if required/requested.
     2) Exec $HOME/.xsession if it exists. If it exists, the remaining
        steps should normally be included in the users .xsession file as
        well.
     3) Load $HOME/.Xresources if it exists.
     4) Set XUSERFILESEARCHPATH.
     5) Incorporate a "shell" environment
        into the "session". (man userenv)
     6) Set the root background and cursor.
     7) Start 4Dwm.
     8) Wait for 4Dwm to come up.
     9) Disable display access control (xhost +).  (man xhost)
     10) Execute $HOME/.sgisession if it exists.
     11) Start WorkSpace if the user wants it.
     12) Put a Toolchest on each screen.
     13) Start the console.
     14) Exec the "reaper". (man reaper / endsession)

------------------------------

Subject:   -41- How can I convert RGB Bitmaps to & from other formats?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Several bitmap conversion tools are shipped with IRIX.  The
     executables are part of the eoe2.sw.imagetools subsystem,
     and include:

     fromalias - convert an Alias image to an IRIS image
     frombin - create an RGB IRIS image file from a binary dump of image data
     fromcmap - convert a color map into an image with one scanline
     fromcube - convert a Cubicomp/Vertigo image file to IRIS format
     fromdi - convert an old .di dithered image into an IRIS image
     fromface - convert a UNIX faceserver image into an IRIS image
     fromgif - convert a GIF image into an IRIS image
     frommac - convert a MacPaint image into an IRIS image
     frompic - convert a MOVIE BYU .PIC image to an IRIS image
     fromppm - convert an image in Jef Poskanzer's format into an IRIS image
     fromrla - convert a Wavefront image to an IRIS image
     fromsun - convert a sun image into an IRIS image
     fromtarga - convert a targa image into an IRIS image
     fromxbm - convert an X Bitmap image into an IRIS image
     fromxud - convert an xwd file into an IRIS image
     fromxwd - convert an xwd file into an IRIS image
     fromyuv - convert an Abekas yuv image into an IRIS image
     toalias - convert an IRIS image to an Alias image
     toascii - convert an IRIS image to text characters
     tobin - convert an IRIS image to binary dump of pixel data
     tobw - convert an IRIS image to black and white
     togif - convert an IRIS image to a Compuserve GIF image
     tomac - convert an IRIS image to MacPaint format
     tonews - convert an IRIS image into NeWS format
     topict - convert an IRIS image to Macintosh PICT format
     toppm - convert an IRIS image file into Jef Poskanzer's ppm image format
     tops - convert an IRIS image to PostScript
     toscitex - Convert IRIS images into Scitex CT2T images
     tosun - convert an IRIS image to a sun raster file
     totarga - convert an IRIS image to a type 2 targa image
     toyuv - convert an IRIS image to yuv format

     The source for each of these tools is shipped in the 4Dgifts
     dev.dev_sw.giftsfull package and placed in the directory
     /usr/people/4Dgifts/iristools/imgtools.  Each also has a man page.

------------------------------

Subject:   -42- Can I compress RGB bitmaps?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Yes.  Use /usr/sbin/rle, which is part of eoe2.sw.imagetools


------------------------------

Subject:   -43- How can I look at a Postscript file?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Use xpsview or Ghostscript.  xpsview is in dps_eoe.  If you have 
     upgraded from 3.3, you will need to purchase this product.

     Ghostscript, combined with Ghostview, allows you to preview PostScript 
     documents in an X window, without the need for Display PostScript (DPS).  
     This allows you to preview PostScript from your SGI machine on any device 
     that supports the X protocol (like X terminals, Suns, etc..)  

     There are ghostscript/ghostview inst'able images for IRIX 4.0.1+ 
     available via anonymous ftp to ftp.sgi.com in ~ftp/sgi/ghost.  

------------------------------

Subject:   -44- How do I make a screen dump?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Use the utilities /usr/sbin/snapshot or /usr/sbin/scrsave.  Both 
     have a man page.  You need to make sure that you have eoe2.sw.gltools 
     loaded to get the program and eoe2.man.gltools for the man page.

     From within a GL program, you should call readdisplay().  
     For an example look at ~4Dgifts/iristools/imgtools/scrsave.c

------------------------------

Subject:   -45- Can I use 4Dgifts code in my application?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Yes.  The 4Dgifts are a "gift" and developers are welcome to use
     the code.  However, SGI does not support the code in 4Dgifts.
     Note that certain restrictions apply.  Please read the copyright
     statement in ~4Dgifts/README.Copyright.


------------------------------

Subject:   -46- What does ERR_WMANIPC mean?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The "WMAN" in that message means "window manager."  However, this 
     no longer means "window manager" such as 4Dwm, but rather the entire 
     X Window system.  The error means that the GL program triggered a
     fatal X error.

     A GL program can get an X error, because all GL programs are actually
     X clients.  When a GL program does a winopen(), libgl actually calls
     XCreateWindow, etc.)

     When a GL program gets an X error, libgl prints out these X errors
     using this error message:

       GL: X request = maj.min,  error code = ercode

     where
       maj = major request code that caused the error
       min = minor request code
       ercode = X error code

     This turns out to be easy to interpret, so long as the request was a
     core X protocol request (e.g., a CreateWindow request).  In that case:

       1. You can look up the major code in /usr/include/X11/Xproto.h.
       2. The minor code is not used.
       3. The X error code can be found in /usr/include/X11/X.h.

     As you can see in Xproto.h, the core X protocol requests have request
     codes <= 127.

     However, ... if maj > 127, then the request is an X extension request.
     Unfortunately, it can be difficult to interpret this unless you built 
     your program with a debugging libgl.a (compiled with -g).  The reason 
     is that for an X extension, the major request code and the starting error 
     code are copied from the X server during client startup, and these codes 
     are saved in variables inside libgl.  With a debugging libgl, these 
     variables can be printed out from within a debugger, such as dbx.

     If the major code indicates an X Input extension request, then the
     minor numbers then tell the X input request type, and these are found
     in /usr/include/X11/extensions/XIproto.h.

     Finally, the X Input Extension uses 132 as its "starting error code."
     The possible errors are found in /usr/include/X11/extensions/XI.h,
     where they're defined like this:

         #define XI_BadDevice   0
         #define XI_BadEvent    1
         #define XI_BadMode     2
         #define XI_DeviceBusy  3
         #define XI_BadClass    4

     If you add 132 to these numbers, you get the error that's reported by
     the libgl error message.


------------------------------

Subject:   -47- How can I translate screen (x,y) coords into world
                (x,y,z) coords?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Check the manual page for mapw(3G) or mapw2(3G).  mapw() returns
     a line into (x,y,z) space.


------------------------------

Subject:   -48- How can I translate world (x,y,z) coords into
                screen (x,y) coords?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     There are two methods.  The first method is detailed in
     ~4Dgifts/examples/grafix/world2scrn.c, which is part of
     the dev.dev_sw.giftsfull package.  It multiplies the (x,y,z)
     vector into the current modeling and projection matrixes, and
     uses the result to interpolate based on the window size and
     position.

     The second method uses the current cursor position as a trick and
     is much simpler.  Use cmov() to set the cursor position to the
     point of interest in world space, then call getcpos() to return the
     cursor position in screen coordinates.  Note that if your entire
     viewport is off-screen, the results are undefined and you'll have
     to use the first method.

     float x,y,z;
     short x1, y1;

     cmov (x,y,z);
     getcpos (&x1, &y1);


------------------------------

Subject:   -49- I call mapcolor(index, R, G, B) but nothing happens.  Why?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     You either need to call glcompat(GLC_SLOWMAPCOLORS, TRUE) at the
     beginning of your program, or call gflush() after calling mapcolor.

     See the NOTES section in "man mapcolors" and also "man glcompat" for
     further info. (This may also be in the GL release notes)


------------------------------

Subject:   -50- What's wrong with blink()?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     - blink() is broken all the way up through 4.0.5F, where blink()
       only blinks to black.

     - you can work-around this blink() problem by doing the following:

       blink(rate, index, red<<8, green<<8, blue<<8)

     - ~4Dgifts/examples/glpg/ch04/blinker.c has three main problems:
        - it doesn't do the above work-around.
        - it doesn't do a gflush after mapping colors.
        - it doesn't turn blinking off initially.

     - what happens is that if a program starts anything blinking and
       exits without ever turning blinking off with blink(-1, 0, 0, 0, 0)
       then the next program to attempt blinking will not be able to blink.
       this happens if for instance you close the blinker window before its
       10 second sleep() has completed.

     - a simple idea for a work-around for this problem: programs which do
       blinking should turn their blinking on when they have focus; they
       should turn all blinking off when they lose focus.  This is not perfect
       but is a plausible attempt at sharing the 20 blinking system-wide
       colormap entries.


------------------------------

Subject:   -51- When I try to run UIM/X uxserverd, I get an
                error message saying, "license file has been
                modified, cannot start the UIM/X license server".
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST


     You probably have been given a bad key.  The most frequent
     causes of incorrect keys have been incorrect capitalization
     and incorrect IP addresses.

     The program that generates the UIM/X key requires that the
     "host ID" (or IP address) be in hexadecimal format.  If you
     feed it the standard form of IP address (i.e., 123.45.678.90)
     it will generate the wrong key and will not complain.

     To ensure that you are is giving the correct information when
     requesting a UIM/X key, please do the following:

     Hostname:  Type in 'hostname' at the prompt, and be sure to say
     exactly what it says (including capitalization, if any).

     Host ID:  Type in 'hostid' at the prompt, and be sure to say
     exactly what it says.  You will be reading back a series of
     numbers of the form 0xc030c844.  The leading 0x indicates
     that the following number is hexadecimal.

     The key generating script is highly sensitive to capital letters.
     Make sure you confirm the case of the letters, both when getting
     the hostname/hostid and when having your key read back to you.

     If this still doesn't fix the problem, you may have mixed files
     between UIM/X 1.0 and 2.0.  Completely remove UIM/X, re-install
     it, and reproduce a Uimx2_0.license file with the correct information.


------------------------------

Subject:   -52- What is a GL widget?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     GL widget refers to the GlxDraw (generic) and GlxMDraw (Motif)
     widgets that allow you to embed GL windows in Xt-based programs.
     To embed a GL windows in X-based programs is frequently called
     "Mixed-model" or "GLX" programming.

     There are several examples of mixed-model programming in the
     directory /usr/people/4Dgifts/examples/GLX.


------------------------------

Subject:   -53- I'm using the GlxMDraw widget and it doesn't seem
                that colors are being installed correctly.  Overlays
                in the GlxMDraw widget are displayed in red and gray
                instead of the colors I specify.  What is the problem?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     The window manager must be directed to install all appropriate
     colormaps.  Use the XSetWMColormapWindows() call to do this --
     list one window for each colormap to be installed plus the top
     level window.  If using overlays, include the overlay window as
     well as the normal GL window.

     If your window is TrueColor, you should still install the appropriate
     colormap, as Indigo TrueColor is simulated using a colormap.


------------------------------

Subject:   -54- I get a "Broken Pipe" error when I close the window
                of an X client, such as xman or xterm.  What does
                this error mean?  Is there something wrong with my system?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST


     Typically the error message resembles the following:

     XIO: fatal IO error 32 (Broken pipe) on X server ":0.0"
     after 214 requests (214 known processed) with 0 events remaining.
     The connection was probably broken by a server shutdown or KillClient.

     The Window Manager is reporting that the pipe for your X client
     has been broken.  This is normal when an X client exits.  There
     is nothing wrong with your system. This message will also occur
     when the system is shut down.  This is not an error condition and
     no core files are produced.


------------------------------

Subject:   -55- Is there a way to switch on the fly between single
                and double buffering within a GL widget?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     There is no way to switch between single and double buffered
     mode within the same window. (In X, this would mean changing
     the depth, which is not allowed.)

     To simulate this, you can create two GL widgets: a double
     buffered GL widget and a single buffered GL widget.  When it
     is time to change the buffering mode, restack the windows so
     that the appropriate one is on top. If the two windows are
     created with a common parent, they move together when the
     parent is moved.

     For non-mixed mode applications, the GL performs this switching
     when you call gconfig().

------------------------------

Subject:   -56- Why doesn't SGI's xlock lock my screen?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     If you or the super-user do not have a password, xlock will
     not lock.  Also, in IRIX 4.x, xlock is set up by default to
     act as if invoked with the "-nolock" option, which tells it 
     not to lock the screen.  If you want force xlock to lock, do 
     either of the following:

     a) Use the "+nolock" option when invoking xlock.  This means
	"not nolock" (the opposite of "-nolock").  For example:

        % xlock +nolock

     b) Add the following line to your ~/.Xdefaults file:
        
        XLock.nolock:    False

     In IRIX 5.x, the default behavior of xlock has been reversed,
     so xlock does indeed lock by default.  If you wish to keep the
     IRIX 4.x behavior, invoke xlock with the -nolock option.

------------------------------

Subject:   -57- Why do I get compilation errors when compiling the 
                Inventor C++ examples, using C++ 3.0?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

     Inventor 1.0 and 1.0.1 were built using the 2.1.1 version 
     of the C++ compiler.  If you are using C++ 3.0, you must 
     add the "-v2" switch to the Makefile's LC++DEFS line.  It
     would then look like the following:

     # Options to C++; see the CC manual page for what they do
     LC++OPTS = -v2 +p -Wf,-XNp10000


------------------------------

Subject:   -58- Credits
Date: 6 May 93 00:00:01 EST

The comp.sys.sgi FAQs are the collective effort of

  Dale Chayes		dale@ldeo.columbia.edu
  Steve Rikli		steve@archone.tamu.edu
  Allan Schaffer	aschaffe@sgi.com
  Dave Schweisguth	dcs@neutron.chem.yale.edu

Special thanks are due to

  Tom Davis		Author of 'zip'
  Harry Mangalam	Maintainer of the comp.sys.sgi.* WAIS database

Finally, much thanks to all of the SGI employees on Usenet, all of whom have
provided gigabytes of help and information.

Credits for individual contributions are given in the answers.

------------------------------
-- 
Allan Schaffer
aschaffe@sgi.com
-- 
Allan Schaffer
aschaffe@sgi.com

Archive-name: sgi/faq/apps

           SGI apps Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


This information is freely distributable and wide circulation is encouraged.
The contents are accurate as far as we know, but the usual disclaimers apply.
This FAQ contains errors! Finding them is an exercise for alert readers.

Please send additions and changes to sgi-faq@archone.tamu.edu.

This FAQ is one of the SGI FAQ series, which consists of:

     SGI Admin FAQ - IRIX System Administration
     SGI Apps FAQ - Applications & Compilers
     SGI Graphics FAQ - Graphics & Windowing
     SGI Hardware FAQ - Hardware issues
     SGI Misc FAQ - Introduction & Miscellaneous Information

Each FAQ is posted to each comp.sys.sgi.* group as well as the news.answers
and comp.answers newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) every two weeks.
If you can't find one of the FAQs with your news program, you can get it by
anonymous FTP from one of these sites:

 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/apps
 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.sys.sgi.misc/SGI_apps_Frequently_Asked_Questions
 archone.tamu.edu:ftp/pub/sgi/faq/apps
 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.answers/sgi/faq/apps

Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational documents,
and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer here.

Topics covered in this FAQ:
--------------------------
  -1- How can I quickly find the question I want in this FAQ?
  -2- What's a good graphic text editor for SGIs?
  -3- What about Explorer?
  -4- How can I make the 'install' program work like BSD 'install'?
  -5- How can I preview PostScript without buying DPS?
  -6- With what applications can I edit PostScript files?
  -7- How can I format unformatted manpages without buying DWB?
  -8- Why can't I compile application X?
  -9- Why does GNU Emacs not compile, or compile but not run?
  -10- Why doesn't Xarchie 1.3 work?
  -11- What do I need to do to build gcc/g++?
  -12- Can I use dynamic shared libraries in IRIX?
  -13- How can I make Fortran load entirely from a library?
  -14- How can I make my 4.0.x Fortran program read binary data files 
       written by a 3.3.x Fortran program?
  -15- Credits

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject:   -1- How can I quickly find the question I want in this FAQ?
Date: 27 May 93 00:00:01 EST

- This FAQ follows the RFC1153 recommendations for message digests and thus
  can be viewed easily with newsreaders that understand message digests.
- Each question has a Subject: line, so you can easily step through the answers
  with rn's ^G command.
- Each question is marked with a "dash number dash" so that you can find any
  answer with a simple search pattern.
- Questions marked with a '+' are new this posting; those marked with a '!'
  have significant new content since the last edition.

------------------------------


Subject:   -2- What's a good graphic text editor for SGIs?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

The most popular graphic text editors on SGIs include:

zip (by Tom Davis of SGI) is something like jot but is orders of magnitude
faster and laden with nifty features. Its only disadvantage is that it doesn't
run on X-terminals, or of course text terminals. FTP to ftp.sgi.com and look 
in in graphics/zip.

GNU Emacs, a perennial favorite, isn't just an editor; it's a way of life.  It
has a X-windows mode and will work on X-windows terminals as well as SGI
consoles and text terminals.  Emacs may be FTPed from any GNU archive.

Epoch is a derivative of GNU Emacs with better graphics support. It may be
found at cs.uiuc.edu in pub/epoch-files/epoch.

------------------------------

Subject:   -3- What about Explorer?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

The IRIS Explorer data visualization system has its own newsgroup,
comp.graphics.explorer. There is an FAQ, which can be found, along with many
other Explorer goodies, at swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov in the explorer directory.

------------------------------

Subject:   -4- How can I make the 'install' program work like BSD 'install'?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

The BSD and System V versions of the 'install' command are incompatible; the
BSD version is most often used by Makefiles. IRIX provides both the System V
version (/etc/install) and the BSD version (/usr/bin/X11/bsdinst.sh). SGI's
'imake' defines INSTALL as /usr/bin/X11/bsdinst.sh, and the Install* rules
use that definition, so Imakefile-generated Makefiles will use the BSD version.

------------------------------

Subject:   -5- How can I preview PostScript without buying DPS?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

SGI offers a PostScript previewer as part of the extra-cost Display PostScript
(DPS) option. Happily, Robert Keller of SGI <rck@fangio.asd.sgi.com> has made
available GNU's GhostScript previewer, compiled *and* in SGI 'inst'
installable form. FTP it from ftp.sgi.com in sgi/ghost.

------------------------------

Subject:   -6- With what applications can I edit PostScript files?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

Ivan Bach <ib@sgi.com> collected some testimonials from a number of SGIers:

- Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw can edit PS files of type AI (a simplified
  version of PS that facilitates editing).
- If you have DPS extensions on your server and a DPS compile time
  environment you can do this quite well with xfig. Check out the version on
  crocus.medicine.rochester.edu.
- The InterViews tool `idraw' allows manipluation of EPS (Encapulated
  PostScript) files, and has a `mac-type' interface.
- Island Draw 3.0 has an option to import Postscript, and it seems to accept
  arbitrary Postscript.  I have fed it single page Postcript files from
  Illustrator, Corel, Ventura, Designer, Eroff, and hand-coded files, and it
  made Island Draw objects out of them.  The file initially opens as one
  grouped object, but if you ungroup, you get editible objects.  I was quite
  impressed.  I don't doubt there are ways to fool the interpreter, but it
  works for output from drawing and publishing packages, which is what I need
  it for.

------------------------------

Subject:   -7- How can I format unformatted manpages without buying DWB?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

SGI provides manpages in formatted form, and does not therefore need to provide
us all with the formatting software. Most FTPable software, however, comes with
unformatted manpages.

Manpages are most often formatted with Documenter's Workbench (DWB), which SGI
has had to license separately from USL and we have to buy separately from SGI.
SGI's DWB is based on version 2.1; the current version from USL is 3.3. Public
domain alternatives include 'groff' and 'awf'.

'groff' is by the Free Software Foundation and can be had from any GNU
archive.  Compilers beware: it must be compiled with g++ (or another C++
compiler?). However, there are compiled binaries on cb-iris.stanford.edu.
David Hinds <dhinds@allegro.stanford.edu> gives this advice for installing
groff so that it can format manpages on the fly:

Create a script called 'eqn':

 > #!/bin/sh
 > if [ ${1:-""} = /usr/pub/eqnchar ] ; then shift ; fi
 > geqn $*

and a script called 'neqn':

 > #!/bin/sh
 > if [ ${1:-""} = /usr/pub/eqnchar ] ; then shift ; fi
 > geqn -Tascii $*

and do:

 > ln -s gnroff nroff

and edit the end of the gnroff script to be:

 > rest=`echo ${1+"$@"} | sed -e 's+/usr/lib/tmac+/usr/local/lib/groff/tmac+'`
 > exec groff -Wall -mtty-char $T $opts $rest

To get PostScript output from 'man -t', you also need to create a 'psroff'
script similar to 'nroff'.  Here are the context diffs:

*** /usr/local/bin/nroff        Sat Feb 13 15:51:09 1993
--- /usr/local/bin/psroff       Sat Feb 13 17:45:46 1993
***************
*** 1,8 ****
  #!/bin/sh
! # Emulate nroff with groff.

  prog="$0"
! T=-Tascii
  opts=

  for i
--- 1,8 ----
  #!/bin/sh
! # Emulate psroff with groff.

  prog="$0"
! T=-Tps
  opts=

  for i
***************
*** 25,30 ****
--- 25,33 ----
        -Tascii|-Tlatin1)
                T=$1
                ;;
+       -t)
+               # ignore -- default is send to stdout
+               ;;
        -T*)
                # ignore other devices
                ;;
***************
*** 49,53 ****
  rest=`echo ${1+"$@"} | sed -e 's+/usr/lib/tmac+/usr/local/lib/groff/tmac+'`

  # This shell script is intended for use with man, so warnings are
  # probably not wanted.  Also load nroff-style character definitions.
! exec groff -Wall -mtty-char $T $opts $rest
--- 52,56 ----
  rest=`echo ${1+"$@"} | sed -e 's+/usr/lib/tmac+/usr/local/lib/groff/tmac+'`

  # This shell script is intended for use with man, so warnings are
! # probably not wanted.
! exec groff -Wall $T $opts $rest

The binaries on cb-iris.stanford.edu have these changes already made.

Henry Spencer's awf ("Amazingly Workable Formatter") is written in 'awk',
which we all have, and does a pretty good job, considering. It can be FTPed
from fresnel.stanford.edu in pub/4D.

------------------------------

Subject:   -8- Why can't I compile application X?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

Plenty of reasons, but here's the most common: SGI's C compiler is ANSI C
by default in IRIX 4.0.x. Use the '-cckr' option to compile K&R C. You can
do this most easily by setting the environment variable SGI_CC to "-cckr"
or by editing the application's Makefile, often by adding "-cckr" to the
CFLAGS variable.

A related problem is that Makefiles generated by 'imake' most often use 'cc
-cckr -prototypes'; missing or incorrect prototypes usually just generate
pages of warnings but may cause an unrecoverable error. This can often be
worked around by removing "-prototypes" from the line where it appears in 
the Makefile (not the Imakefile).

The cc(1) manpage describes these and related options.

------------------------------

Subject:   -9- Why does GNU Emacs not compile, or compile but not run?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

Emacs 18.59 is the most recent release of Emacs version 18, and builds and
runs correctly under IRIX 4.0.x. Earlier versions failed to compile (because
cc now needs -cckr for K&R C compatibility) or failed to run when stripped
(because of object file format changes). Versions of Epoch and/or Lucid Emacs
derived from GNU Emacs 18.xx may need unexmips.c from the 18.59 distribution.

Emacs 19.10 is the most recent release of Emacs version 19, and the first to
build and run conveniently under 4.0.x. Earlier versions require fiddling.

Karsten Kuenne <kuenne@desy.de> has patched Emacs 18.59 to work with IRIX
5.0's new object file format. The patches are at ftp.desy.de in
pub/gnu/emacs/emacs-irix5.0-patches. Emacs version 19 is not yet known to 
work under IRIX 5.0.

------------------------------

Subject:   -10- Why doesn't Xarchie 1.3 work?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

The app-defaults file supplied with Xarchie 1.3 used fonts which did not exist
on some versions of IRIX, resulting in invisible text and sometimes program
lockups. You can either replace the "fixed" and "fixed*bold" fonts with
"screen13" and "screen-bold13" everywhere they appear in the Xarchie.ad file,
or better yet upgrade to Xarchie 2.0, in which this problem has been fixed.
The current version of Xarchie can be found on export.lcs.mit.edu in the
contrib directory.

------------------------------

Subject:   -11- What do I need to do to build gcc/g++?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

Before you start, remember that you need the headers and runtime libraries
from SGI's extra-cost development option both to compile and use gcc. (gas and
glibc do not yet work on SGIs.) Of course if you buy the development option
you'll get SGI's compiler anyway; this is comp.sys.sgi.*'s most popular
Catch-22. Don't forget to install the dev.cmplrs_hdr.internal subsystem, which
contains needed headers and is not installed by default.

Nico Garcia-Otero <harvard.harvard.edu!eplunix!raoul> writes:
gcc/g++ is /pub/gnu/gcc-2.3.3.tar.z on aeneas.mit.edu. libg++ is
/pub/gnu/libg++-2.3.tar.z on the same machine. (These are not "pack"ed, they
are "gzip"ed. Gzip is a public domain compression system, faster and more
portable than compress or pack. It's available as /pub/gnu/gzip-1.0.7.tar on
the same machine, and should be installed first.)

Make sure you have both a C compiler and write permissions on a /usr/local
directory to install the these programs, untar and install gzip, then
gcc-2.3.3, then libg++-2.3.  The configure scripts on all of these are
reasonably clever and very effective: set them for mips-sgi-irix4 for the
Irix 4.x.x OS.

There *is* a bug in gcc-2.3.3 when bootstrapping with the cc from the Irix
4.0.5 OS:  specifically, cp-lex.c should *not* be compiled with -O. Using -O
causes g++ to break, and libg++ will fail to compile when it runs its
utils/gen-params script to test the g++ compiler. I've been told this is a
problem with the Version 3 SGI compiler, not the Version 2.10 SGI compiler.
I don't know if that is true, or on which SGI OS's it is true, but the
fix worked fine for me.

There are no other *fatal* flaws, but there are some tune-ups to the
installation process available. For example, the bootstrap installation
requires about 80 Meg of disk. Pruning at intermediate stages can prevent it
from taking more than about 50 Meg, at the cost of losing intermediate steps
to double check your results with.

The installation of gcc and libg++ require about 20 Meg free in /usr/local:
keep this in mind.

Reading the man pages will require either a licensed copy of nroff, or the
installation of groff, available as /pub/gnu/groff-1.08.tar.z on
aeneas.mit.edu. There are additional changes in the shell scripts created to
make it handle the SGI man formatting correctly: I don't know the details,
but they've been discussed on the sgi news groups.

Curtis Bingham <bingh@chopin.cs.byu.edu> adds some specifics for gcc:  Unless
you're sure you're starting from a fresh distribution, do a 'make distclean'
at the gcc-2.3.3 top level directory.  Then type 'configure mips-sgi-irix4'
(Assuming you have at least Irix 4.0).  Type 'make LANGUAGES=C' + whatever the
INSTALL file instructs you to do for the first run.  When that finishes, type
'make stage1'.   Before continuing with the instructions in the INSTALL file,
you must compile cp-lex.o without optimizations.  To do this, type something
along these lines(see the INSTALL file for exact details): 'make
"CC=stage1/gcc" "CFLAGS=-g" cp-lex.o' Notice there is not a -O in this, as
there is in the INSTALL file.  Once cp-lex.o compiles, you can type 'make
"CC=stage1/blahblah" "CFLAGS=-g -O"' as directed in the INSTALL file.  This
step needs to be repeated if you decide to make the stage2 compiler.

All of the above applies to IRIX 4.0.x; gcc is not knownn to deal with 5.x.
gcc 2.4.0 does not yet work under any version of IRIX.

------------------------------

Subject:   -12- Can I use dynamic shared libraries in IRIX?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

IRIX 5.0 supports SVR4-style dynamic shared libraries. IRIX 4.0.x does not,
but Jack Jansen <jack@cwi.nl> has written a package to do it anyway. Get the
file pub/dl-1.3.tar.Z from ftp.cwi.nl by anonymous FTP.

------------------------------

Subject:   -13- How can I make Fortran load entirely from a library?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

Bron Nelson <bron@sgi.com> writes:
> Is there any way to tell f77 to load entirely from a library? When using ld
> for C, it is possible to use -u symname to force the loader to start its
> work. This makes it possible to load entirely from a library.

The same trick works for Fortran, but (like all things Fortranish) you have to
do a little dance to make things work out.

The trouble is that the Fortran compiler has an "-u" option, so you have to
arrange to pass the "-u symname" option directly to the loader, by-passing the
Fortran front end.

Try adding the incantation "-Wl,-u,MAIN__" to the link line.  e.g.:

	f77 -Wl,-u,MAIN__ -o myprog myprog.a

The "-W" option is described in the man page.

------------------------------

Subject:   -14- How can I make my 4.0.x Fortran program read binary data files 
                written by a 3.3.x Fortran program?
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST

You must compile your program with the -old_rl flag (described in the f77
manpage) _and_ open the file with the option "form='unformatted'", for example:

open(1, file='filename', access='direct', recl=1, form='unformatted')

------------------------------

Subject:   -15- Credits
Date: 6 May 93 00:00:01 EST

The comp.sys.sgi FAQs are the collective effort of

  Dale Chayes		dale@ldeo.columbia.edu
  Steve Rikli		steve@archone.tamu.edu
  Allan Schaffer	aschaffe@sgi.com
  Dave Schweisguth	dcs@neutron.chem.yale.edu

Special thanks are due to

  Tom Davis		Author of 'zip'
  Harry Mangalam	Maintainer of the comp.sys.sgi.* WAIS database

Finally, much thanks to all of the SGI employees on Usenet, all of whom have
provided gigabytes of help and information.

Credits for individual contributions are given in the answers.

------------------------------
-- 
Allan Schaffer
aschaffe@sgi.com
-- 
Allan Schaffer
aschaffe@sgi.com

Archive-name: sgi/faq/admin

           SGI admin Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


This information is freely distributable and wide circulation is encouraged.
The contents are accurate as far as we know, but the usual disclaimers apply.
This FAQ contains errors! Finding them is an exercise for alert readers.

Please send additions and changes to sgi-faq@archone.tamu.edu.

This FAQ is one of the SGI FAQ series, which consists of:

     SGI Admin FAQ - IRIX System Administration
     SGI Apps FAQ - Applications & Compilers
     SGI Graphics FAQ - Graphics & Windowing
     SGI Hardware FAQ - Hardware issues
     SGI Misc FAQ - Introduction & Miscellaneous Information

Each FAQ is posted to each comp.sys.sgi.* group as well as the news.answers
and comp.answers newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) every two weeks.
If you can't find one of the FAQs with your news program, you can get it by
anonymous FTP from one of these sites:

 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/admin
 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.sys.sgi.misc/SGI_admin_Frequently_Asked_Questions
 archone.tamu.edu:ftp/pub/sgi/faq/admin
 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.answers/sgi/faq/admin

Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational documents,
and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer here.

Topics covered in this FAQ:
--------------------------
  -1- How can I quickly find the question I want in this FAQ?
  -2- Is it possible to use a system with graphics to run the 
      Visual System Manager ('vadmin') on a system without graphics?
  -3- Is it possible to boot from a CD-ROM? 
  -4- Is it possible to remotely install IRIX over a network?
  -5- How can I track failed login attempts on my system?
  -6- I've configured 'tftp' in /usr/etc/inetd.conf -- why 
      isn't it working?
  -7- Is 'pcnfsd' available for the SGI?
  -8- How do I set the number of processes allowed on my machine?
  -9- I think I've found a security hole in IRIX; who do I 
      notify at SGI?
  -10- I want to install a termcap for 'iris-ansi-net' on my 
       non-SGI system, but I can't find a termcap file on the 
       SGI.  Where can I get one?
  -11- My SGI crashed and generated a file, /usr/adm/crash/vmcore.1 .  
       How can I examine this file to see what crashed my system?
  -12- Why can't I export an NFS-mounted filesystem?
  -13- Why is my network license daemon ('netlsd') exiting?
  -14- How do I log anonymous ftp sessions?
  -15- How can I determine my SGI's unique ethernet hardware address?
  -16- Security problem with pre-IRIX4.0.5 'lp'
  -17- Why isn't /usr/adm/SYSLOG isn't being updated?
  -18- Credits

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject:   -1- How can I quickly find the question I want in this FAQ?
Date: 27 May 93 00:00:01 EST

- This FAQ follows the RFC1153 recommendations for message digests and thus
  can be viewed easily with newsreaders that understand message digests.
- Each question has a Subject: line, so you can easily step through the answers
  with rn's ^G command.
- Each question is marked with a "dash number dash" so that you can find any
  answer with a simple search pattern.
- Questions marked with a '+' are new this posting; those marked with a '!'
  have significant new content since the last edition.

------------------------------


Subject:   -2- Is it possible to use a system with graphics to run the 
               Visual System Manager ('vadmin') on a system without graphics?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Yes.  Make sure the DISPLAY environment variable is set correctly, and 
the shared libraries in eoe2.sw.X11 and eoe1.sw.unix must be installed 
on the graphic-less system (which is the default installation), along 
with all the eoe2.sw.vadmin stuff.  It is also a good idea to install
eoe2.sw.4Dwm, eoe2.sw.WinSpt, and eoe2.sw.Xapps as well.

------------------------------

Subject:   -3- Is it possible to boot from a CD-ROM? 
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Yes, for systems with new PROMs, such as Indigo and Crimson, it can be done.
For older systems it can be done with the SGI CD-ROM drive, but it can get
frustrating in some cases.  For some older systems, it may be necessary to
use either a local tape drive, or boot them over the network.

------------------------------

Subject:   -4- Is it possible to remotely install IRIX over a network?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Yes.  There are several different ways to do this:
   - from a remote machine with a CD-ROM
   - from a remote machine with a tape drive
   - from a remote machine with an IRIX distribution directory

All of these scenarios (and several others) are described in detail in the
"IRIS Software Installation Guide".  Examples are provided.

------------------------------

Subject:   -5- How can I track failed login attempts on my system?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Put syslog=all in /etc/config/login.options, as described in 'man login'.
In IRIX 5.* this is set in /etc/default/login.

Add logging arguments to lines in /usr/etc/inetd.conf, as directed 
by the man pages for the ftpd, rshd, tftpd daemons.  Fingerd has an 
undocumented option, "-l", to enable logging.  For rshd, it is "-L".

As of IRIX 5.0.1, inetd.conf is in /etc.

------------------------------

Subject:   -6- I've configured 'tftp' in /usr/etc/inetd.conf -- why 
               isn't it working?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

The command in /usr/etc/inetd.conf that starts up tftpd is:
tftp    dgram   udp     wait    guest   /usr/etc/tftpd  tftpd -s /usr/local/boot

Or something similar.  Changes made to this file will NOT take effect until
you do (as root) 'killall -HUP inetd', or reboot.

------------------------------

Subject:   -7- Is 'pcnfsd' available for the SGI?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Yes.  A binary and man page are available via anonymous ftp from 
ftp.sgi.com, in ~ftp/support/pcnfsd.sysV.  It is unsupported, as 
the included README disclaimer will tell you.

------------------------------

Subject:   -8- How do I set the number of processes allowed on my machine?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Under IRIX 4.*, change NPROC in /usr/sysgen/master.d/kernel, run 
'/etc/autoconfig -f', and reboot.  If NPROC gets too big, you may 
get a message upon booting that you've run out of spinlocks.  In
that case you'll then need to increase NSPLOCK.

If you're changing NPROC, you may wish to adjust MAXUP, since it 
controls the maximum number of processes per user.

------------------------------

Subject:   -9- I think I've found a security hole in IRIX; who do I 
               notify at SGI?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

In general, if you find a security problem (or think you have), you can send
it to postmaster@sgi.com .

You can also notify CERT (cert@cert.org), and they will contact the appropriate
people from their contact list.

------------------------------

Subject:   -10- I want to install a termcap for 'iris-ansi-net' on my 
                non-SGI system, but I can't find a termcap file on the 
                SGI.  Where can I get one?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

SGIs use the system 5 style terminfo stuff.  What you want can be done though.
See 'man infocmp', and the documentation about -r.  This should do the job:
'infocmp -Cr iris-ansi'.

If you don't have infocmp, you have to install eoe2.sw.terminf, which is not
installed by default.

------------------------------

Subject:   -11- My SGI crashed and generated a file, /usr/adm/crash/vmcore.1 .  
                How can I examine this file to see what crashed my system?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

dbx -k /usr/adm/crash/{unix,vmcore}.#
t
&putbuf/1000s

Is a reasonable starting sequence.  The Technical Assistance Center (TAC) 
has some scripts that they have customers run to provide more info in some 
cases.

------------------------------

Subject:   -12- Why can't I export an NFS-mounted filesystem?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

This is known as multi-hop NFS and is not allowed/supported in (Sun's) NFS.  
SGI decided in IRIX 4.0.X it was better to prevent attempts to export 
NFS-mounted filesystems than to catch the error on client access.

------------------------------

Subject:   -13- Why is my network license daemon ('netlsd') exiting?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

For netlsd to run, you need to have 'llbd' and 'glbd' installed and 
running.  A complete debugging procedure is in the netls release notes, 
which can be read with 'relnotes netls_eoe 5'.

------------------------------

Subject:   -14- How do I log anonymous ftp sessions?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

The IRIX 4.0.X 'ftpd' will make additional entries to the syslog with 
the '-l' option.  'ftpd -ll' will keep an accounting of how many times 
a file is requested and by whom, and 'ftpd -lll' will log the number 
of bytes transferred as well.  'man ftpd' for more details.

------------------------------

Subject:   -15- How can I determine my SGI's unique ethernet hardware address?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

There are several ways to do this.  Many thanks to miguel@csd.sgi.com, 
for providing this robust answer and discussion:

Determining Your System's Address(es): Ethernet versus Internet Protocol

The physical Ethernet address of your system is the unique number assigned
to the Ethernet hardware on your system and is not to be confused with the
IP address which can be set. This unique number is assigned to the
manufacturer of your Ethernet hardware by the IEEE, (previously assigned by
Xerox, one of the original developers of Ethernet). Every system on an
Ethernet network must have a unique Ethernet address for the network to
operate properly.

You may need to determine your system's Ethernet address if your network
manager requires it before connecting your system to a network.

There are several ways to obtain the Ethernet address, depending on whether
IRIX is running and what operating system version is loaded.

Method 2 will only provide the Ethernet address of the Primary
interface. If you have multiple Ethernet interfaces (boards) in a system,
use Method 1 or Method 3 to determine the address(es) of any other
interface(s).


METHOD 1:  netstat

If you are running version 4.0.X of IRIX, you can use the netstat command to
obtain your Ethernet address. For example:

% /usr/etc/netstat -ia

Name  Mtu    Network   Address            Ipkts   Ierrs   Opkts  Oerrs  Coll
ec0   1500   siligrph  luey7              7765678 21648  384477     0  30338
                        192.48.200.251
                        192.0.0.1
                        08:00:69:06:17:c2
lo0   32880  loopback localhost           41438       0   41438     0      0
                        192.0.0.1

In the preceding example the Ethernet address of the system luey7 is
08:00:69:06:17:c2 as seen on the fourth address line for the primary
Ethernet interface ec0.

METHOD 2:  eaddr

If IRIX is not running, and the system is an Indigo (4DRPC), Indigo2, 
Personal IRIS (4D20, 4D25, 4D30, 4D35), Onyx, or Challenge you may obtain 
the Ethernet address by typing eaddr at the prom monitor prompt. Instead 
of booting the system, press the escape key to go to the System Maintenance 
menu. Select 5 for the Command Monitor mode. At the >> prompt type eaddr. 
The number returned is your Ethernet address.

METHOD 3:  arp

You can obtain the Ethernet address of a Silicon Graphics system by using
another system on your network. From that system ping the system you want
the Ethernet address of. Stop the ping and issue /usr/etc/arp <hostname>
where <hostname> is the name of the system you want to obtain the Ethernet
address of. This will return the Ethernet address as in the following
example:

% /usr/etc/ping luey6
PING luey6.sgi.com (192.48.200.250): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.48.200.250: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=0 ms
64 bytes from 192.48.200.250: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0 ms
64 bytes from 192.48.200.250: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=0 ms
^c
----luey6.sgi.com PING Statistics----
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 0/0/0
% /usr/etc/arp luey6
luey6 (192.48.200.250) at 8:0:69:6:c:40
%


4DDN: A Special Case

4DDN is Silicon Graphics' DECnet interconnection product. The Ethernet
address of an IRIS running 4DDN will change when 4DDN is started.

DECnet uses a one-to-one relationship between the DECnet node ID and the
Ethernet address. If the DECnet address is changed the Ethernet address is
changed. DECnet Ethernet addresses always start with aa: to allow you to
identify systems running DECnet when you use the arp -a command.
will return the original Ethernet address for the system. Methods 2 and 3
will show the Ethernet address currently in use.

------------------------------

Subject:   -16- Security problem with pre-IRIX4.0.5 'lp'
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Ref:  Cert Advisory CA-92:08

Thanks to Dave Olson (olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com) for this one:

Attached please find a patch for a security problem found in all
versions of IRIX.  This vulnerability is *not* present in any
version of the Trusted IRIX/B product.

The problem was found (by SGI employees) by inspection
of the lp spooling system in response to recent postings on
comp.sys.sgi.  Note that this is not inherently a problem in
having an open lp account (no password), but rather a
configuration problem on the part of Silicon Graphics.  I have
heard (shortly after we found it ourselves) from only one
customer who has independently found this problem, so presumably
it isn't widely known yet.  Other Unix versions derived from early
S5R3 releases may (or may not) have similar problems.

No files need to be replaced, just modes changed to remove
set[gu]id bits, and writability of some files.  The commands to
do so are part of the attachment below.

The body of the attachment below has also been submitted to CERT
(Computer Emergency Response Team) for publication by them; it
may be published in an altered form.

To those who have been discussing security problems on
comp.sys.sgi, I (personally, not speaking for SGI) apologize for
not being able to disclose this earlier in my replies.  We have
only known about this for a matter of days, and needed to do
some testing to be sure we weren't introducing any problems by
the use of this fix.  I hope that my postings over the last few
days will be interpreted as they were written, and not as an
attempt to lull people into believing that no problems existed.

===========================================================================

I.   DESCRIPTION:

     A vulnerability exists such that IRIX pre-4.0.5 systems
     with the basic system software ("eoe1.sw.unix") or the
     system manager software ("eoe2.sw.vadmin") installed can
     allow unauthorized access to the superuser account, by
     exploiting a configuration error in standard system
     utilities. Due to the ease of exploiting this vulnerability
     and the simplicity of the corrective action, the CERT/CC
     urges all sites to install the patch given below.

II.  IMPACT:

     Anyone who can login as (or su to) the user "lp" can become
     root on any pre-IRIX 4.0.5 system. As Irix is normally
     distributed, this includes any ordinary user

III. SOLUTION:

     As "root", execute the following commands:

	cd /usr/lib
	chmod a-s,go-w lpshut lpmove accept reject lpadmin
	chmod go-ws lpsched vadmin/serial_ports vadmin/users vadmin/disks
	cd /usr/bin
	chmod a-s,go-w disable enable
	chmod go-ws cancel lp lpstat

     If the eoe2.sw.vadmin software is not installed, you may
     get messages like:
       "chmod: WARNING: can't access vadmin/serial_ports"
     These can be ignored if they occur.

     If system software should ever be reloaded from pre-4.0.5
     media or from a backup tape created before the patch was
     applied, repeat the above procedure immediately after the
     software has been reloaded, before enabling logins by
     normal users.

     [ Fixed in IRIX 4.0.5 ]

------------------------------

Subject:   -17- Why isn't /usr/adm/SYSLOG isn't being updated?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Thanks to Vernon Schryver (vjs@rhyolite.wpd.sgi.com) here.

Popular causes include:

    -running out of disk space.
        Once syslogd is unable to write to /usr/adm/SYSLOG,
        it won't try again until it is `killall -HUP syslogd`.

    -installing IRIX 4.0.X and failing to heed the nagging from
	the system when it is rebooted to run 'versions changed'
	and combine new and old configuration files.  In this
	case, the trouble is in /usr/spool/cron/crontabs/root.



------------------------------

Subject:   -18- Credits
Date: 6 May 93 00:00:01 EST

The comp.sys.sgi FAQs are the collective effort of

  Dale Chayes		dale@ldeo.columbia.edu
  Steve Rikli		steve@archone.tamu.edu
  Allan Schaffer	aschaffe@sgi.com
  Dave Schweisguth	dcs@neutron.chem.yale.edu

Special thanks are due to

  Tom Davis		Author of 'zip'
  Harry Mangalam	Maintainer of the comp.sys.sgi.* WAIS database

Finally, much thanks to all of the SGI employees on Usenet, all of whom have
provided gigabytes of help and information.

Credits for individual contributions are given in the answers.

------------------------------
-- 
Allan Schaffer
aschaffe@sgi.com
-- 
Allan Schaffer
aschaffe@sgi.com

Archive-name: sgi/faq/hardware

           SGI hardware Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


This information is freely distributable and wide circulation is encouraged.
The contents are accurate as far as we know, but the usual disclaimers apply.
This FAQ contains errors! Finding them is an exercise for alert readers.

Please send additions and changes to sgi-faq@archone.tamu.edu.

This FAQ is one of the SGI FAQ series, which consists of:

     SGI Admin FAQ - IRIX System Administration
     SGI Apps FAQ - Applications & Compilers
     SGI Graphics FAQ - Graphics & Windowing
     SGI Hardware FAQ - Hardware issues
     SGI Misc FAQ - Introduction & Miscellaneous Information

Each FAQ is posted to each comp.sys.sgi.* group as well as the news.answers
and comp.answers newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) every two weeks.
If you can't find one of the FAQs with your news program, you can get it by
anonymous FTP from one of these sites:

 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/hardware
 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.sys.sgi.misc/SGI_hardware_Frequently_Asked_Questions
 archone.tamu.edu:ftp/pub/sgi/faq/hardware
 rtfm.mit.edu:pub/usenet/comp.answers/sgi/faq/hardware

Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational documents,
and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer here.

Topics covered in this FAQ:
--------------------------
  -1- How can I quickly find the question I want in this FAQ?
  -2- Can I mix 1MB and 2MB SIMMS in my 4d/20 & 4d/25 Personal IRISes?
  -3- Can I add 4MB SIMMS to my 4d/20 or 4d/25 PI?
  -4- How many 4MB SIMMS can be put into an Indigo?
  -5- Can I have 2 graphics displays on my Indigo?
  -6- Can I use a 3rd-party cartridge tape drive on my Indigo?
  -7- How fast is the Indigo parallel port?
  -8- What kind of DAT drive does SGI sell for the Indigo?
  -9- How many SCSI devices can I have on an Indigo?
  -10- Can I use a non-SGI CD-ROM with my Indigo?
  -11- What is my old SGI machine worth?
  -12- Which Exabyte drives work with SGI systems?
  -13- How do I install external SCSI disks on my SGI?
  -14- What is "/dev/tport" used for?
  -15- How long can my monitor/keyboard/mouse cables be?
  -16- Credits

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject:   -1- How can I quickly find the question I want in this FAQ?
Date: 27 May 93 00:00:01 EST

- This FAQ follows the RFC1153 recommendations for message digests and thus
  can be viewed easily with newsreaders that understand message digests.
- Each question has a Subject: line, so you can easily step through the answers
  with rn's ^G command.
- Each question is marked with a "dash number dash" so that you can find any
  answer with a simple search pattern.
- Questions marked with a '+' are new this posting; those marked with a '!'
  have significant new content since the last edition.

------------------------------


Subject:   -2- Can I mix 1MB and 2MB SIMMS in my 4d/20 & 4d/25 Personal IRISes?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

To cite from PIPELINE March/April 1992, page 18:

You can use either 1MB or 2MB SIMMs in these systems.  If you mix 1MB and
2MB SIMMs, all sixteen memory slots must be filled.

------------------------------

Subject:   -3- Can I add 4MB SIMMS to my 4d/20 or 4d/25 PI?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

The short answer is "maybe".  Read on.

Thanks to Michael Portuesi (portuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com) for this helpful
summary:

The 4D/2* has 16 memory slots.  You get access to them by removeing the right
plastic cover and the metal shield underneath (box seen from the front).  The
slots are in the upper, left corner (box now seen from the right).

The slots have to be populated by SIMMs (some kind of industry standard).  I
think 80 or even 100ns is allright, but take a look at the speed of your own
SIMMs.

SIMMs should always be mounted in groups of four.  In a plain 8MB 4D/20 you
have eight 1MB SIMMs.  They are placed in slots A and B in this figure:

  ABCD ABCD
  ABCD ABCD

If you upgrade to 16MB using eight more 1MB SIMMs you simply insert the new
SIMMs in slots C and D.  If you are going to mix different SIMMs you should
always have the the same type of SIMM in slots with the same letter.

As far as I know, the SGI 32MB memory upgrade is sixteen 2MB SIMMs, and they
are mounted in all the slots.  Now, I have been told (but haven't tried it)
that it is possible to mix 1 and 2MB SIMMs.  The important point is that the
2MB SIMMs should be in the lowest numbered slots.  To get 24MB you should
populate the slots as shown (signatures are, 1 = 1MB SIMM, 2 = 2MB SIMM, 4 =
4MB SIMM, . = empty slot):

  2211 2211
  2211 2211

The good news is that you can get 4MB SIMMs from third-party vendors outpricing
the 2MB SIMMs available from SGI.  To get 32MB you mount 8 4MB SIMMs like this:

  44.. 44..
  44.. 44..

The bad news is that you cannot mix 4MB SIMMs with 1 or 2MB SIMMs (leaving a lot
of spare SIMMs) and even worse, not all 4MB SIMMs will function properly.

Among the "good" SIMMs are those from Toshiba.  They should look something like
this (information I got from a news aritcle posted by Chris Miller
(eagle!news@ucbvax.berkeley.edu)):

          module ID tags:                 chip numbers:

   --------------          ---------      TOSHIBA
  | TOSHIBA      |        | 9025AAA |     TC514100J-80
  | THM94000S-80 |        | JAPAN   |     JAPAN 9020HDK
   --------------          ---------

Among the "bad" SIMMs are those from Hitachi:

                                          chip numbers:

                                          JAPAN R200
                                          9026 2NN
                                          HM514100JP8H

Other memory configurations that we have tried are:
	(0 = empty slot, 1 = 1MB SIMM, 2 = 2MB SIMM, H = 4MB Hitachi SIMM,
	T = 4MB Toshiba SIMM)

	1100	1100		Came up as 8MB (correct)
	1100	1100

	1111	1111		Came up as 16MB (correct)
	1111	1111

	TT11	TT11		Came up as 64MB (wrong)
	TT11	TT11

	T000	T000		Came up as 16MB (correct)
	T000	T000

	TT00	TT00		Came up as 32MB (correct)
	TT00	TT00

	HH00	HH00		Came up as  0MB (wrong!!)
	HH00	HH00

	TH00	TH00		Came up as 32MB (correct)
	TH00	TH00

	TTH0	TTH0		Came up as 48MB (correct)
	TTH0	TTH0

	TTHH	TTHH		Came up as 64MB (correct)
	TTHH	TTHH

	11TT	11TT		Comes up as 16MB
	11TT	11TT

It appears as though the machine checks the first bank of chips (port 0) to
determine the chip size and assumes that the rest are the same.  The Hitachi
4MB SIMMs are NOT correctly detected.

It is important that the 4MB SIMMs in slot A are 'good'. Then you are free to
use "bad" 4MB SIMMs in the rest of the slots (this is my experience), and it
is possible to upgrade to 64 MB populating all the slots with 4MB SIMMs.

When you do the actual seating of the SIMMs you should take precautions (wear
a static strap, work on a static pad) not to damage the memory.  Sometimes
you will have to reseat a module.  If a SIMM is not properly seated it will
probably show up on the diagnostics terminal (if you have one attached) during
power on.

After a succesful power on you should enter the PROM monitor and issue the
'hinv' command.  This should tell you how much memory you have (or how much
the 4D/2* believes it has).  If this is correct you are ready to boot.

------------------------------

Subject:   -4- How many 4MB SIMMS can be put into an Indigo?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

One (1) set.  According to Dave Olson (olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com):

   Due to a design flaw, only one set of 4MB SIMMs (16 MB per bank)
   can be used in an R3000 Indigo, 4D/30 and 4D/35.  This limitation
   doesn't apply to the 2 MB or 8 MB SIMMs.

------------------------------

Subject:   -5- Can I have 2 graphics displays on my Indigo?
Date: 20 May 93 00:00:01 CST

The Dual Headed IRIS Indigo with Entry Graphics (W-RPC-DH) sounds like what
you want. It has two Entry Graphics subsystems and two 16" monitors. Contact
SGI Express (1-800-800-7441) for more information.

------------------------------

Subject:   -6- Can I use a 3rd-party cartridge tape drive on my Indigo?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

The Tandberg and Archive QIC24 and QIC-150 drives both work just fine
on the Indigo (both come in external versions), as do the Wangtek and
Tandberg QIC-1000 drives (as of this quarter, and 4.0.5F or later).

------------------------------

Subject:   -7- How fast is the Indigo parallel port?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Default rate is about 200Kbytes/sec.  This can be bumped up to at least 400,
and perhaps higher by changing the strobe length, assuming the other side can
handshake fast enough.  See 'man plp'.

------------------------------

Subject:   -8- What kind of DAT drive does SGI sell for the Indigo?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

The Indigo DAT drive is an ArDAT Python 4320.

The drive SGI sells is completely standard 3.5" form factor hardware (no
compression), but has firmware that so far ARDAT is selling only to SGI
to provide audio over SCSI support, and to fix some bugs.

------------------------------

Subject:   -9- How many SCSI devices can I have on an Indigo?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

You can have 7 SCSI devices, and as long as you have clean cabling, and one
(and only one!) SCSI terminator at the end of the chain, and keep total cable
length under 6 meters, there should be no problems, as far as the Indigo's
bus itself goes.

On an Indigo2, you can have 7 devices on the external SCSI bus, and up to 3
devices on the internal bus.

------------------------------

Subject:   -10- Can I use a non-SGI CD-ROM with my Indigo?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Dave Olson (olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com) says:
We sell a modified Toshiba 3301B (special firmware and hardware).  I've
heard people say that they were able to use the Sun CD-ROM to boot the
Indigo from, but can't confirm it.  The basic requirement as far as
Indigo goes is that the drive somehow be set to use a 512 byte block
size.  Since Indigo doesn't reset the SCSI bus on reboot or halt, you
*might* be able to set the blocksize with a devscsi program while the system
is up on non-SGI CD's, and then install from them, but I won't swear to it.

------------------------------

Subject:   -11- What is my old SGI machine worth?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Thanks to Thomas Sippel - Dau (cmaae47@imperial.ac.uk) for this summary:
 
Since Computer technology has been improving so rapidly, this is difficult
to answer generally.  But you can take the following approches to get
somewhere near a realistic estimate.

1.  The Book Value.

This assumes the computer is an investment object which is written down
over a certain time.  At the end of this time it is assumed that the
residual value will pay for scrapping the object, so you do not have to pay
someone to take it away.  About 5 years seems reasonable for computers.

        Value   the current value
        Price   the original price
        n       the age of the machine in months
        p       depreciation rate 1.6% (for 62.5 months useful life)

1.1 Linear method:     Value = Price * ( 1 - n * p )
1.2 Degressive method: Value = Price * ( 1 - 2 * p ) ** n

In the first 4 years the degressive method will give lower values.

Once the degressive monthly depreciation is lower than the linear one, you
should sell the machine and buy a new one, otherwise you pay more tax than
you need to (talk to your accountants first, they should know the exact 
depreciation rate and method).

2.  Comparative method.

Get the new price of a similar current machine.  Multiply the current price
by any usefulness multipliers.  For example:

        An Indigo R3000 server costs $8000 (N.B. NOT the real price)
        An Iris 4D/25 is about half the speed of it

        Then the current value of the 4D/25 cannot be more than $4000
        regardless of what the book value says.

For this you must strip or enhance the machine to a current standard. 

Say you take the price of an Indigo with 432 disk Mbyte and 16 Mbyte memory
to assess the residual value of a 4D/25 with eight Mbyte memory and 330
Mbyte hard disk.  You will arrive at the price after you have upgraded the
the 4D/25 to 16 Mbyte. 

Since both machines are not very useful (stand alone) with so little disk
space, you can allow for the difference in disk space when you calculate
the price of the whole running system.

For this method the old system must be able to run current software
usefully.  A system that does not run current software has no value, but see
below.

You should also take account of the maintenance cost for about three years,
which is when a system you buy now would be due for replacement according
to  the book value method.

3.  Components and options.

You can view the system as an assembly of useful parts, such as monitor,
keyboard, disk drives, system box, electronics module.  If you have extra
memory or disks (over and above the currently useful minimum), you can 
value them at about 80% of the price you currently have to pay third party
suppliers.

4. Residual use value.

If you can find a dedicated use for an old general purpose machine, then
this could give you a final number.  However, you need to allow for any work
you have to put in to get to that state, and to keep the system there.  You
will also find that only reasonably large organisations have such dedicated
uses.

Finally, a word about maintenance:

If you have one system only, and you cannot afford to lose it, you need to
take maintenance, regardless of how much it is.  From about 5 systems you
can save yourself maintenance if you can afford to lose the odd system and
load its uses onto the remaining ones.  But remember that rescheduling
people often meets resistance, and keeping people idle because of a system
failure is extremely expensive.

------------------------------

Subject:   -12- Which Exabyte drives work with SGI systems?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Dave Olson (olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com) says:
First, the 8200 (2.3 Gb).  The original version we qualified was 100% stock
from Exabyte.  It had some problems on the ESD machines at power on, because
of the somewhat non-standard way it handled the send-diag SCSI command.  The
current rev (252T) we ship is also standard firmware from Exabyte (to the best
of my knowledge), and fixes that problem, and is also more robust in the face
of servo problems.

The 8500 (5 Gb) isn't fully qualified (by SGI) yet, and there is some argument
over whether we will ask for custom firmware; I think we are definitely
slanting towards standard firmware.  The gotcha here is that Exabyte has
released so many firmware revs for the 8500, that the word 'standard' is
somewhat of a joke.  I've lost touch with that effort a bit, so I don't know
what firmware rev we are currently working with.

4.0.1 is the first IRIX release with support for the 8500, earlier releases
will work to varying degrees with different 8500 firmware.

------------------------------

Subject:   -13- How do I install external SCSI disks on my SGI?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

The Disk and File tool assumes you bought your drive from SGI, in which case
it is already formatted, labelled, and mkfs'ed.  Oh, and it also assumes
you want to use the entire drive as a single partition.

The basic procedure is to use 'fx' to format and label the drive (the label
contains the partition layout), then use 'mkfs' to create the empty
filesystem, and then create the mounts points and put the proper entries
into /etc/fstab.

The info you are looking for is in the IRIX Site Administrator's Guide.
They are a two volume set that you have to order, but they are an absolute
necessity for anyone doing IRIX system administration.  Look in chapter 10
and chapter 6.

------------------------------

Subject:   -14- What is "/dev/tport" used for?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Mark Stadler (mds@sgi.com) says:
/dev/tport is a streams based tty device driver which can be in one of 2 modes:

- when X is not running, /dev/tport gets its input from the graphics keyboard
  and images in the frame buffer (textport mode).  This mode is only intended
  to be used in single-user mode or during transitional periods when the X
  server is not running.
- when X is running, /dev/tport doesn't get any input and generates no output.
  Any programs or shells using /dev/tport hang on reads and toss writes.

Kind of a strange device.  But it makes more sense with a clear understanding
of how /dev/console works.

/dev/console is kind of like a terminal switch box.  Rather than switching
physical rs232 cables, we direct console output onto the output stream of
other streams-based devices who request such behavior with TIOCCONS ioctl.

By default, /dev/console directs its output to /dev/tport.  In the absence of
a windowing system this causes console output (including kernel prints) to
show up on the textport in front of you.

Once the window system is started, the /dev/tport is no longer visible.  Thus
the console is no longer visible.  At this point, a terminal emulation window
(using streams based ttys) can issue the TIOCCONS ioctl to cause console output
(including kernel printfs) to show up in the emulation in the window in front
of you.

Note that when you bring the window system down, /dev/tport is still there with
the same session it started with and the console output redirected back to it
again.

------------------------------

Subject:   -15- How long can my monitor/keyboard/mouse cables be?
Date: 26 May 93 00:00:01 CST

Dave Olson (olson@anchor.esd.sgi.com) writes:
SGI has (or had at one time) a 75 foot monitor cable on the price list.  With a
decent cable, this is about as far as you can get without getting pretty fuzzy;
I've heard that with an extremely high quality cable, you can get to about 100
feet.  Your limits may vary.

EIA 423 should have no problems with up to 100 feet either, since the mouse is at
4800 baud, and the keyboard at 600.



------------------------------

Subject:   -16- Credits
Date: 6 May 93 00:00:01 EST

The comp.sys.sgi FAQs are the collective effort of

  Dale Chayes		dale@ldeo.columbia.edu
  Steve Rikli		steve@archone.tamu.edu
  Allan Schaffer	aschaffe@sgi.com
  Dave Schweisguth	dcs@neutron.chem.yale.edu

Special thanks are due to

  Tom Davis		Author of 'zip'
  Harry Mangalam	Maintainer of the comp.sys.sgi.* WAIS database

Finally, much thanks to all of the SGI employees on Usenet, all of whom have
provided gigabytes of help and information.

Credits for individual contributions are given in the answers.

------------------------------
-- 
Allan Schaffer
aschaffe@sgi.com
-- 
Allan Schaffer
aschaffe@sgi.com