[daip] AIPS on Intel Mac

[Eric Greisen]

Adam J. Mott writes:

 > I source the LOGIN.CSH file in my AIPS root directory.  And then I  
 > start AIPS.  I don't know what to expect since I'm just now beginning  
 > to use AIPS.  So maybe you can tell me if the following scenario  
 > sounds right:
 > 
 > 	Two additional X windows pop up: AIPS_MSGSRV and AIPS_TEKSRV.
 > 		From what I've read online, it seems like there is supposed to be  
 > an additional X window for the AIPS TV (?).  I don't have that.

     The TV comes up in icon - but failed for a reason I will address
below.

 > ?XASERVERS: TVSERV is already running on host localhost, user adam
 > XASERVERS: Start XAS on localhost, DISPLAY :0
 > XAS: ** TrueColor FOUND!!!
 > XAS: ***  Using shared memory option for speed ***
 > XAS: Using screen width height 1430 800, max grey level 255
 > Shared memory id failure: Invalid argument
 > XASERVERS: Start graphics server TEKSRV on localhost, DISPLAY :0
 > XASERVERS: Start message server MSGSRV on localhost, DISPLAY :0

       In the aips manager FAQ there is info about shared memories -
the system defaults are too small for the size of modern screens.
It says:

 Shared memory id failure: Invalid Argument

    If you see this when the system is trying to fire up the AIPS TV
(XAS) on a Solaris system, then your X11 display does not support more
than the default of 1 Megabyte maximum for shared memory segment. If
your monitor displays 1280x1024 or larger, the sizes of the shared
memory segments XAS wants will exceed a Megabyte. Solution: have your
sysadmin edit /etc/system and put this line somewhere near the end:

        set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax=8388608

    While there, you may want to also add these if you have more than
64 Mbytes of real memory:

        set ufs:ufs_HW=6291456
        set ufs:ufs_LW=4194304
        set priority_paging=1 

    Only add the last one if you are running Solaris 7 or later. These
three settings will boost your overall AIPS performance. 

    If you see this on a Mac, congratulations; you have one of the
larger display screens. The default Mac system limits shared memory
pages to 4 Mbytes. When XAS starts it tells you that it is making a
screen x pixels by y pixels. The memory you will need is at least 4 x
y bytes. For the new large screens this is more than 8 Mbytes. On 10.3
and 10.4 systems, you can change this limit by changing (as root or
admin) the rc file in /etc, adjusting the kern.sysv.shm* line to

             #Setting the shared memory to something a bit more reasonable.
                sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmax=10485760
                sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmin=1
                sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmni=32
                sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmseg=8
                sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmall=4096
             

    If you are really lucky and have a 30-inch screen (2550 by 1500
pixels) then you will have to make the shmmax line even larger

                sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmax=16777216
             

    On older Jaguar systems (X 10.2), you can change this limit by
changing the SystemTuning file in

     
                /System/Library/StartupItems/SystemTuning
             

    Look for the lines
            sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmmax=4194304
            sysctl -w kern.sysv.shmall=1024
         

Change the 4194304 to 10485760 (for 10 Mbytes) and change the 1024 to
4096 (allows 16 Megabytes). You must then re-boot the computer to have
these changes take effect
 > 
 > AIPS 1: Enter user ID number
 > ?

    This is the prompt at this point.  If you are on a public
computer, shared by more than one aips user, you will have to make
agreements on what numbers each person is to use.  On a private
machine any number > 1 is fine (1 is reserved for aips manager with
pre-set password AMANAGER).  Users on private machines often use more
than one number in order to separate their various projects.

 > 
 > 	And I have no idea what my AIPS user ID number is.  Is this  
 > something that was set up by the install script?
 > 
 > OK, sorry for the really basic questions here, but any info would be  
 > greatly appreciated.

These are very normal questions - don't worry.  Do use the CookBook
available in PS on your computer and also on-line from our web site

         http://www.aoc.nrao.edu/aips/cook.html

Eric Greisen