On Sat, 27 Apr 1996, Susan G. Kleinmann wrote: > My problem is that I can't call up any X applications unless I happen to > be connected to my ISP by PPP. If I try, I get errors like: > TRANS(SocketINETConnect) () can't get address for sgk > xhost: unable to open display "sgk:0.0" > Needless to say, this is an expensive way to run X.
What is probably happening is that startx is setting your DISPLAY variable to sgk:0.0 (getting the sgk bit from the hostname command) instead of the correct value, :0.0 - and this is making the X clients attempt to use TCP/IP over the network interface corresponding to the name 'sgk'. When you aren't connected with PPP, this interface won't exist. There are (at least) two solutions: 1. Use xdm, which should set the DISPLAY variable properly 2. Use the 'dummy' network interface; when you are offline this interface has the IP address associated with the name 'sgk', and acts as a loopback interface. When you are online, the dummy interface is removed and replaced with the real PPP interface. This should be documented in a FAQ list or HOWTO, but I don't know offhand which one. Steve Early [EMAIL PROTECTED]
