Subject: FVWM: Solaris 2.51, fvwm2 2.0.43 and the color shortage

From: Stephen Francis <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 08 Jan 1997 08:59:26 -0800

I recently built and installed 2.0.43 over a much older fvwm 1.x which
I've been using for quite some time (I've tried afterstep and fvwm95
too).  The problem I keep running into with all the wm's, but especially
with fvwm2, is a color shortage.  I basically just converted my
old .fvwmrc to my .fvwm2rc, adding a couple mini-icons on the titlebar,
but going to fewer colors in xterms and desktop (greys).  After I start
netscape (I don't use -install; the focus-flashing drives me crazy),
I can't even start one xterm which uses colors (e.g. blue on black).
Get the old "Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "#22eeff"".

It seems crazy that this (relatively) expensive Sparc5 with 64mb and
a nice 21" monitor is so display-limited when my (relatively) cheap
PC (with a 2mb Number9 vidcard) running linux is color-abundant.  What
gives?  Is it an inadequate framebuffer (what I call video adapter).

Q: Does fvwm2 "leak" colors, or otherwise somehow waste them?
Q: Is there some (relatively) inexpensive way to upgrade the sparc's
	color capabilities?

Been holding onto these questions for awhile now.  Any reply from 
someone in-the-know will be greatly appreciated.

Stephen Francis

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From: "Randall S. Winchester" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:33:09 -0500 (EST)

If you had a 24bit framebuffer (a.k.a video adapter) you would not have
this problem. If you had bought one of these with your Sparcstation, you
would not have had to used the word "relatively" when describing how
expensive it was though.....

Randall

On Wed, 8 Jan 1997, Stephen Francis wrote:

: I recently built and installed 2.0.43 over a much older fvwm 1.x which
: I've been using for quite some time (I've tried afterstep and fvwm95
: too).  The problem I keep running into with all the wm's, but especially
: with fvwm2, is a color shortage.  I basically just converted my
: old .fvwmrc to my .fvwm2rc, adding a couple mini-icons on the titlebar,
: but going to fewer colors in xterms and desktop (greys).  After I start
: netscape (I don't use -install; the focus-flashing drives me crazy),
: I can't even start one xterm which uses colors (e.g. blue on black).
: Get the old "Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "#22eeff"".
: 
: It seems crazy that this (relatively) expensive Sparc5 with 64mb and
: a nice 21" monitor is so display-limited when my (relatively) cheap
: PC (with a 2mb Number9 vidcard) running linux is color-abundant.  What
: gives?  Is it an inadequate framebuffer (what I call video adapter).
: 
: Q: Does fvwm2 "leak" colors, or otherwise somehow waste them?
: Q: Is there some (relatively) inexpensive way to upgrade the sparc's
: 	color capabilities?
: 
: Been holding onto these questions for awhile now.  Any reply from 
: someone in-the-know will be greatly appreciated.
: 
: Stephen Francis
: 
: -- 
: ************************************************************************
: ** Stephen Francis                  "The Master's words are fingers...**
: ** Sybase OCS/SOS                       pointing at the moon.  If we  **
: ** Open Client/Server Engineering       only watch the fingers, how   **
: ** [email-masked]                  will we ever see the moon?"   **
: ************************************************************************
: **                        "Vu Ja De" - That incredible feeling that   **
: **                        this has definitely never happened before"  **
: ************************************************************************
: --
: Visit the official FVWM web page at <URL:http://www.hpc.uh.edu/fvwm/>.
: 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: Dan Espen <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 08 Jan 1997 12:33:57 -0500

> Get the old "Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "#22eeff"".

Netscape without -install will quickly use every color.

> gives?  Is it an inadequate framebuffer (what I call video adapter).

Yes, I believe what you have is 24bit color on your  PC and 8bit color
on your  Sun.  There are  Sun systems with 24  bit color but I have no
first hand experience with them.  I keep asking for one, but so far no
success.

> Q: Does fvwm2 "leak" colors, or otherwise somehow waste them?

No there is no leaking that anyone has  reported, but be careful which
icons you  use.  You want to use  icons that are  limited in color and
use the same set of colors.  fvwm itself won't use a lot of colors but
since  you are running netscape   without -install, the  color fvwm is
using is not an issue.

> Q: Is there some (relatively) inexpensive way to upgrade the sparc's

Yes,  running netscape with   -install is relatively cheap.   Learn to
blink just before  you give netscape focus,  this  will help  with the
flashing.  On a more serious note, you can try this: put netscape on a
separate page and maximize it so that it covers the entire page.  When
you switch onto the page, the flash is  still there, but it happens at
the   same time  the entire  screen   is redrawn and   I  find it less
disconcerting.

Otherwise, you need 24 bit color.  I am not sure what the cost is.

--
Dan Espen                                    Phone: (908) 699-5570
[email-masked]
444 Hoes Lane  Room RRC 1C-214
Piscataway, NJ 08854
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From: lar3ry gensch <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 08 Jan 1997 12:27:45 -0500

> Q: Is there some (relatively) inexpensive way to upgrade the sparc's

You are probably running "Netscape" (or some other application that
likes to hog the color map).  Run the application such that it doesn't
allocate too many colors, or have the offending app install it's own
color map.  If the culprit is Netscape, try one of the following:

	$ netscape -install		# install its own map
	$ netscape -ncols 120		# don't use more than 120 colors

If you use the "-install" option, be prepared for colormap "flashing"
when you select a netscape window.

-- 
(void) lar3ry();                                      [email-masked]

  "I'm sorry you saw me, Billy.  Now I'll have to kill you." -- Santa

---

From: "Richard A. Guay" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 1997 12:47:39 +0000

How about a way to keep Fvwm from changing colormaps untill a user 
has left an application for some time.  When two windows of an 
application are open and the cursor goes from one to the other, the 
screen flashes on the windows boarders even if you do not leave the 
applications (ie. their windows overlap).  This is when the flashing 
is very bothersome.

Topic:  Re: FVWM: Solaris 2.51, fvwm2 2.0.4

> > someone in-the-know will be greatly appreciated.

Richard A. Guay
Network Administrator and ASIC Design Engineer
ASIC International Inc.
[email-masked]
http://www.asicint.com