[comp.sys.dec] dxpsview malfunction on Ultrix 4.0

hsong@nvuxl.UUCP (g hugh song) (12/11/90)

Whenever a PostScript file is opened inside "dxpsview" under Ultrix 4.0
on DecStation 5000/200, I am getting the following message:

X Protocol error detected by server:  BadAlloc - insufficient
resources
  Failed request major op code 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
  Failed request minor op code 0 (if applicable)
  ResourceID 0xb00074 in failed request (if applicable)
  Serial number of failed request 920
  Current serial number in output stream 921

---c ---c----c----

Are you guys having the same problem?  What am I missing? 
How about "dxpsview" under Ultrix 4.1? 

Please email.  Our news system gateway is very unstable.

Thanks.

		-hsong-
		nvuxl!hsong@bellcore.bellcore.com

PS: You need to type "nvuxl\!hsong@..." on Csh command line.

leland@cs.columbia.edu (Lee Woodbury) (12/11/90)

In article <744@nvuxl.UUCP> hsong@nvuxl.UUCP (g hugh song) writes:
>Whenever a PostScript file is opened inside "dxpsview" under Ultrix 4.0
>on DecStation 5000/200, I am getting the following message:
>
>X Protocol error detected by server:  BadAlloc - insufficient
>resources
>  Failed request major op code 53 (X_CreatePixmap)
>  Failed request minor op code 0 (if applicable)
>  ResourceID 0xb00074 in failed request (if applicable)
>  Serial number of failed request 920
>  Current serial number in output stream 921
>
>Are you guys having the same problem?  What am I missing? 

Yes!  I discovered, however, that I could make the problem go away by
selecting the "Watch Progress" choice on the Options Menu.  According to
the dxpsview man page:

	Usually, dxpsview prepares and stores an entire
	page in its cache before drawing it. With the
	Watch Progress option on, dxpsview displays images
	immediately as it prepares them.  

So it sounds like they've got a serious bug in a call to
malloc (or XMalloc) somewhere, and selecting this item merely
avoids (as opposed to fixes) it.

Amusingly, it was our DEC rep and a software consultant he'd brought
along who first demonstrated dxpsview (or attempted to) to me after our
workstation (DECstation 5000/200 running 4.0) had been installed.  The
software consultant who was familiar with dxpsview was clearly taken
aback by the BadAlloc bug.

Other than that, by the way, I'm pretty impressed with dxpsview.
I don't have a lot of PostScript viewers under my belt, but
it's the nicest one I've seen.  The only feature I wish it
had was some better debugging facilities (in particular, pstack).

Incidentally, if anyone can give the proper Xresources incantation to
set the 'Watch Progress' option from the .Xdefaults file, I'd be much
obliged.  The man page is a little thin on detail.

>How about "dxpsview" under Ultrix 4.1? 

Don't know.

Leland Woodbury
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steven@uicadd.csl.uiuc.edu (Steven Parkes) (12/12/90)

|> I discovered, however, that I could make the problem go away by
|> selecting the "Watch Progress" choice on the Options Menu.

I believe that there was a note in the release notes for 4.0 that said
watch progress should always be used ...

collins@triton.unm.edu (Bill Collins CIRT) (12/12/90)

In article <1990Dec11.151747.18181@cs.columbia.edu> leland@cs.columbia.edu (Lee Woodbury) writes:
>In article <744@nvuxl.UUCP> hsong@nvuxl.UUCP (g hugh song) writes:
>>Whenever a PostScript file is opened inside "dxpsview" under Ultrix 4.0
>>on DecStation 5000/200, I am getting the following message:
>>
>>X Protocol error detected by server:  BadAlloc - insufficient
>>resources

memory allocation failed.

>>Are you guys having the same problem?  What am I missing? 

No.  virtual memory.

>Yes!  I discovered, however, that I could make the problem go away by
>selecting the "Watch Progress" choice on the Options Menu.  According to
>the dxpsview man page:
>
>	Usually, dxpsview prepares and stores an entire
>	page in its cache before drawing it. With the

And takes up memory.  Where do you think this cache comes from?

>	Watch Progress option on, dxpsview displays images
>	immediately as it prepares them.  
>
>So it sounds like they've got a serious bug in a call to

Bug, no.

>malloc (or XMalloc) somewhere, and selecting this item merely
>avoids (as opposed to fixes) it.

Fix, no.  You are cutting down on your memory usage.

>
> [ more talk about this "bug" ]
>
>Other than that, by the way, I'm pretty impressed with dxpsview.

I am impressed too.  Adobe does a nice job.

>>How about "dxpsview" under Ultrix 4.1? 

I would expect similar behaviour. :-)


				Bill
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thewalt@canuck.ce.berkeley.edu (C. Thewalt) (12/12/90)

In article <1990Dec11.193326.5686@ariel.unm.edu> collins@triton.unm.edu (Bill Collins CIRT) writes:
   In article <1990Dec11.151747.18181@cs.columbia.edu> leland@cs.columbia.edu (Lee Woodbury) writes:
>>So it sounds like they've got a serious bug in a call to
>Bug, no.

Bug Yes.  The bug is specific to the DECstation 500 Model 200PX,
and is described in the release notes addendum.  There are a variety
of bugs on this system, for example: you can't allocate a pixmap
larger than the screen, and its not because you're running out of
virtual memory.

Chris
--
Christopher Robin Thewalt               These opinions are not necessarily
thewalt@ce.berkeley.edu                 shared by my employer...
University of California, Berkeley

grunwald@foobar.colorado.edu (Dirk Grunwald) (12/16/90)

in the release notes for 4.1/4.0, it said that DS5000 uses with PX/PXG
and PXG/TRUBO graphics must toggle the ``watch progress'' button to
get dxpsview working.

I think you can probably find an X resource that would enable this all
the time.

leland@cs.columbia.edu (Lee Woodbury) (12/19/90)

In article <1990Dec15.193811.2419@csn.org> grunwald@foobar.colorado.edu writes:
>
>in the release notes for 4.1/4.0, it said that DS5000 uses with PX/PXG
>and PXG/TRUBO graphics must toggle the ``watch progress'' button to
>get dxpsview working.
>
>I think you can probably find an X resource that would enable this all
>the time.

I got a response by e-mail from lynch@spiff.stanford.edu, who gave
this solution:

	DPSViewer*optionsMenu.windowDrawMode.value: True

It does indeed work.  Well, sort of.  After merging the above
with the resource database, dxpsview starts up with that flag set,
at least according to the Watch Progress button in the Options Menu.
But dxpsview still crashes ("BadAlloc") anyway, just as if it hadn't
been set.  And then setting it manually via the Options Menu doesn't
change anything either: it still crashes.

The only way I can get dxpsview to work is to start it up (*without* the
above apparently-correct resource spec above) and set the flag manually.
Ain't that a bitch?  But this *does* seem to remain in accord with a
precise reading of the release note as you've written it above, i.e.,
that one must "toggle" the Watch Progress button.

I call this a bug.

I'm running on a DECstation 5000/200 with the 2D accelerator, 80Mb
RAM, Ultrix 4.0.

By the way, can you give me an exact document and page reference
for that release note?  I've looked through my copy and can't find it.
Thanks.

Leland Woodbury
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