* * RISC System/6000 specific README for IBM Visualization Data Explorer * * (C) COPYRIGHT International Business Machines Corp. 1991-1997 * All Rights Reserved. * Licensed Materials - Property of IBM * * US Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or * disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. * * The information contained in this file consists of architecture specific hints for using the system, help with functions that may not be apparent, and last minute updates to the existing documentation. It is advisable to review this file any time Data Explorer updates are applied. ======================================================================== CONTENTS To go directly to an item, search for the item number beginning at the left margin. 1. System configuration A. User Limits B. Prerequisite Software C. "OS page space is low, terminating execution" 2. Hardware Rendering Considerations A. Shared Library Support for Hardware Rendering B. Hardware Rendering Not Available Message C. The Gto D. Gt4x under Sequencer control E. 2D Graphics Cards with AIX Option X11_3d.gl.rte F. The Gto does not support transparency G. OpenGL vs GL hardware renderer H. Backing store performance using the OpenGL renderer I. The GXT1000 3. User Interface Notes A. Visual Program line connections B. Differences for AIX 4.1 desktop ======================================================================== 1. System configuration A. User Limits AIX enforces per process limits on the amount of physical memory used by a process. When you want Data Explorer to use large amounts of physical memory, it is advised that you change these per process limits using 'smit' by traversing the following menu selections: Security & Users Users Change / Show Characteristics of a User You may want to change "Max physical MEMORY" to be some number a few megabytes less than the machine size. This number is specified in 512 byte blocks. For example, a machine with 64MB may have this limit set to 114688, 56MB. B. Prerequisite Software The following are required and must be at or greater than the given release level... bos.obj 03.02.0000 bosext1.csh.obj 03.02.0000 X11rte.obj 01.02.0000 X11rte.ext.obj 01.02.0000 If present, the following are required to be at or greater than the given release level... X11_3d.gl.rte.obj 01.02.0000 X11_3d.obj 01.02.0000 X11dev.obj 01.02.0000 C. "OS page space is low, terminating execution" This message occurs when there is not enough page space allocated. See "Paging Space" in the general README file. 2. Hardware Rendering Considerations The behavior of Data Explorer on the RISC System/6000 differs in a few ways when using the hardware rendering option. A. Shared Library Support for Hardware Rendering When hardware rendering is requested for the first time, the executive dynamically loads /usr/lpp/dx/bin_ibm6000/DXhwddOGL.o and the OpenGL shared libraries. If one of these is not present then hardware rendering will be disabled. See G "OpenGL vs GL hardware renderer". B. Hardware Rendering Not Available Message When the message 'Hardware rendering not available: /usr/lib/libgl.a not found' appears, then GL shared library or run-time support has not been installed. C. The Gto The Gto drawing processor card should have a Date Code greater than 9052, and any EC Level except S24699. To determine the Date Code and EC Level, type "lscfg -v -l hispddrp*". If either requirement is not met, contact IBM Service to request an upgrade to the Drawing Processor Card (hispddrp*). D. Gt4x under Sequencer control When users of the Gt4x hardware accelerator cards run visual programs which generate simple images, either small or with few objects, quickly under Sequencer control, their system may be bogged down with graphics work. To avoid this situation, set the throttle parameter either to the Display module or with the Throttle dialog for an Image module to some small number (e.g. 0.25 seconds). E. 2D Graphics Cards with AIX Option X11_3d.gl.rte When users try to use hardware rendering on machines which don't support 3D rendering but on which the X11_3d.gl.rte option is installed, Data Explorer may abnormally exit. F. The Gto does not support transparency The High Speed 3D Graphics Accelerator (Gto) does not support transparency when Hardware Rendering is selected. G. OpenGL vs GL hardware renderer The default hardware renderer on AIX platforms is OpenGL. To use OpenGL, you must start the X server as follows: xinit -- -x mbx -x abx -x GLX To use the GL hardware renderer export the environment variable DXHWMOD: Korn shell (ksh): export DXHWMOD=DXhwdd.o C shell (csh): setenv DXHWMOD DXhwdd.o (The alternative is DXHWMOD=DXhwddOGL.o) You can also choose between OpenGL and GL on the command line to dx by specifying -hwrender [gl|opengl] H. Backing store performance using the OpenGL renderer When DX is in hardware rendering mode it uses a pixel read function to read back the image after each complete display. The saved image is used to refresh the window when an area is later obscured and exposed (e.g. pop-up menus) and also for erasing lines drawn during use of the direct interactors (e.g. zoom box). When using the OpenGL renderer on adapters where the time to read and write pixels is slow relative to drawing geometry, it may be preferable to disable this mechanism by exporting the environment variable DXNO_BACKING_STORE: Korn shell (ksh): export DXNO_BACKING_STORE=1 C shell (csh): setenv DXNO_BACKING_STORE 1 This will cause the image to be redrawn when image areas are exposed and will cause the direct interactors to erase lines by using black. The black lines will persist until the image is redrawn. I. The GXT1000 In order to use hardware rendering of any type (GL 3.2 or OpenGL) on the GXT1000, users must start the X server with the GLX, abx and mbx server extensions as described in 2G. The GXT1000's X server may sometimes leave black rubberbanding lines in place when using the Colormap editor or when moving icons around on the canvas. These lines will disappear if the window is obscured and then exposed. If you resize a window which is using hardware rendering on an object with non-opaque objects, it is possible that you will see only the opaque object in the original location of the window. This is true only for GL 3.2 (not OpenGL). You should apply the following ptf's. They will fix many of the above problems. U433080 GXT1000 Maint Package 1 -- superceded by U437136 U433283 GXT1000 Maint Package 2 U434859 GXT1000 Maint Package 3 -- superceded by U437136 U437136 GXT1000 Enhancement Package 4 3. User Interface Notes A. Visual Program line connections Graphical objects in the Visual Program Editor (VPE) may not be shown if the workspace is larger than 1280x1024 pixels. B. Differences for AIX 4.1 desktop Some user interface features may look different than they appear on other architectures and in the documentation. You can change this behavior by setting the following X resources: *enableEtchedInMenu: False *enableToggleVisual: False ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The following trademarks apply to this information: IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. IBM Visualization Data Explorer AIX, AIXwindows, and RISC System/6000 are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation. OpenGL is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc.