# ./README_solaris

    *
    * README for IBM Visualization Data Explorer for Suns running Solaris 2
    *
    *
    *

    The information contained in this file consists of hints for using the
    system, help with functions that may not be apparent, and last minute updates
    to the existing documentation.  It is advisable to review this file any time
    Data Explorer updates are applied.

    ========================================================================

    CONTENTS

        To go directly to an item, search for the item number beginning
        at the left margin.

        1. System Configuration
           A. Default Keyboard Mappings
           B. Memory Usage in Solaris
           C. Memory Usage in Solaris 10
           D. Error message "cannot get shared memory segment"
        2. Hardware Rendering Considerations
           A. Shared Library Support for Hardware Rendering
           B. Hardware Rendering Not Available Message
           C. Transparency for Hardware Rendering
           D. Lines are redrawn in black
        3. On Line Help Path Menu
        4. Runtime-loadable modules

    ========================================================================

    1. System Configuration

    A. Default Keyboard Mappings
    On the Sun SPARCstations, Ctrl+Delete is Ctrl+Del.  "Del" is found
    on the numeric keypad.  Data Explorer responds to the "End" key and arrow
    keys found on the numeric keypad.  The mnemonic key to pull down the menus
    uses the diamond key as the modifier, instead of the Alt key.

    B. Memory Usage in Solaris 7, 8, 9
    Under Solaris, Data Explorer uses shared memory in 256 megabyte segments.
    The default configuration for Solaris only allows 1 megabyte shared memory
    segments.  To allow Data Explorer to run in Solaris 7, 8, 9, log in as root,
    and follow these steps:

        1)  Copy /etc/system to /etc/system.pre-dx
        2)  edit /etc/system
        3)  add the line "set shmsys:shminfo_shmmax = 0x10000000"
        4)  reboot the system

    If this cannot be done, see the DXSHMEMSEGMAX environment variable, described
    in Appendix C of the User Guide.

    C. Memory Usage in Solaris 10
    For Solaris 10, this process has changed significantly. Instead of a per
    machine limits on shared memory, it is now set per user.

    To increase the shared memory available to a given user on Solaris 10.

        1   Find out which project the user is in
        2   Use prctl to raise the limit e.g. to 2000mb, using the project ID
            returned by id -p.

    example:

    juno $ id -p
    uid=1318(dthompso) gid=1002(students) projid=3(default)
    juno $ su
    Password:
    # prctl -n project.max-shm-memory -r -v 2000mb -i project 3

    The amount of memory that dx wants initially is determined by the amount of
    physical RAM in the machine. If you set the memory limit too small, the error
    will still continue (unless you fix the amount of memory dx initially requests
    with the -memory flag).

    D. Error message "cannot get shared memory segment"
    This error message is caused by one of two problems:
        1)  The system hasn't been configured for 256 megabyte shared memory
            segments.  Follow the rules above under Memory Usage.
        2)  There is insufficient swap space available on the workstation.
            Type "swap -l" to determine available space.  You must either
            increase swap space or run Data Explorer with the -memory option
            to reduce its use of memory.  For example, type "dx -memory 32" to
            restrict Data Explorer to 32 megabytes of memory.

    2. Hardware Rendering Considerations

    A. Shared Library Support for Hardware Rendering
    When hardware rendering is requested for the first time, the executive
    dynamically loads /opt/local/dx/bin_solaris/DXhwdd.so and the xgl shared
    libraries.  If one of these is not present then hardware rendering will
    be disabled.

    B. Hardware Rendering Not Available Message
    When the message 'Hardware rendering not available: /usr/lib/libxgl.so not
    found' appears, then xgl shared library or run-time support has not been
    installed.

    C. Transparency
    Transparency is not handled by the Sun Hardware Renderer.

    D. Lines are redrawn in black
    When using direct interactors which draw lines on the image (e.g. zoom
    box), the lines will be redrawn in black.  They will persist until
    the image is redrawn.

    3. On Line Help Path Menu
    In the current implementation of Data Explorer, the pop-up menu
    providing the current help path is not supported.

    4. Runtime-loadable modules
    You need to use -mdf flag on dx to load runtime modules from the
    command line if you are using more than 1 processor. That is,
    you cannot use the "Load Module Description" option of the File menu
    to load them after Data Explorer has started.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    The following trademarks apply to this information:

    IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.
    IBM Visualization Data Explorer is a trademark of International
        Business Machines Corporation.
    SPARCstation is a trademark of SPARC International.
    Sun, Sun-4, XGL, and OpenWindows are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.