Subject: FVWM: Re: xcolormap (was Re: eek)

From: Mark Borges <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 10:44:16 -0600

>> On Mon, 23 Oct 1995 09:22:34 -0400,
>> Charles Hines(C) wrote:
>>>>>> "mb" == Mark Borges <[email-masked]> writes:

C> Well, just try using the Restart function to start up mwm or some
C> other one before running showps.  I don't see how it could be fvwm's
C> fault, since I believe fvwm only allocates the colors it needs for
C> decorations and pixmaps that it uses.
OK, given Restart's problems I was trying to avoid that, but it is
Monday morning, and the coffee isn't doen yet.

Yes, showps works (fails) the same under mwm or olwm; e.g., under mwm
it starts with 214 free, sucks up 77 to show a one-page PostScript b/w
document, and then returns 4 (leaving 141 free) upon exit. On the dull
side, it does seem to at least re-use the 73 it refuses to free up.

The above is true for olwm and fvwm, though as you noted fvwm takes a
few for itself for some pixmaps.

C> BTW, is showps freely available?  If so, I'll pick it up and test it
C> here as well.

Hmm, I'm not sure but I don't think so. We got our copy bundled with
Adobe Illustrator. On the other hand, Acroread (Adobe's PDF format
file reader) shows the same behaviour, and it is free:

	ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/Applications/Acrobat/

One thing I should mention. I'm running this on an HP Aptrex
Xterminal (there is no DPS extension installed in it). The software
(showps, acroread) runs a third program called `dpsnxagent' to display
the PostScript on my screen. Perhaps it (being the common denominator)
is the culprit.

Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing if you or anyone else has similar
experiences with the acrobat software (if you can get it).

  -mb-

--
To unsubscribe from the list, send "unsubscribe fvwm" in the body of a
message to [email-masked].
To report problems, send mail to [email-masked].

---

From: [email-masked] (Jon Mountjoy)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 18:41:03 +0100 (MET)

Hello Folks,

Quoting Mark Borges,
| 
| >> On Mon, 23 Oct 1995 09:22:34 -0400,
| >> Charles Hines(C) wrote:
| >>>>>> "mb" == Mark Borges <[email-masked]> writes:
| 
| C> Well, just try using the Restart function to start up mwm or some
| C> other one before running showps.  I don't see how it could be fvwm's
| C> fault, since I believe fvwm only allocates the colors it needs for
| C> decorations and pixmaps that it uses.
| OK, given Restart's problems I was trying to avoid that, but it is
| Monday morning, and the coffee isn't doen yet.
| 
| Yes, showps works (fails) the same under mwm or olwm; e.g., under mwm
| it starts with 214 free, sucks up 77 to show a one-page PostScript b/w
| document, and then returns 4 (leaving 141 free) upon exit. On the dull
| side, it does seem to at least re-use the 73 it refuses to free up.
| 
| The above is true for olwm and fvwm, though as you noted fvwm takes a
| few for itself for some pixmaps.
| 
| C> BTW, is showps freely available?  If so, I'll pick it up and test it
| C> here as well.
| 
| One thing I should mention. I'm running this on an HP Aptrex
| Xterminal (there is no DPS extension installed in it). The software
| (showps, acroread) runs a third program called `dpsnxagent' to display
| the PostScript on my screen. Perhaps it (being the common denominator)
| is the culprit.

| 
| Anyway, I'd be interested in hearing if you or anyone else has similar
| experiences with the acrobat software (if you can get it).

Well I have had a similar experience.  Indeed, I think that it was I who
contributed 'eek' to the subject line.  I have subsequently found out
what ate all of my colours in the colourmap.  The culprit was the beta
release of xdvi.  It has DPS support (can display embedded ps files in
a dvi document (nifty)), and when it hits a page with embedded ps it
zaps a whole lot of colours and it doesn't give them back.
Ghostscript for instance, does not do this; nor the old xdvi without dps.

I have contacted the xdvi maintainer and reported this behaviour as a bug
of the xdvi, though it might well be the dps of openwindows... 
(Running Solaris 2.4 here).  The maintainer hasn't come back to me about
it yet...

I think that the DPS on Solaris 2.4 may be related to Adobe.  Perhaps that is
the common denominator in all of these terrible thefts.

Jon

---

From: [email-masked] (Gail Mara Gurman)
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 1995 11:45:25 -0700 (PDT)

Okay, so is there a way to clear the colormap? A friend of mine gave me a
binary once that worked on his Sun4 (I'm using Solaris 2.4) because he
didn't have the source (it had been written and compiled by someone a long
time ago at his company and wasn't publicly available). Unfortunately, it
didn't work.

Are there any alternatives?

Gail