sdempsey@UCSD.EDU (Steve Dempsey) (08/02/90)
system: 4D/340VGX
OS: IRIX 3.3
I have just discovered (the hard way) that calling setmonitor on VGX
machines is dangerous. The bug is documented at the very end of
of the setmonitor(3g) man page, and I quote:
BUGS
IRIS-4D VGX models may hang the graphics pipe, resulting in failure of
all running programs including the window manager, when setmonitor is
called while other graphics processes are running.
This bug is NOT mentioned in the 3.3 release notes, or in the 1.0 StereoView
release notes.
Needless to say, this has put a damper on my attempts to use StereoView on our
new 340VGX. There seems to be a catch-22 situation here, since I can't
reliably call 'setmonitor' when graphics are running, yet there is always
some graphics process running. The questions:
1. Will this bug be fixed in the real 3.3 (3.3.1) IRIX release that's
supposed to arrive any day now?
2. Is it known when it's 'safe' to call setmonitor on VGX machines?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Dempsey (619) 534-0208
Dept. of Chemistry Computer Facility, B-014 INTERNET: sdempsey@ucsd.edu
University of Calif. at San Diego BITNET: sdempsey@ucsd
La Jolla, CA 92093 UUCP: ucsd!sdempseykurt@cashew.asd.sgi.com (Kurt Akeley) (08/18/90)
In article <9008020229.AA22321@chem.chem.ucsd.edu>, sdempsey@UCSD.EDU (Steve Dempsey) writes: |> system: 4D/340VGX |> OS: IRIX 3.3 |> |> I have just discovered (the hard way) that calling setmonitor on VGX |> machines is dangerous. The bug is documented at the very end of |> of the setmonitor(3g) man page, and I quote: |> |> BUGS |> IRIS-4D VGX models may hang the graphics pipe, resulting in failure of |> all running programs including the window manager, when setmonitor is |> called while other graphics processes are running. |> |> This bug is NOT mentioned in the 3.3 release notes, or in the 1.0 StereoView |> release notes. |> |> Needless to say, this has put a damper on my attempts to use StereoView on our |> new 340VGX. There seems to be a catch-22 situation here, since I can't |> reliably call 'setmonitor' when graphics are running, yet there is always |> some graphics process running. The questions: |> |> 1. Will this bug be fixed in the real 3.3 (3.3.1) IRIX release that's |> supposed to arrive any day now? Yes! This bug is corrected in the 3.3.1 release. |> |> 2. Is it known when it's 'safe' to call setmonitor on VGX machines? While running 3.3.0 it is safe only when no other program is actually doing graphics. Since this is hard to insure, it really is never safe. |> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- |> Steve Dempsey (619) 534-0208 |> Dept. of Chemistry Computer Facility, B-014 INTERNET: sdempsey@ucsd.edu |> University of Calif. at San Diego BITNET: sdempsey@ucsd |> La Jolla, CA 92093 UUCP: ucsd!sdempsey -- kurt