6 Window System Software Notes

This chapter contains notes about issues and known problems with the windowing software and, whenever possible, provides solutions or workarounds to those problems. The following topics are discussed in this chapter:

6.1 Hardware Notes and Restrictions

The following notes apply to graphics hardware restrictions.

6.1.1 PBXGB-AA Video Card

The following notes apply to the DIGITAL PBXGB-AA video card:

To use 2D or 3D graphics on the PBXGB-AA card installed on a DIGITAL Semiconductor Reference System or clone, you must disable X Server direct memory access (DMA) write operations.
On systems where the PBXGB-AA video card is to be installed behind the PPB, you must disable X Server DMA write operations.

6.1.1.1 Procedure for Disabling X Server DMA Write Operations

To disable X Server DMA write operations for the PBXGB-AA video card, do the following:

Bring the system to single-user mode.
If you are able to use the shutdown command, execute the following command as superuser:
# /usr/sbin/shutdown +2 "Disabling graphics DMA write operations"

If you cannot use the shutdown command (for example, if the X Server on the PBXGB-AA card is hung), you must halt your system by pressing the hardware HALT button and then reboot your system to single-user mode by entering the following command:
>>> boot -fl s
Mount all local file systems.
After your system is in single-user mode, mount all of your local file systems by entering the following command:
# bcheckrc
Edit the Xservers files for XDM and CDE, then restart your system in multiuser mode.
1. To disable X server DMA write operations for the XDM session manager, change the directory to /var/X11/xdm by entering the following command:
  # cd /var/X11/xdm
  
  Then edit the Xservers file to append the text "-I -ffbDoDMA 4" to the end of the following line:
```
:0 local /usr/bin/X11/X
```
  The following example illustrates backing up the Xservers file and then using the sed editor to make the appropriate change:
  # cp Xservers Xservers.old
  # sed '/^:0/s/$/ -I -ffbDoDMA 4/' Xservers.old > Xservers
2. To disable X server DMA write operations for the CDE session manager, change the directory to /usr/dt/config by entering the following command:
  # cd /usr/dt/config
  
  Then edit the Xservers and Xservers.con files to append the text "-I -ffbDoDMA 4" to the end of the following line:
```
:0   Local local@console /usr/bin/X11/X :0
```
  The following example illustrates backing up the Xservers and Xservers.con files and then using the sed editor to make the appropriate changes. This example assumes the files are the default distributed versions, in which the appropriate line for the change is the only line in each file that ends with the text ":0":
  # cp Xservers Xservers.old
  # cp Xservers.con Xservers.con.old
  # sed '/:0/s/$/ -I -ffbDoDMA 4/' Xservers.old > Xservers
  # sed '/:0/s/$/ -I -ffbDoDMA 4/' Xservers.con.old > Xservers.con
3. Having made the appropriate edits, you can then bring the system to multiuser mode to use the PBXGB-AA video card as usual by executing the following command:
  # init 3

6.1.2 Qvision Graphics Display Error

Different versions of Qvision graphics boards demonstrate fillsolid drawing problems, leaving a line at the bottom of the screen, which is evident when running CDE blank lock screen. The line varies in color and intensity depending on the version of the Qvision board.

6.2 X Servers

The following notes apply to X servers.

6.2.1 Limited Multiscreen Display Support with CDE

CDE provides limited support for X servers with more than one screen. While a multiscreen environment is possible, a number of inconsistencies are noticeable. For example, colors in secondary screens may not be correct, icons may not display properly, and applications may not appear on the screen where they are invoked. DIGITAL is currently working with OSF to resolve issues related to multiscreen environments for future releases of CDE.

6.2.2 Keymap Interoperability Problem

If you use the Keyboard Options desktop application /usr/dt/bin/dxkeyboard to change the keymap, X11R5 clients will not be notified of the change. For example, a dxterm window running on DEC OSF/1 Version 3.2 displaying to a DIGITAL UNIX Version 4.0 system will not be notified that the keyboard mapping changed.

To avoid this problem, enter the following command after using dxkeyboard to change the keyboard mapping:

xmodmap -e "keycode 248 = NoSymbol"

6.2.3 Do Not Modify the keymaps.dir File

The final revision of the X Keyboard Extension, XKB Version 1.0, will be different from XKB Version 0.65, shipping with this release. The format of /usr/lib/X11/xkb/keymaps.dir will change. Do not modify this file as it will not be preserved with future updates of the operating system.

To force the server to use a specific XKB keymap, add the -xkbmap option to the server options line in /usr/lib/X11/Xserver.conf. Refer to the Xdec reference page on for more information.

6.3 X Clients

The following notes apply to X clients.

6.3.1 The dxmail and mh Applications Require New MailScanFormat File

The /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/MailScanFormat file, used by dxmail and other mh-based mailers, has been updated to support Year 2000 dates. Use of an old MailScanFormat file will result in date display problems and possible mail filename corruption. Therefore, you must replace any local, customized copies of the MailScanFormat file with the new file.

You should also update and review all local dxmail resource and .mh_profile files to verify that no other old versions of configuration files are being referenced.

6.3.2 X Window Colormap Resources

Color rich applications, such as Netscape, exhaust a large number of colormap resources. This results in problems with other graphical applications. For example, you may notice that icons normally displayed by the CDE Application Manager are not displayed when a color rich application is currently running on the system. Graphics applications and online help volumes may also be affected. The icon editor, dticon, may not be able to open a pixmap that contains a large number of colors.

In most cases this is a visual problem, and it may not be necessary to take any corrective actions. You can use the CDE icon labels in the same way as the icon for user actions such as drag-and-drop, and single and double click.

The simplest solution is to exit the color rich application. There are several alternate actions:

Use the CDE Style Manager's Color application to select the number of colors used by the desktop or an application. Alternatively, if supported:
- Set an application resource to limit color usage.
- Start the application with a flag that controls color map installation. (Refer to the application documentation for further details.)
In the case of Netscape, two workarounds are available; the first is preferred:
- Use Netscape's maxImageColors resource to limit the number of colors that Netscape uses. A suggested limit is 96. You can do this by placing the following line in the $HOME/.Xdefaults file:
```
Netscape*maxImageColors:        96
```
- Start Netscape with the -install flag, which specifies that Netscape should install its own colormap. Although this is supported, there are side affects such as:
  - Noticeable application and background color changes when focus is moved in and out of the Netscape window
  - Inability to clearly view the contents of the Netscape window when focus is moved out of the Netscape window

6.3.3 Old X Environment

If the XDM graphical login environment is selected instead of the default CDE environment, you may need to install the OSFOLDX11425 subset to regain the expected user environment. If this subset is missing, the default X session will consist of a single xterm window and the twm window manager instead of the more familiar DIGITAL session manager.

6.4 CDE Clients

The following notes apply to CDE clients.

6.4.1 Inaccessible Dialog Buttons

When running CDE with 640 x 480 graphics resolution, the OK, Apply, Cancel, and Help buttons of some application dialogs may be inaccessible. If this happens, you can correct it by setting the DXmfitToScreenPolicy resource to as_needed in the application's defaults file or, for systemwide problems, in the /usr/dt/config/$LANG/sys.resources file.

6.4.2 Screen Savers Prevent Efficient Power Management

When the screen on a DPMS-capable monitor is switched to standby, suspend, or off mode, the X server continues to run the screen saver. In CDE, where there are a number of active screen savers, this may defeat the CPU slowdown features for power management on certain Energy Star-compliant platforms. To minimize power consumption, DIGITAL recommends that you discontinue use of active screen savers by doing any of the following steps:

In the Screen Saver panel of the Screen dialog under the Style Manager, select "Blank Screen" and deselect any active screen savers that may be running.
Select the "Off" button in the same dialog.
Execute xset s off from a terminal client window.

6.4.3 Remote Invocation of CDE File Manager dtfile

File Manager, Application Manager, and Trash Manager are different views supported by the dtfile application. Avoid invoking dtfile from a remote system with the DISPLAY environment variable set appropriately. This restriction is necessary because of the client-server model used by the dtfile application and its close interaction with the tooltalk messaging system.

In the event of an unexpected behaviour from any of these utilities, close down all windows associated with the File Manager, Application Manager, and Trash Manager. Then kill all processes associated with dtfile. You can get the pid for each process by using the following command:

# ps -aef | grep dtfile

6.4.4 The dtmail Application

The following notes apply to the dtmail application.

6.4.4.1 Environment Variable MAILLOCKING

The dtmail application does not honor the user configurable mail-locking environment variable MAILLOCKING. If you are using NFS, you must have NFS locking enabled on both client and server systems.

6.4.4.2 Tooltalk Locking Disabled by Default

The dtmail application disables tooltalk locking by default. To enable it, select the following option from the Mail Options->Advance dialog box:

Use network aware mail file locking

Alternatively, set the following option in your $HOME/.mailrc file:

cdenotooltalklock='f'

If tooltalk locking is enabled, and the rpc.ttdbserverd daemon is not running, you will get the following message:

Mailer is unable to obtain exclusive access to this
mailbox because the system is not responding.

 

For this time only, you can choose to open this mailbox
read-only, or to open it read-write without exclusive
access (use only if no one else is using this mailbox).

You can either quit and start the rpc.ttdbserverd daemon, or click on read-write, which allows you to continue without tooltalk lock.

If you are running the automount daemon, the dtmail application may not be able to access your new mail inbox and you will see a dialog box showing the following message:

Unable to access an object required to complete the operation

If you see this message, copy the contents of your current mail inbox to a temporary file as a backup and perform the following steps:

Check that the following line is in your .mailrc file:
set cdenotooltalklock
If the line is not in your .mailrc file, edit the file to include it.

Alternatively, you can use the following method while in dtmail:

From the Mailbox pull down menu, select Mail Options
From the Mail Options dialog box, select the category Advanced.
From the Advanced options, click on the option named: Use network aware mail file locking. This action should remove the check mark.
Close all dialog boxes and restart the dtmail application. Check the contents of your current mailbox and the backup mailbox to ensure that no mail was lost during this process.

6.4.4.3 Row and Column Display

Changing the values for rows and columns in the Mail Options->Message View does not take effect immediately when you click on OK or APPLY. Exit from dtmail and restart it again from the control panel, command line, or file manager.

6.4.4.4 Attachments Are Not Included

If you compose a mail message by selecting one of the following from the dtmail main window, attachments will not be included:

Compose->New, Include All
Compose->Reply to Sender, Include
Compose->Reply to All, Include

Include the attachments manually by using the drag and drop feature.

6.4.4.5 Startup

Incorrect default permissions on /dev/zero prevent dtmail from starting.

You may see the following message when starting dtmail:

No memory available for operation

If you see this message, set the permission mode on /dev/zero to 666, as follows:

# chmod 666 /dev/zero

6.4.5 CDE's Static Dependency on the Network

CDE has a static dependency on the state of the network configuration. For more information, see Section 4.4.6.

6.4.6 The xnlLanguage Resource Settings May Cause Problems with CDE

CDE users should remove any xnlLanguage resource settings from their .Xdefaults files. Those settings are typically left over from one of the user's earlier DECwindows sessions, where the user selected a language from the session manager's language menu and then saved that setting.

The xnlLanguage settings should be removed because they override whatever language you select from the language menu in the CDE login window.

6.4.7 Possible Failure in the XOpenDisplay Call

When logging in to the CDE desktop, not all of the applications you want may restart. The X server process may not be able to handle all of the requests for new open connections, causing some to fail in the XOpenDisplay call. Some applications, like xterm, log startup errors in the dxconsole window, such as the following error:

xterm error: can't open display :0

To avoid this problem, add the following resource to your $HOME/.Xdefaults file:

Dtsession*contManagement:   2

This resource enables a handshake protocol between the CDE session manager and window manager during the login phase to control the appearance of new windows. While it may marginally increase the time before the login completes, it better assures that all applications will be restarted.

For a multiuser system, this resource can be added to the /usr/dt/app-defaults/C/Dtsession file to make the change for all users automatically.

6.5 Windows Programming

The following note applies to windows programming.

6.5.1 X11 Font Problem

In the Lucida-Typewriter-medium-R-normal fonts, the glyphs for multiplication and division are reversed. The multiplication symbol is where the division symbol should be, and vice versa. If the representation of these glyphs are important to your application, use a different font.

6.6 Internationalization

The following notes apply to restrictions on use of internationalization features in the windowing environments.

6.6.1 Backspace Key Not Supported in Asian Input

On PC-style keyboards, the Hanyu, Hanzi, Hangul and Kanji input servers use the Delete key instead of the Backspace key to erase information.

6.6.2 Hanyu IM Server Support of EDPC Under zh_TW.big5 Locale

When the Language setting is zh_TW.big5, EDPC support must be turned off. Otherwise, random characters appear in the candidate list for unsupported 4-byte encodings. Select the Input Method Customization... option from the Options button of the input server window in the lower left corner of your screen. Then in the customization dialog box, click the EDPC support button to Off.

6.6.3 Using Bookreader to Print Chinese and Korean Characters

The mdxbook command in the IOSWWOLDBKR425 subset is a variant of dxbook Version 3.0. Unlike dxbook, the mdxbook command supports printing files with Chinese and Korean characters.

The display quality of mdxbook is not as good as dxbook. Therefore, install mdxbook only if you need to print Chinese and Korean characters.

6.6.4 Japanese Keyboard Support

DIGITAL UNIX now supports two new Japanese keyboard types (JIS and ANSI) on AlphaStation and AlphaServer systems.

To use JIS-type Japanese keyboards, like the PCXAJ-AA and LK411-JJ, you must set the language console environment variable to 50, as in the following example:

>>> set language 50

To use ANSI-type Japanese keyboards, like the LK411-AJ, you must set the language console environment variable to 52, as in the following example:

>>> set language 52

Japanese keyboard support is not available on TURBOchannel-based machines. See Section 6.6.5 for instructions on how to load Japanese keymaps when the language is not available at the system console.

6.6.5 Default Keyboard Mapping

The X server automatically chooses a keymap based on the language and keyboard settings of the system console. If your locale is not available on the system console, or you want the server to load a different keymap, you must set the system default keyboard map. The default keyboard map is specified by adding the -xkbmap option to the args list in the /usr/var/X11/Xserver.conf file. Add the -xkbmap option by using the following syntax:

! you specify command line arguments here
args <
-pn -xkbmap <keymap_file_name>_<keymap_name>
>

For example:

-pn -xkbmap digital_japanese_lk411aj

The available keymap files are located in /usr/lib/X11/xkb/keymap, where there is one file for each locale. The individual keymaps for the locale are in the keymap file, and are specified by the keyword xkb_keymap. For example, the /usr/lib/X11/xkb/keymap/digital_japanese keymap file contains an entry for the LK411-AJ keymap.

In addition, you can change keymaps after logging in by running the Keyboard Options desktop application /usr/dt/bin/dxkeyboard if you are using CDE. Use the keyboard setting option of the session manager if you are using xdm.

6.6.6 Lithuanian and Slovene Language Support

The following instructions are for modifying some system files to allow for some support of Lithuanian and Slovene.

6.6.6.1 Mnemonics in Lithuanian and Slovene DX Applications

DX applications in this release do not support the use of mnemonics in Lithuanian and Slovene language variants.

6.6.6.2 DX Applications Integrated to CDE Desktop (Application Manager)

To make the Visual Differences application /usr/bin/X11/dxdiff display differences between two text files written in Lithuanian or Slovene language, locate the following line in the /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/DxDiff resource file:

*dxdiff*textdisplay*fontList:           fixed

Change the line, as follows:

*dxdiff*textdisplay*fontList:   -*-terminal-medium-r-narrow--18-*-*-*-c-*-*-*

You need superuser (root) privileges to make this change.

6.6.6.3 DX Applications Not Integrated into the CDE Desktop (Application Manager)

Some DX applications that are not integrated as part of the CDE desktop, but can be invoked using the File Manager or command line, do not set all display fonts according to the locale in use. If users want these applications to provide full Lithuanian and/or Slovene language support, they must perform the following corrective actions on the system with the Lithuanian and/or Slovene language variant installed.

Note that the superuser must perform all of these actions.

Mail - /usr/bin/X11/dxmail

To enable the use of Lithuanian and/or Slovene national characters in dxmail, locate the following lines in the /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/DXMail resource file:

*outlineList*DXmfontListDefault: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-ISO8859-1
*outlineList*DXmfontListLevel0: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-ISO8859-1
*outlineList*DXmfontListLevel1: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-ISO8859-1
*tocList*DXmfontListDefault: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-ISO8859-1
*tocList*DXmfontListLevel0: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-ISO8859-1
*Item.fontList: *-*-Helvetica-Bold-R-Normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-ISO8859-1
*XmText.FontList: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-ISO8859-1
*Text.FontList: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-ISO8859-1

Change the lines, as follows:

*outlineList*DXmfontListDefault: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-*-*
*outlineList*DXmfontListLevel0: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-*-*
*outlineList*DXmfontListLevel1: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-M-*-*-*
*tocList*DXmfontListDefault: *-*-*-*-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*
*tocList*DXmfontListLevel0: *-*-*-*-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*
*Item.fontList: *-*-*-*-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*
*XmText.FontList: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*
*Text.FontList: *-*-*-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*

Notepad - /usr/bin/X11/dxnotepad
To enable the use of Lithuanian and/or Slovene national characters in dxnotepad, locate the following line in the /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/DXnotepad resource file:
```
*textwindow.fontList: -*-Terminal-Medium-R-Narrow--*-140-*-*-C-*-ISO8859-1
```
Change the line, as follows:
```
*textwindow.fontList: -*-Terminal-Medium-R-Narrow--*-140-*-*-C-*-*-*
```
Bookreader - /usr/bin/X11/dxbook
To enable the use of Lithuanian and/or Slovene national characters in Bookreader bookshelf and book names, locate the following line in the /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/DXBookreader resource file:
```
-*-Menu-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-P-*-ISO8859-1
```
Change the line, as follows:
```
-*-*-*-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-P-*-*-*
```
Paint - /usr/bin/X11/dxpaint
The dxpaint Lithuanian and Slovene language variants do not support the insertion of Lithuanian and Slovene national characters.
Clock - /usr/bin/X11/dxclock
The dxclock application uses English day/month abbreviations and format to display the date and time.
Calendar - /usr/bin/X11/dxcalendar
The dxcalendar application uses English day/month abbreviations and format to display the date and time.
To enable the use of Lithuanian and/or Slovene national characters to create calendar entries, locate the following lines in the /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/DXcalendar resource file:
```
*font_small_tb.fontList: \
  -*-Menu-Medium-R-Normal--*-100-*-*-P-*-ISO8859-1
*font_medium_tb.fontList: \
  -*-Menu-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-P-*-ISO8859-1
```
Change the lines, as follows:
```
*font_small_tb.fontList:      -*-*-*-R-Normal--*-100-*-*-P-*-*-*
*font_medium_tb.fontList:     -*-*-*-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-P-*-*-*
```

6.6.6.4 Lithuanian Language Variant

If you use the Lithuanian language variant and you want to operate in the DXsession environment, you must specify the default user interface font by adding the following line to the .Xdefaults file located in your home directory and logging in again for the change to take effect:

*FontList:      -*-*-*-r-Normal--*-120-*-*-*-*-*-*

If you operate in a multilingual user interface environment, this corrective action will cause other language variants to display using a default font that is slightly different than the font family used before this action was performed.

If you want to use the default user interface font with the Motif window manager, locate the following line in the /usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/Mwm resource file:

Mwm*fontList: -*-Menu-Medium-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-P-*-ISO8859-1

Change the line, as follows:

Mwm*fontList: -*-*-*-R-Normal--*-120-*-*-P-*-*-*

You need superuser (root) privileges to make this change.