Core dumps from 8-bit TrueColor

[Eric L. N. Jensen]

Hi all,
     I found the solution to an annoying problem yesterday, so I
thought I'd share the answer with the list.  The problem: since
installing ghostscript 5.50, I could not get ghostscript to work when
running from vncviewer, but only when logged in at the console.  When
I tried to open a window with ghostscript (or ghostview, which calls
it) it would simply dump core.  The same problem occurred with
ximtool.  (This is under Linux.)

    The problem seems to be that neither of these programs works
properly with an 8-bit TrueColor display, the default for the VNC
server.  The solution is to run the vncserver as 8-bit PseudoColor
(which you get by invoking the server with "-cc 3") or as 16-bit (with
"-depth 16").  I've gone for the latter, since the speed for a local
connection is not all that different for 16 vs. 8, it turns out.

    The VNC docs do mention 8-bit TrueColor causing problems for some
applications, but I thought I'd mention it specifically for
ghostscript here since I know a lot of people use it.  If anyone else
has run into problems with other apps, and it turns out that this
fixes the problem, drop me a private e-mail and I'd be glad to compile
a list of "problem" apps to share with the list.

Eric Jensen                                Phone: 610-328-8249                
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy             Fax:   610-328-7895                
Swarthmore College                         http://hven.swarthmore.edu/~jensen/
Swarthmore, PA 19081                       ejensen1 "at" swarthmore.edu

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