Re: "Unsupported X Windows visual" ALMOST!

["Liam E. Gumley" <Liam.Gumley(at)ssec.wisc.edu>]

Saeid Zoonematkermani wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I seem to be having the same problem but with less severity though it is
> still rather inconvenient.
>
> This is a new machine and I installed RH 6.1 on it. Originally I was not
> able to run any graphics command and I would get the dreaded X visual
> not supported. After installing XFree86 4.0 (as suggested in an earlier
> post), the graphics started working but the window does not refresh
> itself. If any part of the plot window is covered, it is gone for good.
> Also I don't know how to get to the pseudo 8-bit mode so I can use
> standard color tables.
>
> So the questions are:
> - how do I get the window to auto refresh after being covered or
> minimized
> - how do I use standard color tables
>
> Below is the output from 'help, /device'. The graphic card is Diamond
> Viper 770D which uses NVIDIA TNT2 chipset.
>
> Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks,
>
> - Saeid Zoonematkermani
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> IDL Version 5.2 (linux x86). Research Systems, Inc.
> IDL> help, /device
> Current graphics device: X
>     Server: X11.0, The XFree86 Project, Inc, Release 4000
>     Display Depth, Size: 24 bits, (1280,1024)
>     Visual Class: TrueColor (4)
>     Bits Per RGB: 8
>     Physical Color Map Entries (Used / Total): 256 / 256
>     Colormap: Private, 16777216 colors.  Translation table: Enabled
>     Graphics pixels: Decomposed,        Dither Method: Ordered
>     Write Mask: 16777215 (decimal) ffffff (hex)
>     Graphics Function: 3 (copy)
>     Current Font: <default>,    Current TrueType Font: <default>
>     Default Backing Store: Req from Server.

I recommend the following startup file. Set the environment variable IDL_STARTUP
to point to the full path and name for this file, e.g.

% setenv IDL_STARTUP $HOME/idl_startup.pro

or

$ export IDL_STARTUP=$HOME/idl_startup.pro

;--- cut here ---
if !version.os_family eq 'unix' then device, true_color=24
window, /free, /pixmap, colors=-10
wdelete, !d.window
device, decomposed=0, retain=2, set_character_size=[10, 12]
device, get_visual_depth=depth
print, 'Display depth: ', depth
print, 'Color table size: ', !d.table_size
;--- cut here ---

If your Xserver supports 8-bit mode, then replacing 'true_color=24' with
'pseudo_color=8' will start IDL in 8-bit mode. Otherwise you will have to
reconfigure your Xserver to start in 8-bit (256 color) mode.

Cheers,
Liam.

--
Liam E. Gumley
Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/~gumley