X gui, CDE, hp-ux trouble

Josh Miller

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Dec 1, 1998, 3:00:00 AM12/1/98

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Hi,

I just got a used HP 9000 700 (sys info says it's a 705, but the box is labled series 700)
I'm pretty sure it's running hp-ux 10.10

I figured out with some help how to get root access, and got a user name/pass for myself on it, and
I have consol/shell access just fine, but the GUI is screwed.
When I initially login, the Desktop login tries to start up... I get a black screen, occassionally
flashing a Xwindows background with the X cursor up... that happens several times, then I get back
to consol and it says I can hit return to login to shell, or let it continue trying in a minute. The
ony option that does anything usefull is to login to the consol...
Now I'm trying to bring up CDE or any gui... I'm pretty sure this box used to run CDE off of a nfs
mounted partition, judging by the few configs on cde I've found and such.

I found the X11 bin, so I figured I'd go with what I kind know and start foolin' since I couldn't
find any real documentation...
I ran X (./X because it wasn't in my path for some reason).
I got the X background (black and white fine polka dots and X cursor that I could more with my
mouse, so the mouse is at least being recognized and all)... but that's all I got. No window manager
at all what-so-ever

Now I'm stuck there... in linux, I'd just hit ctrl-alt-backspace, and the X server would be killed.
That didn't work, and virtual consols seem non-existant. How do I get out of this possition??? I
don't want to have to cold reboot, but I can't find the right key combo.

What exactly am I missing??? It seems like all I need is a window manager, but I'm not sure I have
one in here (I may be able to get it networked to my other box/es and download one if neccessary
though).
What config file (.Xdefaults type of thing in the home directory) would point to the window manager
to use?
What window manager is usually used?
What's the right way to start it up?
What's the easyiest, most config free/likely-to-exist way to see if I've got anything on here that
will get a GUI up?

Lastly, and possibly the most valuable question/info... where can I find a good referance site/info
on HP-UX?
(I've looked at www.hp.com and docs.hp.com, but I'm really hoping to find more/better referance)

Any/all help would be much appreciated, and I can post any neccessary info you need if more is
needed.
BTW- my *nix background comes from Linux, specifically RedHat 4.2 & 5.0/5.1... I know a good deal
for a RedHat user, but I'm not a slackware-esk hacking god or anything close.

Thanks in advance,

jo...@rtst.net

Charles Roberts

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Dec 1, 1998, 3:00:00 AM12/1/98

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If you want to run just X, create a script called .xinitrc in your
home directory. Use it to start up a few windows (in background)
then call the window manager you want to use in foreground.
To run X don't start the X server process directly, start it through
xinit.
Quitting the window manager will then exit X automatically.
You can also hit (I think) CTRL-SHIFT-Reset to kill the
X server.
Here is an example .xinitrc:

xterm &
xterm &
twm

This should get you started.

In article <3663DE53...@columbus.rr.com>, Josh Miller

Bill Morrison

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Dec 1, 1998, 3:00:00 AM12/1/98

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Josh Miller (jmil...@columbus.rr.com) wrote:
: Hi,

Hi.

: I figured out with some help how to get root access, and got a

: user name/pass for myself on it, and I have consol/shell access
: just fine, but the GUI is screwed. When I initially login, the
: Desktop login tries to start up... I get a black screen,
: occassionally flashing a Xwindows background with the X cursor
: up... that happens several times, then I get back to consol
: and it says I can hit return to login to shell, or let it
: continue trying in a minute. The ony option that does anything
: usefull is to login to the consol... Now I'm trying to bring
: up CDE or any gui... I'm pretty sure this box used to run CDE
: off of a nfs mounted partition, judging by the few configs on
: cde I've found and such.
:
: I found the X11 bin, so I figured I'd go with what I kind know
: and start foolin' since I couldn't find any real
: documentation... I ran X (./X because it wasn't in my path for
: some reason). I got the X background (black and white fine
: polka dots and X cursor that I could more with my mouse, so the
: mouse is at least being recognized and all)... but that's all

: I got. No window manager at all what-so-ever.

Well, that's what the /usr/bin/X11/X program is -- just the X server.
If you want to run basic X11 and have it start a minimal session for
you, you want to run "x11start" which is in /usr/contrib/bin/X11, I
believe. What that does is the traditional "xinit" with some bells
and whistles builtin around it. The basic "xinit" line is something
like:

/usr/contrib/bin/X11/xinit $HOME/.x11tstart
or
/usr/contrib/bin/X11/xinit $HOME/.xinitrc

Or by hand:

/usr/contrib/bin/X11/xinit /usr/bin/X11/xterm -- /usr/bin/X11/X :0

: Now I'm stuck there... in linux, I'd just hit

: ctrl-alt-backspace, and the X server would be killed. That
: didn't work, and virtual consols seem non-existant. How do I
: get out of this possition??? I don't want to have to cold
: reboot, but I can't find the right key combo.

The key sequence for HPUX which will terminate the X server is

: What exactly am I missing??? It seems like all I need is a

: window manager, but I'm not sure I have one in here (I may be
: able to get it networked to my other box/es and download one if
: neccessary though). What config file (.Xdefaults type of thing
: in the home directory) would point to the window manager to
: use? What window manager is usually used? What's the right
: way to start it up? What's the easyiest, most config
: free/likely-to-exist way to see if I've got anything on here
: that will get a GUI up?

Well, by typing "/usr/bin/X11/X" or "./X" (if /usr/bin/X11 is
not in your PATH, as it appears not to be), you get just the X
server. To get the clients in basic X11 mode, you should use x11start
or xinit, though they are 'obsolete' start-up mechanisms.

: Lastly, and possibly the most valuable question/info... where

: can I find a good referance site/info on HP-UX? (I've looked
: at www.hp.com and docs.hp.com, but I'm really hoping to find
: more/better referance)

There used to be an HP book called "Using the X Window System"
which had the basics on HP's implementation of X. I also like
the O'Reilly books. There are probably several books on CDE and
administration, though I don't know the titles.

As for getting CDE to work, from the above, it sounds like you have
come sort of configuration problem (logging in and getting the
X server (grey stipple background with the X cursor) and then something
goes awry and terminates your login session kicking you back to the
login screen after the X server gets restarted. None of this should
require you to reboot the workstation -- just use the <SHIFT><CTRL><BREAK>
sequence and select 'command-line login' from the options and use the
archaic method of starting things and troubleshoot the CDE config
problem. I would recommend starting with the "/var/dt/Xerrors" and
"$HOME/.dt/errorlog" files for clues to the problem. You will probably
need to acquire some of the CDE manuals to assist you on where config
files and programs live. Unfortunately, I do not have a list and I
could only come up with the following:

HP CDE Getting Started Guide
Release Notes (for your version of the OS)

There are more, but I don't have a complete documentation set handy.
However, you can contact the response center, your sales rep, or some
other kind sole here on the group and they can help you get a list of
likely CDE manuals.

Regards,
--Bill
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Bill Morrison | Hewlett-Packard Company |
| w...@atl.hp.com | Operations Services Division R&D |
| Phone: (1/770) 795-6304 | 2124 Barrett Park Dr., Suite B |
| FAX : (1/404) 648-1605 (yes,404) | Kennesaw, GA 30144 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
So much time, and so little to do. Strike that. Reverse it...

Josh Miller

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Dec 2, 1998, 3:00:00 AM12/2/98

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WOW... thank you,

It worked....
I still have lot's of configurations left to do... but I got X and mwm (motif?) up, and was able to
run several small apps...
I didn't get any type of Dock or startbar or anthing to that sence at all yet, but I doubt that will
be hard to fix. I also didn't get a background (other than the X background). But I'm happy with
it... though it's much slower than I expected. xterm, for instance, takes a good long while to come
up (kinda odd... if I bring up the proccess meter previous to that, it doesn't get near maxed out).

Bill Morrison

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Dec 2, 1998, 3:00:00 AM12/2/98

to

Josh Miller (jmil...@columbus.rr.com) wrote:
: I still have lot's of configurations left to do... but I got X

: and mwm (motif?) up, and was able to run several small apps...

Yes, 'mwm' stands for 'Motif Window Manager'.

: I didn't get any type of Dock or startbar or anthing to that

: sence at all yet, but I doubt that will be hard to fix. I also

Mwm doesn't have any sort of control panel or start bar -- just
root and window menus, and keyboard accelerators. This is documented
in the 'Using the X Window System' book and the mwm manpage.

: didn't get a background (other than the X background). But I'm

That's all you get with a basic 'x11start' configuration. Remember
that this mechanism is archaic and obsolete. If you want all of the
bells and whistles, getting CDE to run is the next step.

: happy with it... though it's much slower than I expected.

: xterm, for instance, takes a good long while to come up (kinda
: odd... if I bring up the proccess meter previous to that, it
: doesn't get near maxed out).

It could be some form of network delay -- X11 does a lot of hostname
to IP address resolution, so if you have a delay through DNS/NIS/etc.,
routing, etc., then that could be the problem. For clients that you
run and display locally to that 700, try setting DISPLAY to be
"local:0" or "unix:0" before you run x11start. If I recall correctly,
that should use Unix Domain Sockets rather than IP sockets. Another
alternative would be to set DISPLAY to be "<IP_Addr>:0".

I hope this helps.

Barney, I'd like you to meet this weeks special guest, Ms. Velociraptor.