andchan@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Andrew Chan) (08/21/89)
Greetings: I am new to X....... I am using a NCD X-terminal to connect to a sun. I also have xdm running as a "front-end". Everything is fine if I login and logout normally. However, say if I switch off the X terminal and then back on, xdm fails to provide me with a login prompt. I have to logon to the sun thru a conventional serial terminal and do a "kill -HUP xdmpid" before everything goes to normal. I would like to know if there is anything i can do to have xdm kill off all my remaining processes and restart itself and give me a fresh login prompt (whenever my X terminal is switched off either intentionaly or other- wise). Many thanks!
keith@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Keith Packard) (08/22/89)
> I am using a NCD X-terminal to connect to a sun. I also have xdm running > as a "front-end". Everything is fine if I login and logout normally. > However, say if I switch off the X terminal and then back on, xdm fails > to provide me with a login prompt. I have to logon to the sun thru a > conventional serial terminal and do a "kill -HUP xdmpid" before everything > goes to normal. Xdm doesn't ever find out that the terminal has been turned back on; so it never prompts for login again. The X consortium is working on the X Display Manager Protocol which will allow the terminal some means of telling xdm about what happened. So, until that becomes availible, I suggest leaving the X terminal on all of the time, unless you like to go through the hassle described. Keith Packard MIT X Consortium
djg@pyrnova (Don Giberson) (08/23/89)
In article <8908212319.AA02977@xenon.lcs.mit.edu> keith@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Keith Packard) writes: > >> I am using a NCD X-terminal to connect to a sun. I also have xdm running >> as a "front-end". Everything is fine if I login and logout normally. >> However, say if I switch off the X terminal and then back on, xdm fails >> to provide me with a login prompt. I have to logon to the sun thru a >> conventional serial terminal and do a "kill -HUP xdmpid" before everything >> goes to normal. > >Xdm doesn't ever find out that the terminal has been turned back on; so it >never prompts for login again. ^^^^^ >Keith Packard MIT X Consortium i don't know if "never" is quite correct; we have the same problem, but xdm *does* *eventually* realize that all is not well with the world, and presents the login screen. this can happen as quickly as a few seconds, or as long as 20 min. or so. don't know if this is something specific to our site or not, but it does come back to life after a while! Don Giberson / Pyramid Technology Corp / djg@pyramid.com / 415-965-7200 x2031 <or> ...!{allegra,decwrl,hplabs,munnari,sun,uunet,utai}!pyramid!djg Standard disclaimer, etc. etc.
jmsellens@watdragon.waterloo.edu (John M. Sellens) (08/23/89)
I wrote a program (Xfake) which looks like a server to xdm, and which notices if an NCD is turned back on again, and causes xdm to put the login prompt up again. This is also handy when your terminal crashes. But in any case, xdm doesn't like it when you turn off your NCD, and there is no convenient way to tell any existing clients to give up. It's a hack, but at least it lets you sign on. It's available via anonymous ftp from expo as contrib/Xfake.shar and crocus.waterloo.edu (129.97.128.6) as X/Xfake.shar. But note that we are in a slow little internet backwater, so go easy on us, ok? John Sellens University of Waterloo jmsellens@dragon.waterloo.edu
klong@wilkins.bcm.tmc.edu (Kevin Long) (08/31/89)
InArticle <303@ccu.UManitoba.CA> andchan@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Andrew Chan)writes: >Greetings: > >I am using a NCD X-terminal... >...if I switch off the X terminal and then back on, xdm fails >to provide me with a login prompt. If I may speak on NCD's behalf, this is a known problem with the NCD box. As NCD's recent newsletter, the "NCD Xtra" reports, a fix that will let XDM work is coming. I'm not sure if it's a fix to xdm or a fix to the NCD's boot software, but I suppose it really doesn't make any difference. I asked their support people for a release date, but all I heard (as I recall) was that it was planned for the 2.1 boot tape release... that should be several months, I should think, considering they're on 1.6.2 right now. Kevin
klein@lupine.UUCP (Doug Klein ) (08/31/89)
In article <239@lib.tmc.edu>, klong@wilkins.bcm.tmc.edu (Kevin Long) writes: > InArticle <303@ccu.UManitoba.CA> andchan@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Andrew Chan)writes: > >Greetings: > > > >I am using a NCD X-terminal... > >...if I switch off the X terminal and then back on, xdm fails > >to provide me with a login prompt. > > If I may speak on NCD's behalf, this is a known problem with the NCD box. To be more precise, this is a "known problem", not a "known problem with the NCD box". The model presented by the sample XDM daemon with R3 does not take into account the possibility that the server may "go away". I.e., the typical scenario we hear about is as follows: - user adds NCD to the list of "known" servers - user kicks master xdm in head with a kill -1, resulting in login window, as desired. - user logs in, runs his session, then logs out. - xdm puts up another login window. - user turns off the NCD, (or any other server!) and goes home. ==> problem occurs here <== - xdm has *no way* of knowing that the server is "gone", and when the user comes back and turns on his server, xdm has *no way* of knowing that the server came back! The best solution to this is to fix xdm, and this is being done as a joint effort between NCD and the X Consortium. The fix involves changes both to the server and the xdm daemon, and will be included with Release 4 from MIT. It will then be a standard, supported, login mechanism available to all vendors, (much nicer than local hacks or proprietary solutions). > As NCD's recent newsletter, the "NCD Xtra" reports, a fix that will let > XDM work is coming. I'm not sure if it's a fix to xdm or a fix to the > NCD's boot software, but I suppose it really doesn't make any difference. > I asked their support people for a release date, but all I heard (as I > recall) was that it was planned for the 2.1 boot tape release... that > should be several months, I should think, considering they're on 1.6.2 > right now. As a matter of policy I would not normally comment on internal release information, but for the sake of public clarity I will confirm that our 2.1 release is scheduled for the December time-frame, and will include the R4 xdmcp implementation. This may or may not coincide with the "official" MIT R4 release (that is for MIT to say, not me), but the NCD implementation will follow the MIT version if further changes are necessary beyond our 2.1 release. For further clarification on NCD issues, or general questions, we maintain a mailbox "support@ncd.com". Doug Klein klein@ncd.com -- Doug Klein Network Computing Devices uunet!lupine!klein
jim@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Jim Fulton) (09/01/89)
I am using a NCD X-terminal...
...if I switch off the X terminal and then back on, xdm fails
to provide me with a login prompt.
If I may speak on NCD's behalf, this is a known problem with the NCD box.
It isn't fair to call it a "problem with the NCD box" and to make
it sound like they have done something wrong. jim@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Jim Fulton) (09/01/89)
I am using a NCD X-terminal...
...if I switch off the X terminal and then back on, xdm fails
to provide me with a login prompt.
If I may speak on NCD's behalf, this is a known problem with the NCD box.
It isn't fair to call it a "problem with the NCD box" and to make
it sound like they have done something wrong. If there is no traffic on
a TCP connection, then there is no way for the host side to recognize that
the terminal has been turned on and then turned off. Doing periodic XSyncs
and retrying to open the connection will take care of this, but you end up
trading wasted cycles for activation time when the terminal is turned on.
The long term solution, which is being worked on by a number of people, is
the XDM Control Protocol. This provides a way for terminals and display
managers to communicate so that turning the terminal off and on will work
nicely.