Read Me / Release Notes
This page lists inmportant information and known restrictions in this release of
SunForum. It is grouped into the following sections.
- Please read the Copyright
Information page regarding the latest trademarks of this
release.
- Although it should work with all window managers,
SunForum has been developed primarily for OpenWindows and
the Common Desktop Environment.
- This release enables the "Stop placing call" feature.
The TCP timeout configuration needed in pre-released versions of SunForum is
now gone.
- Since SunForum makes use of the system colormap, running
SunForum at the same time as other color-intensive
applications can result in fewer colors available for the shared
applications or the Whiteboard. SunForum
includes an option to use a private colormap in this case.
In general, these colormap problems can be can
be alleviated by
- running your system in a TrueColor (24 bit color
depth) default visual
- closing the other applications
- configuring the other applications to use a
private colormap or a non-default visual (where
your workstation supports multiple visuals); in
particular, you can do this with Netscape
by starting it with the options
"-install" or "-visual
<id-or-number>".
- start SunForum with a private colormap, by using the
options:
"-install" or "-visual
<id-or-number>".
- The installation requirements for SunForum are as follows:
- SolarisTM 2.5.1 or 2.6 operating environment
- Sun UltraTM Workstation
- Network Requirements: TCP/IP network protocol
- A Web browser to view the help files
- The following standard shared libraries must be available: libXm, libXt,
libX11, libc (these are normally present in the standard Solaris install)
- SunForum supports a single headed workstation. If you have a two head
system, only one head is used. Applications shown on the monitor that you
start SunForum can be shared. The other applications (Whiteboard, File Transfer, Chat) cannot be moved to the other monitor.
- SunForum is meant to support a workgroup of users. SunForum 1.0 has
been tested with 12 simultaneous users. It has also been tested in a
one-to-many conference such as a lecture. If the scope of your use is larger
than this, you should consider using a conference server.
- SunForum 1.0 is a stand alone program. Sun Microsystems does not offer an API to customize or embed this application.
- When interoperating with non-Solaris systems, text entered
into the Whiteboard (whether on the Windows or Solaris
system) may not match. This is improved by
running SunForum with a TrueType font server (see Advanced
Troubleshooting).
- We have tested the importing/exporting of images for all supported
formats. The filters are robust,
but problems could still be encountered because of the variations of
file formats. To avoid serious problems, it is
suggested that mission critical users limit the file types to
common types (such as gif, jpeg, and SunRaster).
Postscript requires the shareware utility
"ghostscript" to be used. (If needed, ghostscript can be found at:
ftp://sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch/software/platform/solaris/solaris-freeware/
or
http://sunfreeware.com/)
The location of where ghostscript is installed will need to be in the user's
path. Or it can be specified in one of the SunForum user configuration files
(/etc/opt/SUNWdat/config/dcgx or $HOME/.dcgx) as follows:
Whiteboard.GSPath: {pathname}
- It is recommended that you run your window manager in
click-to-focus mode (rather than move-to-focus) when
using application sharing. This makes cross-platform
application sharing more consistent, since Windows always
runs in this mode (and hence, applications shared by
Windows95/NT will exhibit this behavior).
- SunForum will support an array of graphics applications. However, there
are noted limitations:
- T.128 is an 8 bit application sharing protocol. Therefore
all rendered
applications are limited to 256 colors, even if they are
16 or 24 bits on
the host. The color mapping algorithm to render 8 bits is to
nearest-match in an 8 bit color cube.
Visual artifacts are to be expected when
sharing applications utilizing shading, rendering, or
photorealism.
- DGA applications (XGL, OpenGL) are supported under most
circumstances.
So that sub-menus are not obscured, the DGA application
is switched to use the argument "-nominexp," preventing
expose events. This continues even after the application
is no longer shared.
- Host machines using DGA double buffering may exhibit
occasional problems in a shadow window. The host will see
all graphic updates.
But a shadow window may get a blank frame now and again when
the graphic is transferred to the second buffer. Once
the host window is refreshed, the shadows are updated.
- Some older OpenGL demo programs may have difficulty being
shared. If possible, these programs should be run with Xlib
instead.
-
As part of the T.128 model, the entire "physical" desktop is a potential for
application sharing. This results is two interesting effects:
- If a controlling user moves an application window on the desktop, it
is actually moved on the host desktop. This could potentially obscure the
window or create other effects that might not be expected.
- The screen size of PCs and Sun Desktops have different dimensions (usually
PCs are smaller). Therefore, a smaller screen is treated like a porthole
into a larger desktop. When moving shared windows around on a machine with
a small screen, they can be placed outside the "active" screen area, or
outside that porthole. Only visible pixels are shared, so part of the window
might be obstructed. Remotely, the controlling user can scroll the active
region of the screen by the mouse directly to that area of the desktop.
- Reminder: When collaborating, one user is in control at a time. He/she has
effectively take control of all mouse and keyboard inputs.
To disable collaboration mode (return to view-only), the host needs
to press the collaborate button again. Also the host can leave
collaboration mode by simply pressing ESC on the keyboard.
- Problems may be encountered when logging onto and
querying some public ILS directory servers, which can get
very congested.
If this occurs, please try using a different ILS server.
Copyright 1997 - 1998
Data Connection Ltd.
Copyright
1998
Sun Microsystems, Inc