Remote X Connection to 8-bit PseudoColor Machine FC3T2

Hi -
I've searched all over google to no avail, so here's my problem:
I was running FC2, and was able to ssh into and tunnel X connections from my ECE dept's solaris machines to run Cadence programs from home. My errors refer to my inability to handle 24-bit TrueColor or 8-bit PseudoColor mode. How can I enable my X (v6.8.1) server to accept these connections? Currently, I can run applications ranging from xterm to MatLab, so I know the X connection is working. Any help is greatly appreciated.


Kevin

There is ______O____N____L____Y_____ one solution. Replace your video card with MATROX 550
or equivalent. I've heard that one of the nVidia cards works as well. The card MUST support, so called, 8-bit overlay.

__ONLY__ means: if you want to have on your PC 24-bit graphics and 8-bit graphics AT THE SAME TIME

or

tell your CAD department to upgrade CADENCE tools to the latest version. Latetst CADENCE ware works at 24-bit color depth

Well, I don't think that is true, as I have been able to previously use icfb/virtuoso/etc as a remote connection. I have an Nvidia GeForce 5700 and it handled whatever under FC2 like a champ. Now, I cannot, and this is only after upgrading to FC3T2. I'm sure it's a configuration issue of some sort. Also, if I startup the X server with the option "xterm -- -depth 8" I can run the ICFB tools no sweat, I just have a crappy display otherwise. Sorry for the confusion.

***Okay, corrections: once I set my display to "millions of colors", something i thought had already been done, i was able to run icfb in 24-bit TrueColor Mode. This was the main problem, and it has been solved. Now, I need to run in 8-bit PseudoColor Mode to use Silicon Ensemble. Here is my error message:

***********
CADENCE Program Disaster:
Pseudo color graphics card not detected.
Session aborts.
***********

(I do like the "Program Disaster", though)
So, the previous post was spot on, thanks for the advice....do you know how i could theoretically use an NVidia card for Psedo Graphics mode?

Thanks,
Kevin

My comment is (was) based on the following facts:
- we (my company here in Silicon Valley) are running a mixture of RH8, RHEL 2.1 and RHEL 3.0 in our computing farm.
- we are running mostly CADENCE tools
- our engineering workstations are RH8 based ( we will "upgrade" them in the coming months to RHWS
- WE could NOT run workstations at 24-bit color depth and in the same time using 8-bit based CADENCE tools (Pseudo color mapping)
- after almost a month of trying different solutions, I've found on XFree86 mailing list a thread related to CADENCE and 8-bit pseudo color
- I've read there that the MAIN problem is, so called , 8-bit overlay capability. and that MATROX 550 DOES have appropriate LINUX driver to address this problem
- we replaced original nVidia "something" with Matrox 550 and our problems went away
- a side note: GNOME desktop (or any other GTK based desktop.. for example XFCE) produced few annoying blackening of the CADENCE windows
so we, as a corporate, switched to KDE and everything is "just fine[TM]" now

Originally posted by K_Dizzle [ ***Okay, corrections: once I set my display to "millions of colors", something i thought had already been done, i was able to run icfb in 24-bit TrueColor Mode. It seems to me you are running the latest CADENCE ware ... right ?! Their latest stuff SUPPORTS 24-bit Color depth.. thus you did not have problems This was the main problem, and it has been solved. Now, I need to run in 8-bit PseudoColor Mode to use Silicon Ensemble. Here is my error message: *********** CADENCE Program Disaster: Pseudo color graphics card not detected. Session aborts. *********** (I do like the "Program Disaster", though) So, the previous post was spot on, thanks for the advice....do you know how i could theoretically use an NVidia card for Psedo Graphics mode? yes you COULD use nVidia QUADRO FX 1300 ( perhaps I've mispelled it... I got it over the phone from our IT/CAD guys) This card is 4x more expensive than MATROX 550... is it 4x better ?? I do not know. Could you get a better deal elsewhere ? I do not know... try GOOGLE Thanks, Kevin [/B]

Originally posted by K_Dizzle So, the previous post was spot on, thanks for the advice....do you know how i could theoretically use an NVidia card for Psedo Graphics mode? Thanks, Kevin [/B]

You are welcome..

No, I do not know...

BUT try playing with XNEST ( I do not know if it works on latest X.org based X11 server) or VNC ( I know .. IT WORKS)

Hey -
I have found a solution that works for me, in changing my color depth 8 in order to run S(ilicon)E(nsemble) Ultra. You might try editing your xorg.conf file and adding a SubSection "Display", with Depth 8 and whatever necessary/available modes you need. I did that on my antiquated laptop and i get 8-bit pseudo color mode (no-name graphics card, XFree86 on RH9). I am aware of this working on my FC3T2 install also, although it craps up my display on both machines.

Thanks for the advice,
Kevin

Originally posted by K_Dizzle Hey - I have found a solution that works for me, in changing my color depth 8 in order to run S(ilicon)E(nsemble) Ultra. You might try editing your xorg.conf file and adding a SubSection "Display", with Depth 8 and whatever necessary/available modes you need. I did that on my antiquated laptop and i get 8-bit pseudo color mode (no-name graphics card, XFree86 on RH9). I am aware of this working on my FC3T2 install also, although it craps up my display on both machines. Thanks for the advice, Kevin

yes you could do that... but you are doing that on the expense of 24 bit... now, ALL your applications run at 8-bit. And they do look ugly... RIGHT ?!

Solution with MATROX 550 ot nVidia 1300 gives you the option to have a cake and eat it in the same time (24+8)

Hi Kevin,

I encountered the similar problem that you had. I tried to run icfb on my PC (window 2000) by
using VNC and got the error message *ERROR* Failed to find either 24-bit TrueColor or 8-bit
PseudoColor Visual. In your posted email you mentioned that you set the display to "millions
of color" and it fixed the problem. Can you please kindly let me know how did you do it to fix
the problem? Thank you for your help in advance.

Douglas

try using cygwin, it's a lot easier. Make sure to download all the X stuff, and make sure your /etc/X11/XFree86.conf file has a setting for 8 bit color. Now, hopefully, and if you're at GT this is the case, you have the latest version of the Cadence program. In that case, all of this is pretty easy and automatic. Also, make sure you use "xhost+<yourIP>" on the machine you're trying to connect to.
I don't know much about VNC, but I've used cygwin on Win2k and WinXP w/out a problem, and connected to my school and used the Cadence programs.

Later,
Kevin

HI Kevin,

Thank you for your information. I will download a copy of cygwin and give it a try later
today. Thanks again.

Douglas

While this is likely a dead thread, I still came across it while investigating the same error that originally prompted it. And I found an easy solution. Just add the "-depth 24" option to the display in question in the /etc/sysconfig/vncservers and restart vncserver. For example:
VNCSERVERARGS[1]="-depth 24"

That allowed my developers to start Cadence without any problems.

Originally Posted by elarkin While this is likely a dead thread, I still came across it while investigating the same error that originally prompted it. And I found an easy solution. Just add the "-depth 24" option to the display in question in the /etc/sysconfig/vncservers and restart vncserver. For example: VNCSERVERARGS[1]="-depth 24" That allowed my developers to start Cadence without any problems.

Yes, you are right... but ... today is 2012 and from 2004 (original post) 'til now (2010 or 2012) Cadence fixed their wares. They switched with ALL their tools to 24-bit color depth.... thus, everything works.... no need to have a graphic card which supports, so called 'overlay'