X windows

[Sanjay Tailor_1]

Hello,

I am new to X windows and I have always used the command line.

I have just cold installed HP-UX 11.11 on a older server. I am trying to connect to this machine so that I get a GUI interface.

I have tried logging in using reflection X. Usually reflection will show what servers can usse X Windows. Some of my other servers I can see but not the one I want.

What do I need to look for on my server. I know that a dtlogin and xfs processes are running on the server but I do not know what else to check.

Can someone help.

Thanks,

Sanjay.

[Pedro Cirne]

Hi Sanjay,

Are you using XDMCP broadcast when starting Reflection?

Check Reflection configuration, go to "Comunication"-->"Configure" see if your HP-UX host is listed on the Broadcast File.

Enjoy :)

Pedro

[Sanjay Tailor_1]

Hello,

I am not sure what was wrong if there was anything wrong. I loaded Reflection X on my PC and started it up. The XDCMP request went throug but my server was not listed.

But in the X manager I saw a listing of OS'es. I selected HPUX and typed in the name of the server. It worked just fine and is working ofr what I need it for ( installing Oracle ).

Is there any good books to read about X stuff?

Thanks again,

Sanjay.

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi,

That is you want to use xdmcp protocol... otherwise from reflectionX choosing a hpterm to connect to that host surely works, and then normally reflection picks up your IP and sets the DISPLAY to the correct value...If this doesnt work you have name resolution problem, (DNS not up to date or ???), try again giving IP address, that should work!
For XDMCP you might have to read a bit but try by opening a DIRECT XDMCP seesion giving the host name (if the previous connection using the name worked...)
Be sure you have these 2 running on your server:
root 2576 2472 0 May 22 ? 0:00 /usr/dt/bin/dtlogin
root 2472 1 0 May 22 ? 0:00 /sbin/sh /usr/dt/bin/dtrc

If not you might need to see why, they are launched by /sbin/init.d/dtlogin.rc
do a man dtlogin


All the best
Victor

[Vibhor Kumar Agarwal]

I think you should try the XDMCP broadcast.

Broadcast feature is usually the last one in the list of options.
It will show you all the servers available.

Are you getting any problem opening the XDMCP broadcast.

[Bill Hassell · Accepted solution]

Ther are two very different parts to running Xwindows. When you start Reflection/X, it is readybto accept a display from an Xwindow program. Reflection/X has no hpterm, xterm or dtterm programs because it is a display server. That means it just sits idle waiting from some program to display something on the local screen. To see how this works, start a normal telnet session to your HP-UX box, then type these two commands once you are logged in:

export DISPLAY=$(who -muR | awk '{print $NF}')
xterm &

and you should see the xterm window from HP-UX popup on your PC. That is the basic Xwindow protocol--send the special codes from the Xwindow program to your PC where Reflection/X interprets them and creates a special window on your PC's desktop. Always use this method to test your Xwindow connection.

The second (and much more complicated) connection method is where you configure the HP-UX box to provide a replacement desktop for your PC. HP-UX runs a desktop managere called CDE and if enabled, your Reflection/X program can allow the CDE code to 'take over' your PC screen, which is where XDMCP comes in. When enabled on the HP-UX system, you can have Reflection/X use the CDE code to replace your PC screen.

I personally dislike CDE taking over my screen. I occasionally use an Xwindow program when I have to (for example: gpm which is the Xwindow portion of the Glance software) but I do not configure CDE to wipe out my PC screen.

There is another aspect of Xwindows that is overlooked until you are on the road or working from home over a modem: Xwindows is 100x more network intensive than telnet and ssh. A character-mode tool like the shell or SAM or swinstall (even Glance) only transmits the actual characters on the screen with a few special codes to 'fancy-up' the display. This works fine over low speed modem connections such as hotels and cell-phones. But change to Xwindows and be prepared for intolerable delays! Asking for a CDE display over a modem may require several minutes to complete. That's because all the pretty decorations require an immense amount of network traffic. All the colors and shapes and lines require megabytes of data, not the couple of thousand characters to display a SAM menu. You don't see this overhead on a local LAN because it is so fast, but on a modem (and also on a WAN) you will see enormous traffic and associated delays.

[Sanjay Tailor_1]

Hello,

Thank you for all your replies.

Bill, thank you for the insight into how X works. The Reflection X software is working and I am getting an hpterm. I even tried from a telnet session. With the Reflection running, I did get a hpterm. But with no Reflection running, no display came up. I think I now understand how this works.

This is sufficient for my purposes since the Oracle DBA's are now proceeding with their install using Reflection X.

As far as using CDE, I am not sure I want to use it.

Thanks for all the help.

Sanjay.