On Thu, Jun 04, 2015 at 08:24:31PM +0200, IMAP List Administration wrote: > [also posted to comp.graphics.x today] > > Hello Folks, > > I'm trying to get an application that currently uses a local display > on an ancient DEC Alpha workstation with a (for the time) > mid-to-high-end graphics controller (ZLX-E2) to instead use an > X-server running under MS-Windows. > > The application is complaining that it cannot find a "4/5-bit > visual". It almost certainly wants to use this visual for an > overlay, as the application displays moving objects superimposed on > a map. > [...] > I have tested VcXsrv, Reflection-X, Exceed (with 3D option), X-Win32 > and even the ancient DEC Pathworks X-server eXcursion with no > success. I'm working on getting an evaluation copy of PTC's MKSTools > X/Server. Of the X-servers I've tested, Exceed seems to offer the > most configuration parameters. > > I'm not even sure the Quadro 400 can handle 4bpp "visuals", or > whatever MS-Windows calls them. In fact, I wonder if any modern > hardware offers 4bpp capability. On my Linux box with a GeForce GT > 430 I don't have any 4-plane visuals, and xprop doesn't mention any > overlays either.
Pardon my ignorance, I'm definitely not an expert and after sending this msg I am going to hide and pretend to be dead. However, I cannot see if you tried running your app on Linux-based X server. This might be easy to do and does not even require installing Linux. When I want to test some new hardware, I usually download GRML onto pendrive and boot from it. It's small, really, like half of CD-ROM. And it has relatively new X-server, plus few other things like compiler and Open Office, but in this case it doesn't matter. https://grml.org/ In case you go this way, it may make sense to read some manpages and experiment with options to server - different color depths, screen size (a.k.a. resolution). Perhaps there are some options to the client (DEC app) too, and maybe there is a match. BTW, is the problem related to just one app your customer wants? Can you run xterm from your DEC and display it on new X-server? I'm not sure what GPU has got to do with 4 bits per pixel stuff. I have always thought the problem with bpp is only when graphics chip doesn't have enough memory to handle, say, 1024x768 pixels, each containing 4 bits (16 colors mode), i.e. it has less than 384kB of RAM. And in such case, every app could have its own colormap, which caused display to blink in a psychodelic way. The last time I even bothered was probably when I added 1MB of video memory to empty socket on S3 video card, which allowed me to run X in 800x600 24bpp mode... about 17 years ago. So I think it would be a bit strange to have such problem today. Anyway, I'm definitely not an expert. Consider my questions as controls or noise, I have no idea what they are. Now I will run and duck. -- Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home ** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:tomasz_r...@bigfoot.com **