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Re: graphics window [message #16270 is a reply to message #16178]

Fri, 09 July 1999 00:00

Liam Gumley
Messages: 473
Registered: November 1994

Senior Member

David Fanning wrote:
> Kristine Hensel (hensel@ucar.edu) writes:
>> This happens to me when I start Netscape before I start IDL. I've
>> figured out that I have to start Xemacs first if I don't want my Xemacs
>> cursor to be invisible, then IDL if I don't want my graphics windows to
>> cause other windows to flash, then my Solaris manual pages if I don't
>> want them to crash ... now I just try to avoid logging off if things are
>> working properly.
>
> Yikes! Despite Liam's quixotic attempt's to make *everyone* use
> 8-bit display devices, I think the answer is 24-bit color. :-)

I don't believe I'm advocating that *everyone* should use 8 bit color.
The fact is there are Unix boxes out there which have 8 bit graphics
only, and in many cases there is no way to upgrade them to 24 bit color.
The color behavior described in this thread is typical of the 8 bit Unix
consoles we have around here.

The startup file I've posted has overcome this behavior on our in-house
8 bit Unix displays, as long as color-hungry applications like Netscape
are not running in the background. In fact I just ran a test on an
IBM/AIX box down the hall, and even with the startup file, the
fade-to-black occurs when you click on the IDL graphics window. The
culprit was that my colleague who uses the IBM box had both Netscape and
an in-house application (McIDAS) running in the background. Once I
killed Netscape and McIDAS, there were enough colors for IDL to work
with (around 140), and using the startup file brought up IDL in a mode
where there was no color flashing.

I agree that 24 bit color is the way to go if your graphics hardware
supports it. It's just that these old 8-bit Unix boxes take forever to
die.

Cheers,
Liam.

PS You can try starting Netscape with the flag 'ncols' to reduce the
number of colors used, e.g.

% netscape -ncols 32 &

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

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[Message index]

		graphics window By: Yang Zhiqiang on Thu, 08 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: davidf on Sat, 10 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: bkrrrrr on Sat, 10 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: davidf on Fri, 09 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: Liam Gumley on Fri, 09 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: davidf on Fri, 09 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: Kristine Hensel on Fri, 09 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: Liam Gumley on Fri, 09 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: Grady Daub on Fri, 09 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: J.D. Smith on Fri, 16 July 1999 00:00
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Fri, 27 May 2011 08:31
		Re: graphics window By: cgguido on Fri, 27 May 2011 08:15
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 11:32
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 11:18
		Re: graphics window By: Matt[2] on Wed, 25 May 2011 11:01
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 10:52
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 10:46
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 10:33
		Re: graphics window By: Daniel Larson on Wed, 25 May 2011 10:05
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 09:49
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 09:38
		Re: graphics window By: peterkamatej on Sun, 08 September 2013 09:26
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 09:12
		Re: graphics window By: David Fanning on Wed, 25 May 2011 08:08

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