jfjr@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Jerome Freedman) (03/31/88)
Thanks to all who responded to my question(s) about the order .cshrc and .login are evaluated. Thanks also to those who explained the meaning of RTFM to me. Each day I learn something new. Gosh life is great. We are doing some plotting on Suns (screendump|rasfilter8to1|lpr -v) This works sometimes. Sometimes (when others are logged in) this gets confused and we get various error messages having to do with problems with valloc, /dev/fb etc. Is this normal? must we live with this or is there a fix? ps what is a "magic cookie" ps David Curry (davy@intrepid.ecn.purdue.edu) I can't get to you from here Jerry Freedman, Jr "Love is staying up all night jfjr@mitre-bedford.arpa with a sick child, (617)271-4563 or a healthy adult"
zjat02@apctrc.UUCP (Jon A. Tankersley) (04/10/88)
In article <28177@linus.UUCP> jfjr@mbunix (Freedman) writes: > > We are doing some plotting on Suns (screendump|rasfilter8to1|lpr -v) >This works sometimes. Sometimes (when others are logged in) >this gets confused and we get various error messages >having to do with problems with valloc, /dev/fb etc. > > Is this normal? must we live with this or is there a fix? Join the crowd. When you have 3/50's, 3/110's, BW&C 3/60's, BW&C 3/160's, and BW&C 3/260's and you try to write a generic screendumptool in shell, it doesn't work. I asked Sun about some of this. There are some problems with the different architectures of the frame buffer. There is also a problem with lpr -v. 1) 3/110 suntools w/o specifying -8bit_color_only. screendump|rasfilter8to1|lpr -v fails every time. An lpr -v problem with the prism frame buffer of the 3/110. I guess it should go through rasfilter10to1 instead :-). screendump|rasfilter8to1|screenload works too. 2) ANYTHING ON THE SCREEN MOVING will screw up screendump. A clock with a second hand! A clock that ticks the minute hand during the dump! Perfmeters can do it too. Screendump doesn't freeze the screen while reading. The best example of this problem is lots of copies of the screen image splattered across the top part of the page, usually about 2 lines with 8 images each. 3) 3.2OS, running from the cmdtool window will act like number 2. I asked Sun about the best way to do this, especially since we have a dual headed monster, plus lots of 2-desktop systems around. They recommended a program that opened /dev/fb and determined the buffer type would work. Then a screendump -d /dev/framebuffer would work. I haven't had time to work on this yet.... Sigh... Hope this helps. -tank-
chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) (04/21/88)
In article <28177@linus.UUCP> jfjr@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Jerome Freedman) writes: > We are doing some plotting on Suns (screendump|rasfilter8to1|lpr -v) >This works sometimes. Sometimes (when others are logged in) >this gets confused and we get various error messages >having to do with problems with valloc, /dev/fb etc. I saw several replies, but none correct. You are running out of swap space. > Is this normal? must we live with this or is there a fix? In a way, it is normal; but it is no fun. You can add more swap space or wait for SunOS 4.0. >ps what is a "magic cookie" (begin :-) ) The derivation should be obvious: `magic', or `opposite of scientific': based on nothing sensible. `cookie': something that looks tasty, but has no nutritional value, and eating too many of which will make you feel ill. Hence `magic cookie': a dumb, valueless thing which will make you sick, but which looks good on paper or in the marketing department. :-) -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris
karish@denali.UUCP (karish) (04/22/88)
In article <11142@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes: >In article <28177@linus.UUCP> jfjr@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Jerome Freedman) writes: >>ps what is a "magic cookie" > >(begin :-) ) > >The derivation should be obvious: `magic', or `opposite of >scientific': based on nothing sensible. `cookie': something that >looks tasty, but has no nutritional value, and eating too many of which >will make you feel ill. Hence `magic cookie': a dumb, valueless thing >which will make you sick, but which looks good on paper or in the >marketing department. :-) The first place I encountered the term `magic cookie' was in the `Odd Bodkins' comic strip, drawn by Dan O'Neill. Magic cookies were the form in which the characters in the strip ingested psychotropic substances. They caused the main characters (a bird and a cross between a shmoo and a human) to do things like confront their personal values as absolutes, or to journey to Mars and encounter a demoniacal incarnation of Abraham Lincoln. I don't know how or when the term was introduced into computer lingo. Chuck