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Re: IDL without X on Linux [message #42871 is a reply to message #42869]

Thu, 03 March 2005 09:27

Michael Wallace
Messages: 409
Registered: December 2003

Senior Member

Here's how to run IDL without X.

1.) If you can modify source code and do not need to make plots

Just simply avoid any calls to device or other command that'd have the
effect of trying to produce a window on the screen (plot, window, etc).
It's probably best to be explicit and set the plotting device to NULL.

2.) If you can modify source code and you need to make plots

Set the plotting device to the Z-buffer (set_plot, 'Z') and leave it
that way. Your plots will now be going to an "offscreen" device that
will not be displayed anywhere, but everything all the plotting commands
will still work.

If using Object Graphics, use IDLgrBuffer instead of IDLgrWindow.

3.) If you can't modify source code and the code needs an X server

Download Xvfb, run it and set the DISPLAY variable to the Xvfb session.
Xvfb (X virtual frame buffer) is basically an X server which runs
offscreen and doesn't need to have any physical display. Programs which
need X servers don't realize that it's running off screen. Let's say
that I start an Xvfb session on server 1, screen 0. Before running the
IDL program you'd need to set the DISPLAY environmental variable to
your_machine_name:1.0. Typically I will write a little shell script
that sets the DISPLAY and then runs my IDL program. That way I don't
have to remember to set DISPLAY each time.

Benjamin Hornberger wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> can I start IDL on Linux without an X server available? I frequently run
> IDL on a Linux machine remotely, logged on from a Windows machine. If
> the Windows machine doesn't run an X server at that moment, IDL won't
> start ("X connection to localhost:11.0 broken (explicit kill or server
> shutdown)").
>
> I know I somehow can run (non-interactive) IDL programs from a cronjob,
> as long as they don't involve windows.
>
> I found the section "Command Line Options for IDL Startup" in the help
> file, but it doesn't mention anything :-(.
>
> Thanks,
> Benjamin

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[Message index]

		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: David Fanning on Thu, 03 March 2005 10:10
		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: Benjamin Hornberger on Thu, 03 March 2005 10:06
		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: David Fanning on Thu, 03 March 2005 10:01
		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: Benjamin Hornberger on Thu, 03 March 2005 09:45
		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: Michael Wallace on Thu, 03 March 2005 09:27
		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: Liam Gumley on Thu, 03 March 2005 08:20
		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: Benjamin Hornberger on Thu, 03 March 2005 06:46
		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: David Fanning on Thu, 03 March 2005 06:32
		Re: IDL without X on Linux By: Ken Mankoff on Fri, 04 March 2005 06:30

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