Subject: FVWM: fvwm95 unusable because it exhausts colormaps

From: John <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 13:12:06 -0700

Forgive my mailing to this list (I sent to the fvwm95 list last night,
but it doesn't seem to very active) ...

I've recently compiled and installed both

	fvwm95-2.0.43a-Autoconf.tgz
	fvwm95-2.0.43b-Autoconf.tar.gz

on our network here at Utah.

They both are unable, with just the standard modules, to open up
anything that requires colors (failing with messages like

	Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "grey50"

I'm running this process on a Sun Ultra60 with Creator 3D card and
lots of memory!

I'd like to make this the default window manager in a lab of about 120
workstations but can't in it's present state.

Any suggestions?

Thanks much,
John
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From: Shannon Lee <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 12:29:58 -0800

--------
: I'm running this process on a Sun Ultra60 with Creator 3D card and
: lots of memory!

Are you sure you're actually running with enough color depth?  Solaris 
OpenWindows runs at 8 bit by default.

try:

m64config -propt

to tell you what depth you're running at...

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      Shannon Lee         = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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---

From: Jason L Tibbitts III <[email-masked]>
Date: 12 Feb 1999 15:24:39 -0600

>>>>> "J" == John  <[email-masked]> writes:

J> Forgive my mailing to this list (I sent to the fvwm95 list last night,
J> but it doesn't seem to very active) ...

I believe that Fvwm95 is, in fact, a dead project.  Fvwm is undergoing
active development and is rapidly approaching the stable 2.2 release.  (The
current testing release is 2.1.11.)

I believe that all of the functionality of what was Fvwm95 is available in
Fvwm (although if the look is all you're after, you may have to do a bit of
configuration).  It may be worthwhile for you to try the current Fvwm
version and see if it shows the same problem; given the work that went into
colormap issues, I believe it should perform much better.

J> I'd like to make this the default window manager in a lab of about 120
J> workstations but can't in it's present state.

Given the large number of bugs that have been fixed in the mainline source,
this probably isn't a good idea in any case.

J> Any suggestions?

Try Fvwm 2.1.11 (from ftp.fvwm.org/pub/fvwm/version-2/testing/) and see if
it solves your problem.  If it doesn't, report the bugs and we will endeavor
to fix them.

 - J<

---

From: "John R. Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 14:58:11 -0700

-> I believe that all of the functionality of what was Fvwm95 is available in
-> Fvwm (although if the look is all you're after, you may have to do a bit of
-> configuration).

Awesome!  Does anyone have .fvwmrc files that give a 95/98/NT look?

-> Try Fvwm 2.1.11 (from ftp.fvwm.org/pub/fvwm/version-2/testing/) and see if
-> it solves your problem.  If it doesn't, report the bugs and we will endeavor
-> to fix them.

I'm on it.

Thanks much,

John

---

From: [email-masked] (Paul D. Smith)
Date: 12 Feb 1999 18:16:08 -0500

%% "John R. Smith" <[email-masked]> writes:

  jr> Awesome!  Does anyone have .fvwmrc files that give a 95/98/NT look?

Well, you should be able to take your .fvwm95rc file and copy it to
.fvwm2rc pretty much as-is and have it work.

Keep the icons, etc. from fvwm95 because they're a lot more complete
than what comes with fvwm2 at the moment.

The major differences would be in the modules; particularly the task
bar; many of the fancier features of the fvwm95 task bar aren't in
fvwm2, I don't think, like the dynamic loading modules, etc. (I honestly
have never used the fvwm2 FvwmTaskBar module, and I've only used the
fvwm95 one for about 5 seconds).  Maybe fvwm2 TaskBar statically links
those instead.

Other modules, like FvwmButtons, should be fine.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist
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From: Adam L Rice <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 02:11:32 +0000

Quoting John R. Smith ([email-masked]):
> Jason L Tibbitts III <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 

On the other hand, if Windows 95 look is all you're after, you might be
better off with qvwm, which implements Win 95 look and feel without all of
fvwm's flexibility and other features. As a result, it's much slimmer and
faster (I use it as the default window manager for the rest of my family).
While it doesn't have the advanced colour-limiting features of recent
versions of fvwm, you should be able to make it colourmap-friendly by using
a carefully chosen set of pixmaps that all use the same palette.

I don't have a URL for qvwm offhand, but you should be able to find it with
a search on Freshmeat (http://freshmeat.net) or, failing that, FTPSearch
(http://ftpsearch.ntnu.no/).

Apologies to everyone for advocating another window manager on the fvwm
mailing list, but I believe in the right tool for the job, and qvwm is very
impressive.

-- 
Adam Rice -- [email-masked] -- Blackburn, Lancashire, England

---

From: Patrick Rogan <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 00:26:07 -0500

Remember that the latest fvwm2's have the "ColorLimit n" command to 
limit the number of colors used to anything less than 64.

> man fvwm2

...

        ColorLimit limit

              Specifies a limit  on the colors used in  pixmaps used  by fvwm.   Zero
              (the    default)   sets no     limit.   Fvwm uses  pixmaps  for  icons,
              mini-icons, and pixmap borders and titles.  This command limits  pixmap
              colors   to a set  of colors that  starts out with  common colors.  The
              current  list contains about 60 colors  and  starts with white,  black,
              grey,    green,  blue, red, cyan,  yellow,  and   magenta.  The command
              "ColorLimit 9" would limit pixmaps to these 9 colors.

              It makes the most sense to put this command at the front of the defini-
              tions that contain mini-icons.

              Solid  frame and title colors (including shadows and gradients) are not
              controlled by this command.

...

(note: i didn't read the begining of this thread, i don't know
 if anyone else suggested this.)

~p@

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From: Dan Espen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 09:43:13 -0500

> mailing list, but I believe in the right tool for the job, and qvwm is very

Hows this for impressive?

On the fvwm mailing list, we answer questions, and have advertisements
for competing window managers.  First fvwm95 and now qvwm.

I may   have a  biased  viewpoint, but  I don't   agree that  "using a
carefully  chosen set of pixmaps  that all use the  same palette" is a
viable alternative.  I'm   not saying it  couldn't work  in theory.  I
just     wouldn't recommend it  in    light  of fvwm2's  colorlimiting
alternative.

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From: Dominik Vogt <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 1999 15:30:03 +0100

> Awesome!  Does anyone have .fvwmrc files that give a 95/98/NT look?

Well, although the FAQ says we'll never spend our time to make fvwm2
$@%!&-95 like it wouldn't be a bad idea to have some example configuration
for this. What do we need? By all means, it anyone has bits of configuration
that is needed, post it.

Bye

Dominik

--
Dominik Vogt, [email-masked]
Reply-To: [email-masked]

---

From: Dan Espen <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 15 Feb 1999 14:05:35 -0500

> for this. What do we need? By all means, it anyone has bits of configuration

I forget who the  maintainer at the time  was, but that statement, and
the FAQ entry led to the creation of fvwm95.   Since we can now do all
or almost all of what fvwm95 does, that is not our current stance.

I vote for removing that statement from the FAQ.

Part of what is needed  to make fvwm2 look like  that other desktop is
in sample.fvwmrc/decor_examples.