Due to an increasing number of mails concerning problems using LyX together
with XFree 4.1 on Win32 I have checked this configuration myself.
First of all: Using XFree needs much more time to configure (at the moment
hopefully) than just installing and uing Starnet's XWin32 nearly
out-of-the-box. Using the current releases of Xfree on Win2000 SR2 and this
batch file to start LyX:
---- cut here ----
@echo off
SET DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0.0
SET PATH=.;\cygwin\bin;\cygwin\usr\X11R6\bin;\cygwin\usr\local\bin;%PATH%
SET HOME=d:\MyHomeDirectory
SET LANG=DE
rem cleanup after last run
attrib -s \cygwin\tmp\.X11-unix\X0
del \cygwin\tmp\.X11-unix\X0
rmdir \cygwin\tmp\.X11-unix
start XWin -screen 0 1024x768x32 -engine 4
start /B lyx.exe -geometry 800x700+100+5
start /B twm
exit
---- cut here ----
opens LyX inside the Xfree window. As display manager I have choosen the
standard twm which is part of Xfree itself.
Because I didn't spend too much time to test this configuration my keyboard
layout was not correct. But I have read about a location to pick localized
keyboard layout files on Xfree's web site. So hopefully the keyboard could
be configured correctly as well ;-)
Now the PROBLEMS with this configuration (Because I have used Lyx before
there exists a preference file in $HOME/.lyx on my system!!! All who have
installed Lyx/Xfree for the first time: please look below at MAIN PROBLEM):
1) Opening any existing LyX file no text is visible.
Solution: I had to disable 'scalable fonts' in Edit->Preferences inside
LyX to view the text of my documents. After that LyX behaved as if using
Xwin32 instead.
2) If any error box come up Xfree seems to be frozen (the cursor has been
gone).
Waiting 60-90 seconds brings back the cursor and work can be continued.
(That's indeed no solution ;-)
The MAIN PROBLEM arrised when exiting LyX/Xfree and restarting both. Due to
the change I have made in Edit->Preferences LyX has created a file
$HOME/.lyx/preferences.xform which only has COLOR settings as follows:
\gui_background 0 0 0
...
\gui_text 0 0 0
So all colors are set to black (RGB setting 0 0 0)!? This will be default,
too when installing XFree/LyX for the first time! Now nothing can be seen on
the screen but a big black hole as the LyX window.
Obviously LyX isn't able to determine the color values from Xfree. This
seems to be a bug in Xfree or a bug in Xforms (we have to use Xforms 0.89
although Lyx on Unix is based on 0.88).
Replacing that file with the following will make LyX visible and behave like
using Starnet's XWin32:
---- cut here ----
### This file is part of
### ========================================================
### LyX, The Document Processor
###
### Copyright 1995 Matthias Ettrich
### Copyright 1995-2000 The LyX Team.
###
### ========================================================
# This file is written by LyX, if you want to make your own
# modifications you should do them from inside LyX and save
\gui_background 161 161 161
\gui_buttonbottom 38 40 38
\gui_buttonleft 186 193 186
\gui_buttonright 38 40 38
\gui_buttontop 186 193 186
\gui_inactive 110 110 110
\gui_push_button 255 255 0
\gui_selected 186 193 186
\gui_text 0 0 0
---- cut here ----
I hope this helps all Xfree users a little bit ;-)
Another PROBLEM concerning a stackdump produced when trying to open LyX in
Xfree:
I haven't tested XFCE (what is that?). Most mailers with problems have
installed that package/tool or any other window manager not part of Xfree
itself. Because twm shows LyX running those errors may be due to any
incompatibility of those tools.
Conclusion: If in doubt try using Starnet's XWin32 instead for a while!
Question: Has anybody out there experiences using LyX on Xfree? If so, I
would appreciate to get some hints and/or a configuration script/procedure.
Claus
