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Conference nlfdc::linux-users

Title:Linux, the Free Operating System
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Moderator:EST::DEEGAN
Created:Fri Feb 11 1994
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:609
Total number of notes:2862

601.0. "Xterm problem" by OGBON::t2.tunnel.sno.dec.com::gordon (Des Gordon@sno) Sun May 18 1997 07:56

G'day,

I'm confused about a problem I'm having with Xterms.

I have not customised X at all jist installed the metro-X server that comes with 
Redhat 4.1.  Under the root a/c xterms are displayed in what looks like 
yellowish text on a black background with a pink cursor - not the best colour 
scheme but I can live with it until I can work it out :) 

The menus that are displayed by holding down the control key and pressing on 
the mouse buttons are also displayed in yellow. 

Now I created  a new user account and log in. X starts fine but Xterms are 
displayed white text on black background with a blue cursor (I'm not sure why 
this is different or even how) The difficult part is that the menus activated by the 
CTRL - mouse combination are unreadable just a solid white block i.e, white on 
white.

Any ideas on what is causing this and how to fix it????

This is on A DECPC LP 466 16mb memory standard S3 911 onboard chip with 
1mb of video ram

Thanks


Des
A linux/unix newbie :)
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
601.1HmmGIDDAY::CAMERONAnd there shall come FORTH (Isaiah 11:1)Mon May 19 1997 02:2416
    This will be X resources, see .Xdefaults in / and figure out why the
    non-priv user either can't see it or won't use it.  Some X applications
    also look elsewhere for their resources.  See "man X" as a starting
    point.  Look for lines in resource files that read "xterm*background:"
    
    Consider using "find" to find any .Xdefaults files, and copying them to
    the user's directory "~", or find out what environment variable needs
    to be set to cause xterm (or indeed most applications) to find it's
    defaults elsewhere.
    
    /usr/lib/X11 may not be user-readable.
    
    XAPPLRESDIR is the environment variable used on Digital UNIX, no idea
    about Linux.
    
    James
601.2curiousOGBON::t2.tunnel.sno.dec.com::gordonDes Gordon@snoTue May 20 1997 14:139
Curious,

I have also set it up on a Venturis the basic colours on the popup menus are 
quite different between the systems the "normal" black on blue X style colouring 
on the Venturis and this yellow text on black on the lp. I can't believe these are 
the result of settings files as nothing has been customised


Des
601.3NEWVAX::PAVLICEKLinux: the Truly Open O/STue May 20 1997 17:4320
    re: .2
    
    I'd follow .1's advice and look at the .Xdefaults files from BOTH
    boxes.  Any differences?  If not, try altering some of the .Xdefaults
    color parameters to see if you can distringuish the letters from the
    background.
    
    If nothing works, can you temporarily reconfigure the Metro-X server to
    work in standard VGA mode (not S3-specific)?  (I dunno, since I've not
    used Metro-X yet).  What happens to the colors while in VGA mode?  Any
    difference?
    
    If it looks okay in standard VGA mode, but goofy in S3 mode, there may
    be something odd about either the Linux S3 driver or the S3 implementation
    on the box.
    
    You need to reduce the number of variables to be sure.  I'd start
    testing as above and then report back what happens.
    
    -- Russ
601.4worked around if not solvedOGBON::desgor.shl.dec.com::gordonDes Gordon@snoTue May 27 1997 05:5913
g'day,

It appears that the .Xdefaults file created for root is different to 
the .Xdefaults file created for other users. The simple 
background/foreground colours are reversed to other 
background/foreground settings and the simple background setting 
seems to be failing(this appears to be the real culprit). Reversing 
the values on these background setting made the menus visible. 

On to the next problem :)


Des
601.5BBQ::WOODWARDC...but words can break my heartMon Jun 02 1997 05:1910
    Sed,
    
    a reason for this may be that 'they' decided it would be a good idea to
    differentiate 'root' based X sessions and non-root sessions - and make
    it easy to tell just by looking at the colour scheme whether you were
    root or not.
    
    Again, not a solution, but a possible rationale ;')
    
    H