From: lapp@waterloo.hp.com (David Lapp)
Subject: Re: 700RX problems (fonts and graphics memory)
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 14:50:39 GMT
Organization: HP Panacom Div Waterloo ON Canada
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Richard Lloyd (rkl@csc.liv.ac.uk) wrote:
: We've got about three dozen colour X terminals (700RX) and have been running
: into several problems with them that appear to be related to graphics memory.
: I think (!) we have 4MB of memory, but don't quote me on that :-) Here's a list
: of problems with the 700RX's:
: 
: 1. Do X terminal fonts HAVE to reside on the system disk on the machine the
:    700RX downloads them from ? We tried to set up an NFS directory with X
:    terminal fonts in it that were needed by some of our X programs and tftp
:    seemed to ignore them :-( At the moment, we've set up a local directory
:    (/usr/lib/X11/700X/fonts/local) and are maintaining it via rdist across
:    all our servers.
:
Both tftp and nfs can be a bit picky about what files they allow you to
access. nfs servers won't allow access to disks which are nfs mounted
on the server. tftp only allows access to files under /usr/tftpdir
and won't follow soft links and such.

It is possible to access fonts on many different systems using the
700/RX though. Take a look at the section on 'Using Fonts from 
Different Computers' in "HP Systems Administrator's Guide for the
HP700/RX". Basicly you can set font paths which specify the host
system and access method as part of the path:

/tftp/hppadi/usr/lib/X11/700X/fonts/myfonts/
or
/nfs/hppad835/someotherpath/fonts/

The same mechanism can be used to specify the downloadable server
image. Thus you can download the server image from one system and
point at another file server to get your fonts. Or you can mix
font paths from several systems. Or ...

After you have determined the font paths you wish and have set them
using xset you can make them the 700/RX's default (ie. it will
remember those paths through resets) by going into config, to
the startup screen and clicking "Assign to Default Path"

You may also find that it is convenient to set up a single system
on your network as the file server while having individual
users log onto other systems as their 'compute servers'. The load
on this main file server should be no worse then you would have
had if you had accessed the files indirectly by nfs mounting
them on the compute server.

Also, if you are adding fonts supplied with particular
programs, and read fonts using tftp keep in mind that these
files must be under /usr/tftpdir (but don't include this
in the font path) This is because of the way in which secure
tftp works. Take a look in the "HP Systems Administrator's Guide for the
HP700/RX" for more details.

: 2. Do other sites have SERIOUS problems with 700RX terminals frequently coming
:    up with "Insufficient memory for graphics operation" and occasional spec-
:    tacular X terminal crashes because of this ? It happens more frequently if
:    you load a large GIF picture onto the background and then try and run an
:    X application afterwards. Ghostview in particular seems to crash on a
:    regular basis (try Magstep 4). I think that 4MB RAM just isn't enough for
:    medium-to-heavy duty use.
:
We have tried very hard to trap every out of memory condition so that
you get the pop-up rather then a crash. Obviously, we haven't
been completely successful. In some circumstances it is possible
that a crash might occur while attempting to display the pop-up
simply because there is insufficient memory to display it or because
some non-X operation in the terminal requires memory and can't get it.

The memory that you refer to is not 'graphics' memory exactly. It
is the X terminal DRAM. There is also VRAM. The amount of VRAM
varies with the model of 700/RX but 4 MB of DRAM  is now the standard
base configuration for all models. This memory is used to hold
the downloaded code, various X data structures, network data 
structures, ... When memory is required for something like a 
pixmap (to display a GIF for instance) a contiguous piece of
real memory must be available (ie. there is no virtual memnory). 
For a 640x480 GIF that is about 300 Kb and for a 1024x1024 GIF 
that is 1 Mb. So even though you have a fair bit of memory
available it may be in too small of fragments to be of use.

The bottom line is: if you get the out of memory pop-ups regularly
you probably need more memory.

: 3. Anyone else noticed that /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt and /usr/lib/X11/700X/rgb.txt
:    are *different* ??
:
Yes :-) We attempt to track the workstations but occasionaly
fall out of sync. 

If this causes you problems you can copy /usr/lib/X11/rgb.txt 
to /usr/lib/X11/700X/rgb.txt

: 4. How come if I do an xlsfonts | grep iso8859-1^ on an X terminal, I get
:    nothing ? A lot of applications use iso8859-1 at the end of the font name
:    and you have to change them to hp-roman8 to get them to work :-(
:
Umm because iso8859-1 is at the end of the font ? :-) Perhaps
you meant xlsfonts | grep iso8859-1$ ? (Which *should* produce a 
long list of fonts.)
 
: 5. Anyone know of a cheap third-party vendor of 700RX expansion memory ?
: 
Not I. I've never bothered to look because even if I did find one 
I don't think I would want to submit the purchase req. :-) I'm sure 
that they exist, however.


Hope that helps,

Dave Lapp


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