Very Computer

by **CupOfWat** » Wed, 23 Oct 2002 02:11:51

Hi, I was wondering why this is happening.

I'm running blackbox as my window manager, and CDE before that. I've
noticed that the desktop seems to be limitted to 8-bit color at the
most. The gradients in black box is very dithered. I thought this
was a limitation with the hardware (sunblade 100). However, when I
launch mozilla and turn the "chrome" theme on, the gradients look
fantastic, and also if I view a high-color image in the browser, it
comes up looking high-colored. So how is it possible that mozilla is
running high-colored while the rest of the system isn't? And seems
like if mozilla can do it, so should the window manager! Am I missing
something here? Thanks.

Kevin

by **Ottomeist** » Thu, 24 Oct 2002 12:05:34

> I'm running blackbox as my window manager, and CDE before that. I've
> noticed that the desktop seems to be limitted to 8-bit color at the
> most. The gradients in black box is very dithered. I thought this
> was a limitation with the hardware (sunblade 100). However, when I
> launch mozilla and turn the "chrome" theme on, the gradients look
> fantastic, and also if I view a high-color image in the browser, it
> comes up looking high-colored.

It's possible that the frame buffer in your machine supports both 8-bit
and 24-bit depths, and it's possible that it's offering the 8-bit depth
as the "default" depth, and it's possible that your window manager is
using that 8-bit default depth while Mozilla is smart enough to find
and use the 24-bit depth. '/usr/openwin/bin/xdpyinfo' will tell you
what "visuals" are available, what depth is associated with each visual,
and which visual is the default.

If a 24-bit visual is available then to make it the default edit the
:0 line in /etc/dt/config/Xservers and add "defdepth 24" to the Xsun
command line as described in the 'Xsun' man page. If
/etc/dt/config/Xservers doesn't exist then create it by copying from
/usr/dt/config/Xservers. Then '/usr/dt/bin/dtconfig -reset', log out
and log in again.

OttoM.
--

Disclaimer: These are my opinions. I do not speak for my employer.

by **CupOfWat** » Fri, 25 Oct 2002 04:36:07

Okay, so looking at xdpyinfo, it seems like these workstations are
definitely 24-bit capable. Now my problem is making the changes as an
unprivileged user. It is possible? I tried creating a .Xservers file
in my home directory and that didn't work. Is there anyway to get
around that by launching another X session using the Xsun command?
Thanks.

Kevin

> > I'm running blackbox as my window manager, and CDE before that. I've
> > noticed that the desktop seems to be limitted to 8-bit color at the
> > most. The gradients in black box is very dithered. I thought this
> > was a limitation with the hardware (sunblade 100). However, when I
> > launch mozilla and turn the "chrome" theme on, the gradients look
> > fantastic, and also if I view a high-color image in the browser, it
> > comes up looking high-colored.

> It's possible that the frame buffer in your machine supports both 8-bit
> and 24-bit depths, and it's possible that it's offering the 8-bit depth
> as the "default" depth, and it's possible that your window manager is
> using that 8-bit default depth while Mozilla is smart enough to find
> and use the 24-bit depth. '/usr/openwin/bin/xdpyinfo' will tell you
> what "visuals" are available, what depth is associated with each visual,
> and which visual is the default.

> If a 24-bit visual is available then to make it the default edit the
> :0 line in /etc/dt/config/Xservers and add "defdepth 24" to the Xsun
> command line as described in the 'Xsun' man page. If
> /etc/dt/config/Xservers doesn't exist then create it by copying from
> /usr/dt/config/Xservers. Then '/usr/dt/bin/dtconfig -reset', log out
> and log in again.

> OttoM.

by **Ottomeist** » Wed, 30 Oct 2002 12:17:02

> > If a 24-bit visual is available then to make it the default edit the
> > :0 line in /etc/dt/config/Xservers and add "defdepth 24" to the Xsun
> > command line as described in the 'Xsun' man page.

> Okay, so looking at xdpyinfo, it seems like these workstations are
> definitely 24-bit capable. Now my problem is making the changes as an
> unprivileged user. It is possible? I tried creating a .Xservers file
> in my home directory and that didn't work. Is there anyway to get
> around that by launching another X session using the Xsun command?

If you can't persuade the administrator to make 24-bit the default then
choose 'Command Line Login' from the greeter's 'Options' menu. After
you've logged in to the text-only console you can manually start an X
server and whatever X clients you want on your desktop. The easiest
way to do this is by using 'xinit'. 'man xinit' will tell you how to
set up rc files that control how the server gets started (you want
something like 'Xsun :0 -dev /dev/fb defdepth 24') and how the desktop
clients, including the window manager, get started.

OttoM.
--

Disclaimer: These are my opinions. I do not speak for my employer.

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