Last Updated: 15 Apr 97 [Image] The MI/X FAQ Some of the questions and answers below pertain only to the Windows® or the MacTMOS platform. This is indicated by (Windows) or (MacOS) being placed after the "Q:" If there is no such indication, assume that the question is pertinent to any platform. This document is available in text-only format as well: ftp://ftp.microimages.com:4021/pub/mix/mix_faq.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Is MI/X really free? A: Yes. No strings attached. MicroImages does retain a copyright on it, however. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Why is it really free? A: MicroImages gains name recognition and good will. MicroImages maintains MI/X as the X Server for its professional TNT image processing, geospatial data management, and desktop cartography products. In order to make the TNT products work exactly the same on all Windows, Macintosh and UNIX computers, MicroImages needed a robust and stable X Server whose future was not in the hands of some other company. (MicroImages also enjoys the irony that some ARC/INFO users will run our competitor's product on our free X Server.) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How can I get a copy of MI/X? A: You can download it from MicroImages' FTP site, or from mirror sites. The URL to download MI/X from MicroImages' FTP site in Lincoln, NE U.S.A. is: http://www.microimages.com in the "Free Stuff" section. Currently, MicroImages has an Australasian mirror for the MacOS files only. You can download MI/X from this mirror with the two following URLs: ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-server-ppc.hqx ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-server-68k.hqx ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Can I mirror MI/X on my FTP site? A: Yes. We do ask that you agree to the following few conditions: * You may not alter the state of the package as distributed by MicroImages, Inc.: this is to include the binary executables as well as any configuration files contained therewith. * Please register your mirror site with MicroImages, so that we know about the mirror and can point others to it, and can keep you informed on changes in the software. You can register online at this URL: http://www.microimages.com/www/html/freestuf/register.htm * You may not reverse engineer, or convert into any human conceivable form, the binary executable files that make up MI/X. * You may not charge money for MI/X itself, excepting the costs of redistribution media or shipping. * Also, please check back with us as we update our products quarterly, there are likely to be some improvements made in MI/X that you will want to make available as well. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) I've downloaded all the files for MI/X for Windows, how do I unpack it? A: Make sure that all the files are in the same directory, (don't put any capital letters in the name and don't make its name longer than 8 characters) then type GETME1ST.EXE to start unpacking the files. This will make a bunch of new files, one of which is called "SETUP.EXE." To continue the installation, type SETUP.EXE and follow the instructions on the screen. On older versions, the setup program for TNTlite and MI/X is the same, during install it will bring up a list of files that are missing. By each file is a letter that indicates what it is a component of. As long as no X's (to mark Xserver files) appear, you have all the pieces you need and can proceed with the install. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (MacOS) I've downloaded MI/X for MacOS, how do I unpack it? A: You will need a decompression utitlity. One of the most popular utilities is called StuffIt Expander. Drag the file you've downloaded on to the StuffIt Expander icon, and that is all you need to do. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) I downloaded the installation files for Windows 95 and ran the setup.exe. After selecting 'install /setup mi/x server with twm' dialog box I received the message: "Unable to update tntproc.ini." Then the install ended. Any suggestions? A: Get the latest version (19 Feb 1997 or newer). This problem has been fixed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Will MI/X support any window manager other than twm? A: Yes, however twm is the window manager we support. We can't tell you how to configure any others. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) How do I start the MI/X program after installing it? A: You can start MI/X from the "Start" Menu (Start / Programs / Free TNTlite products / MIXServer ) which runs a program called TNTstart to launch MI/X. In some rare cases using the TNTstart program to launch MI/X does not work. In those cases issue the following commands from a DOS prompt (you may have to be in the directory where you installed MI/X): XS TWM This will start the server and its window manager. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: How do I use the X server to connect to a remote host? A: Telnet to the remote host. Set the environment variable for your display to the machine you are running the xserver on. For example on Solaris: setenv DISPLAY mymachine:0.0 or failing that: setenv DISPLAY my.machine's.ip.number:0.0 replacing "my.machines's.ip.number" with the actual IP number of the local machine running MI/X. After this, you can launch whatever X applications you wish on your remote host and they will display on the machine running MI/X. To invoke a command shell try: xterm & When the shell comes up you can close the telnet session. The commands may differ on various flavors of UNIX. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: There are a lot of fonts included in the distribution that I won't use and are taking up space on my hard drive (such as Chinese and Japanese character fonts.) Can I get rid of some of these fonts and still use MI/X? A: Yes, you can get rid of some of the extra fonts. Of course, you will still need to keep some of them. Here are some examples of fonts to keep: 7x13b.bdf -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1 ascii.bdf -mi-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-c-160-ascii-1 olcursor.bdf -sun-open look cursor-----12-120-75-75-p-160-sunolcursor-1 olgl10.bdf -sun-open look glyph-----10-100-75-75-p-101-sunolglyph-1 cursor.bdf cursor deccurs.bdf decw$cursor decsess.bdf decw$session The last part of the font is the language encoding. Chances are that if it isn't "iso8859-1", then you don't need it. Exceptions are the other files above. "cursor.bdf" is especially important as it contains the cursors used by the X Window System. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: I've got all the standard X fonts here, but in the PCF format. Are these compatible with MI/X, or do they need to be in the BDF format? And how do I tell MI/X to add them? A: Yes, you can use the PCF format. Find the BDF/MISC directory (it should be in the directory into which you install MI/X), there should be a file called "fonts.dir" which contains examples of how to add BDF and PCF fonts. The "fonts.dir" file for MI/X corresponds to the file with the same name on a UNIX X server. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) Why can't I use the ALT-GR key sequences (for European characters) with MI/X? A: This problem does not occur with the TNT products. It may occur with other X clients for various reasons. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) Why do I only see two files available for download... there used to be three. I can't install because the installer program asks for file0002 but I can't find it on MicroImages' website. A: Since the 19 Februaray 1997 version of MI/X, only GETME1ST.EXE and FILE0001.BIN are required to install MI/X. Previous versions required FILE0002.BIN in addition to the other two files. If the setup program says that you can't install because you're missing FILE0002.BIN, you need to download the latest version. You will have to download both GETME1ST.EXE and FILE0001.BIN to get the 19 Feburary 1997 version, since the organization of both files has changed since the previous version. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) I don't have a three-button mouse, but I need a middle button for my X clients. How do I do this? A: Currently, if you want to have a middle button for your X clients, you need to have a three button mouse on your PC. There is no key sequence or shortcut to emulate this without having a three button mouse. If you have a three-button mouse and still can't get the buttons to work properly, make sure that you have drivers properly installed and configured for the three-button mouse so that Windows is aware of it. Specifically, you will need to tell the driver that the middle button of the mouse is to be mapped to a "Middle Button" function, and not to some other shortcut. Note that the "Middle Button" function is not used under Windows. Logitech provides a three-button mice and drivers that work and have been tested with MI/X. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (MacOS) How do I configure twm? A: If you put a file named "system.twmrc" in the same folder as the twm program on your computer, the twm program will read configuration settings from it. Consult the documentation, man page, etc. for twm to learn what to put in system.twmrc to configure twm. Note that the current version of MI/X for MacOS does not support the launching of X clients from a twm menu. This is forthcoming in later versions. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) How do I configure twm? A: The MI/X distribution comes with a file named TNTSERV.TWM. This is twm's configuration file. To learn the format of TNTSERV.TWM, consult the documentation, man page, etc. for twm. If you wish to create a custom format for twm, you can make a configuration file with any name, and direct twm to use it instead of its default configurations. This is done by using the -f option, i.e. twm -f myconfigfile.twm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (MacOS) I've made an unfortunate configuration change that has proven to be fatal to my implementation of MI/X, now each time I try to start MI/X, it crashes without even letting me get to the Preferences dialog to fix the configuration. What do I do? A: If you hold the key while double-clicking the MI/X application icon, MI/X will open the Preferences dialog for you without launching the X server. You can then undo any unfortunate configurations. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) Can I run the X11R6 executables that that have been ported to Windows NT? A: Yes. Make sure that your DISPLAY environment variable points to the machine running MI/X, i.e. set DISPLAY=hostname:0.0 You can then run xclock, oclock, etc. on a PC running NT or 95 instead of using a remote UNIX host. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (Windows) It seems that MI/X always takes up the full screen when it is launched. Is there a way I can set the screen size for MI/X? A: Yes. Edit tntserv.ini and add the following entires under the [XSERVER] section NumColumns=n NumRows=n with n being the number of rows and columns you want MI/X to occupy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: (MacOS) Can I cut and paste with MI/X? A: MI/X will support cut and paste of text to other X applications, but not graphics. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Image] [Image] [Image] MI/X Download MI/X Back to Free Stuff ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This document maintained by: mix@microimages.com Questions to: mix@microimages.com