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Re: Linux Question [message #42558 is a reply to message #42557]

Wed, 16 February 2005 12:55

David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001

Senior Member

Michael Wallace writes:

> Huh? What's that all about? Color works fine. Back in the IDL 5.x
> days, color wasn't so good. I needed to put the magic color commands in
> my ~/.Xdefaults to resolve some color problems, but I haven't needed
> that for a long time. I'm not sure when the problem was fixed, but I
> know that I didn't need the work-around for IDL 6.0. Color works
> exactly the same in Linux as it does in other operating systems.

You probably wouldn't believe the number of e-mails I get
from LINUX users who can't get color to make sense to them.
(And this was confirmed by my visit to Munich, where at least
75% of the LINUX users were confused about *something*.)
Almost always they are running DirectColor visuals. No one
has ever told them anything different and they think IDL
is *suppose* to behave this way, I guess. At least an
awful lot of them were surprised when I told them
red plots on black backgrounds are not really normal
in IDL. :-(

There were perhaps 75-100 LINUX users where I was,
and only one person who clearly knew what he was doing.
Everyone would call him. He would storm into your office,
kick you out of your chair, and sit pounding on the keys
for 10 minutes. Then he would say, "There, that should do it, "
and leave. Everyone of us was left wondering what the hell
had just happened! After an experience like this, no one
bothered to call him again. (He had learned this
technique from doctors, no doubt.)

At least half the LINUX users I knew didn't know
that windows were suppose to be repaired properly
when they were exposed. They just re-ran their plot
command if a plot window got behind something else.

I am always amazed with what people put up with,
but this was really an eye-opening experience.
I recommend *anyone* who writes software for a
living go spend a couple of months with the end-users.
You will never be the same. :-)

Cheers,

David

--
David Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/

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[Message index]

		Re: Linux Question By: Chris Lee on Wed, 16 February 2005 15:05
		Re: Linux Question By: David Fanning on Wed, 16 February 2005 14:55
		Re: Linux Question By: Michael Wallace on Wed, 16 February 2005 14:37
		Re: Linux Question By: David Fanning on Wed, 16 February 2005 14:21
		Re: Linux Question By: Paul Van Delst[1] on Wed, 16 February 2005 13:52
		Re: Linux Question By: Michael Wallace on Wed, 16 February 2005 13:30
		Re: Linux Question By: Jonathan Greenberg on Wed, 16 February 2005 13:31
		Re: Linux Question By: Jonathan Greenberg on Wed, 16 February 2005 13:30
		Re: Linux Question By: David Fanning on Wed, 16 February 2005 12:55
		Re: Linux Question By: Michael Wallace on Wed, 16 February 2005 12:19
		Re: Linux Question By: James Kuyper on Wed, 16 February 2005 12:00
		Re: Linux Question By: Chad Bender on Wed, 16 February 2005 11:43
		Re: Linux Question By: Benjamin Hornberger on Wed, 16 February 2005 11:37
		Re: Linux Question By: KM on Wed, 16 February 2005 11:07
		Re: Linux Question By: David Fanning on Wed, 16 February 2005 10:44
		Re: Linux Question By: James Kuyper on Wed, 16 February 2005 10:31
		Re: Linux Question By: Michael Wallace on Wed, 16 February 2005 10:27
		Re: Linux Question By: mperrin+news on Wed, 16 February 2005 19:50
		Re: Linux Question By: Jonathan Greenberg on Wed, 16 February 2005 15:35
		Re: Linux Question By: Paul Van Delst[1] on Wed, 16 February 2005 15:28
		Re: Linux Question By: David Fanning on Wed, 16 February 2005 15:14

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