Redirecting X Display Issues
In this example we discuss how to execute XGDSVU on a Sun Ultra Sparc but how to view the GDSII file from a lesser machine, in this example a Sparc 1.

Assumptions

XGDSVU is installed properly on ultra1, an Ultra Sparc running Solaris. (Solaris is a System V) It is installed on the disk called /drv9/cad_util.

Lets say that the GDSII files are stored on /drv9/home/users/gdsii. This directory must be rwx for the user on sparcky1 - otherwise XGDSVU will be unable to save the map file and scan file information. (Also make sure all of the job files and map files are rw - otherwise you'll get strange results!)

The user is sitting at sparcky1, a Sun Sparc 1 running SunOS 4.14. (SunOS is BSD) The user is running Korne shell. Here is a summary of the commands that would be used to redirect the display.

Commands

$ xhost +  ultra1

$ rsh ultra1 "cd /drv9/home/users/gdsii;DISPLAY=sparcky1:0; export DISPLAY;
  LSHOST=ultra1; export LSHOST;/drv9/cad_util/xgdsvu"

Here is what the various commands do.....

xhost + ultra1               enables ultra1 to display on sparcky1

rsh ultra1                   remote shell to ultra1

cd /drv9/home/users/gdsii    make the current directory where the gdsii files are

DISPLAY=sparcky1:0           sets an env variable called DISPLAY=sparcky1. This
                             tells the Xserver on the Ultra to send to sparcky1:0.

export DISPLAY               you've got to export it to set it.

LSHOST=ultra1                you should set the License Manager machine name.
                             Otherwise you may be denied a floating license.
 
export LSHOST                you've got to export it in ksh.

/drv9/cad_util/xgsdvu        executes xgdsvu
Using XGDSVU from a Linux terminal

Recently one of our customers called us with a technical problem. He had installed XGDSVU on a Sun Solaris workstation (hostname=solman) and it worked fine when run locally. He then proceeded to remote login to the Sun workstation from his Linux workstation (hostid=linuxguy) and wanted to use XGDSVU remotely.


$ rlogin solman                  remote log into the solaris machine
$ setenv display=linuxguy:0      redirects output to display on linuxguy
$ xhost +  solman                allows solman to display on linuxguy
$ xgdsvu [enter]
Instead of getting the desired display he gets an error message: 
XGDSVU v5.45 (Jun 24,1998)  SUN4
(C) 1990-98 Artwork Conversion Software, Inc. (408) 426-6163
info@artwork.com  http://www.artwork.com
 
Proportional X-Window font not supported: Permission denied

Reason

The Linux X server passed a proprotional font to XGDSVU which only supports fixed fonts. To correct this you must override the use of a proprotional font whenever XGDSVU starts up.



Solution

You need to specify a fixed type font for XGDSVU. To find a list of fonts on your local machine use the command:

$ xlsfonts
You will probably get a list of 50-100 fonts. Typical fixed fonts include those specified by number such as 9x15, or 10x20 and those with the name Courier in them (e.g. CourR14).

Once you have selected a fixed font from those available on your system you can:

    Start XGDSVU with Command Line Option 
    xgdsvu -font fixed                     [any fixed font on the Linux system]

    or


    Update your .Xdefaults File

    In your home directory open the file called .Xdefaults. Add the following line: 

    xgdsvu*Font:        fixed
    where "fixed" is the name of a fixed type font such as 9x15, CourR14 etc...Also note that the spaces after the colon (:) should use the TAB key and not the space key.

    Once you've done that you need to have your system reread the .Xdefaults file by using the command:

    xrdb .Xdefaults
    This is true of all of Artwork's Motif/X11 user interfaces....