[daip] TV trouble on laptop with external monitor.

Fri May 29 16:44:29 EDT 2009

Susan Neff wrote:
> Hi Eric,
> 
> 
> I have just tried to start AIPS on my laptop, while connected to my 
> additional large
> monitor.  I am having TV trouble.  I can live with what I have if the 
> fix is not
> easy.
> 
> 
> When the laptop is connected to the large monitor, I  get the following 
> messages
> and no TV:
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> You have a choice of 4 printers.  These are:
>  
>     No. [ type  ] Description
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>      1. [     PS] lp17
>      2. [     PS] lp32
>      3. [PS-CMYK] lp9 - color
>      4. [PREVIEW] ghostview previewer
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>  
> START_AIPS: Enter your choice, or the word QUIT [default is 1]:
> START_AIPS: Your initial AIPS printer is the lp17
> START_AIPS:  - system name lp17, AIPS type PS
>  
> START_AIPS: User data area assignments:
>   (Using global default file /Users/neff/aips/DA00/DADEVS.LIST for 
> DADEVS.PL)
>    Disk 1 (1) is /Users/neff/aips/DATA/LOCALHOST_1
>    Disk 2 (2) is /Users/neff/aips/DATA/LOCALHOST_2
> 
> Tape assignments:
>    Tape 1 is REMOTE
>    Tape 2 is REMOTE
>  
> START_AIPS: I am GUESSING you are at a workstation called localhost
> START_AIPS: Starting TV servers on localhost asynchronously
> START_AIPS:  - with Internet Sockets...
> START_AIPS: Starting TPMON daemons on LOCALHOST asynchronously...
> Starting up 31DEC09 AIPS with normal priority
> XASERVERS: Start TV LOCK daemon TVSERV on localhost
> XASERVERS: Start XAS on localhost, DISPLAY /tmp/launch-M8wO9T/:0
> XAS: ** TrueColor FOUND!!!
> XAS: ***  Using shared memory option for speed ***
> XAS: Using screen width 3350 height 1078,
>      max grey level 8191 in 16 grey-scale memories
> TVSERVER: Starting AIPS TV locking, Inet domain
> Shared memory id failure: Invalid argument
> XASERVERS: Start graphics server TEKSRV on localhost, DISPLAY 
> /tmp/launch-M8wO9T
> /:0
> Begin the one true AIPS number 1 (release of 31DEC09) at priority =   0
> XASERVERS: Start message server MSGSRV on localhost, DISPLAY 
> /tmp/launch-M8wO9T/
> :0
> AIPS 1: You are assigned TV device/server   1
> AIPS 1: You are assigned graphics device/server   1
> AIPS 1: Enter user ID number
> ?STARTPMON: [LOCALHOST] Starting TPMON1 with output SUPPRESSED
> exi
> AIPS 1: Enter user ID number
> ?90
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> When I disconnect from the large monitor, and start AIPS, I get a TV and 
> the following
> messages.  I can plug the bit monitor back in and move the TV onto it,   
> but I cannot make
> the TV any larger than my laptop screen:
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> gs66-thidwick{neff}2: aips
>  
> You have a choice of 4 printers.  These are:
>  
>     No. [ type  ] Description
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>      1. [     PS] lp17
>      2. [     PS] lp32
>      3. [PS-CMYK] lp9 - color
>      4. [PREVIEW] ghostview previewer
> -------------------------------------------------------------
>  
> START_AIPS: Enter your choice, or the word QUIT [default is 1]:
> START_AIPS: Your initial AIPS printer is the lp17
> START_AIPS:  - system name lp17, AIPS type PS
>  
> START_AIPS: User data area assignments:
>   (Using global default file /Users/neff/aips/DA00/DADEVS.LIST for 
> DADEVS.PL)
>    Disk 1 (1) is /Users/neff/aips/DATA/LOCALHOST_1
>    Disk 2 (2) is /Users/neff/aips/DATA/LOCALHOST_2
> 
> Tape assignments:
>    Tape 1 is REMOTE
>    Tape 2 is REMOTE
>  
> START_AIPS: I am GUESSING you are at a workstation called localhost
> START_AIPS: Starting TV servers on localhost asynchronously
> START_AIPS:  - with Internet Sockets...
> START_AIPS: Starting TPMON daemons on LOCALHOST asynchronously...
> Starting up 31DEC09 AIPS with normal priority
> Begin the one true AIPS number 1 (release of 31DEC09) at priority =   0
> AIPS 1: You are assigned TV device/server   1
> AIPS 1: You are assigned graphics device/server   1
> AIPS 1: Enter user ID number
> ?XASERVERS: TVSERV is already running on host localhost, user neff
> XASERVERS: Start XAS on localhost, DISPLAY /tmp/launch-M8wO9T/:0
> XAS: ** TrueColor FOUND!!!
> XAS: ***  Using shared memory option for speed ***
> XAS: Using screen width 1430 height 778,
>      max grey level 8191 in 16 grey-scale memories
> XASERVERS: TEKSRV is already running on host localhost, display 
> /tmp/launch-M
> 9T/:0, user neff
> XASERVERS: MSGSRV is already running on host localhost, display 
> /tmp/launch-M
> 9T/:0, user neff
> ?90
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> The laptop and external monitor have  1440 x 900  and  1920 x 1200    
> pixels, respectively. 
> It looks to me like AIPS is trying to make a single monitor with 
> dimensions somewhere in
> between.   Is there a way I can override this, and/or force AIPS to set 
> up a TV window that
> will be as large as the larger screen? 
> 
> I'm running on an Intel Mac Powerbook, OS 10.5.7, if it matters.
> 
> 
> Thanks for any insights you can offer.   I hope things are well with you.
> I think you are taking off on a birding trip sometime soon, yes?

Sorry to be slow answering - my cat who has been ill goes to the vet for 
the last time tomorrow and then I leave for Winnipeg/Churchill so I am 
scattered...

You have 2 choices: fix the allowed max shared memory or limit aips or 
of course both.

 From HELP XAS

        In your home directory, the X-Window Manager will usually read a
        file called .Xdefaults when it starts up.  It can be ordered to
        re-read it with the command
              xrdb -merge <filename>
        where <filename> refers to your home-directory .Xdefaults or to
        any other appropriate file.  You could put this in your login
        command file.  When XAS starts, it asks the Window Manager if the
        user has specified certain parameters in his .Xdefaults or other
        xrdb file.  They control the initial size and placement of the
        window and the initial placement of its icon.  They also control
        the cursor shape and color and the colors of the graphics
        channels.  The XAS part of your file might look like:

AIPStv*geometry:     518x518+0+0
AIPStv*iconGeometry:        -0+0
AIPStv*xPixels:       1270  (actually size of local screen-10)
AIPStv*yPixels:        924  (actually size of local screen-100)

plus more parameters

 From AIPSManager FAQ page
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 the latest "leopard" systems, /etc/rc is gone and creating it will 
have no effect. You need to create an /etc/sysctl.conf file and put the 
values in it,

             kern.sysv.shmmax=10485760
             kern.sysv.shmmin=1
             kern.sysv.shmmni=32
             kern.sysv.shmseg=8
             kern.sysv.shmall=4096

You should use the values you had when you were running tiger. Those 
could be in /Previous\ System/etc/rc, assuming you have "Previous 
System". So three different OS upgrades and three different ways to 
adjust the default shared memory. Note: You will need to reboot the 
system for the change in shared memory to take place. You can check if 
the shared memory changes happened by typing "sysctl kern.sysv" in a 
terminal or xterm window. Look for the kern.sysv.shm* values. If the 
values have not changed, make sure you haven't inadvertently left in 
"sysctl -w" in the /etc/sysctl.conf file or mis-typed one of the values. 
If the /etc/sysctl.conf file is not properly formatted, or shmmax is not 
an integer multiple of shmall, the shared memory will not be adjusted 
after the reboot.

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.

-------------
You might want an even larger number for the top one

Be sure to use an integer power of 2.

Eric