Subject: FVWM: Desktop picture colormaps

From: Mark Fardal <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 17:20:47 -0500 (EST)

Hi,

could someone tell me how to get a desktop picture working?  I have an
8-bit .xpm image that I put in $HOME/.fvwm2/background.xpm.  But when
I run the script setup-background, it says
  Couldn't allocate required colors
and does nothing.  If I make the image black-and-white it works fine.
Is this the stupid X 256-entry colormap limitation rearing its head again?  
(Earth to X: memory is much cheaper these days.)  How many colors am
I allowed to have, and how do I truncate it down to that number if the
only imaging tool I have is xv?

thanks, 
Mark Fardal
UMass

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---

From: Jeremy Dinsel <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 17:58:18 -0500 (EST)

On Mon, 9 Mar 1998, Mark Fardal wrote:

: 
: Hi,
: 
: could someone tell me how to get a desktop picture working?  I have an
: 8-bit .xpm image that I put in $HOME/.fvwm2/background.xpm.  But when
: I run the script setup-background, it says
:   Couldn't allocate required colors
: and does nothing.  If I make the image black-and-white it works fine.
: Is this the stupid X 256-entry colormap limitation rearing its head again?  
: (Earth to X: memory is much cheaper these days.)  How many colors am
: I allowed to have, and how do I truncate it down to that number if the
: only imaging tool I have is xv?

Earth here again: It's not memory .. simms speaking, but video card .. If
you have a card that can support it, run with 16 bpp or 24bpp .. Check
your X configuration .. Verify your video card and make the necessary
changes, if applicable, to acquire more colors and color depth.

256 colors is a thing of the past, in my opinion. Speaking of cheap, video
cards aren't highly priced anymore, either. A two meg video card is
roughly 20 to 40 dollars, eh? It can give you 16bpp if your current card
cannot. 

(btw, you might also be running a limited server, ie the 256 color version
instead of SVGA or an accelerated server.)

furthermore, this is kind of off the fvwm-subject.

--
Jeremy Dinsel			   (PGP key: finger [email-masked] )
				   (PGP key: http://sighsy.cup.edu/~dinselj)
   Cal U Math and Computer         (PGP use preferred)
   Science World Wide Web           
   System Administrator

---

From: Trent Piepho <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 16:45:51 -0800 (PST)

> only imaging tool I have is xv?

The 256 colors isn't an X limit, it because of your video card.  Run you card
in 16 bit or 24 bit color, or buy a card that can.  My 4MB VRAM card was only
$75 several months ago, and I run it at 1200x900 24bit.

If you want to get the # of colors down in your image, try getting netpbm or
the gimp.  I don't think you can do it with xv.  You could load netscape, then
load xv and have it dither to the common colormap.  Then start another xv and
grab the window..

|Gazing up to the breeze of the heavens \ on a quest, meaning, reason  |
|came to be, how it begun \ all alone in the family of the sun         |
|curiosity teasing everyone \ on our home, third stone from the sun.   |
|Trent Piepho ([email-masked])                   -- Metallica  |
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