LyX 1.1.6+ uses ghostscript to render figures in the GUI. Prior to 1.1.6fix3 (I think), there was an xforms bug that meant certain interactions caused the rendering to not complete properly. This xforms bug is still partly there (using menus when rendering completes for a figure will break).
With ghostscript 6.xx, up to and including 6.52 (i.e. all GNU ghostscript versions), there is a bug : https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=224957&group_id=1897&atid=101897 which prevents operation with lyx 1.1.6. You must apply the patch in the bug, or upgrade to 7.xx to avoid this problem. https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55772 is the RedHat bug on their version. I am about to contact the ghostscript team regarding releasing a GNU ghostscript version with this fix (if possible). I hope this clears things up for some people. Please apply this patch thanks john Index: ChangeLog =================================================================== RCS file: /usr/local/lyx/cvsroot/lyx-devel/ChangeLog,v retrieving revision 1.806 diff -u -r1.806 ChangeLog --- ChangeLog 2001/11/12 14:29:14 1.806 +++ ChangeLog 2001/11/28 00:27:02 @@ -1,3 +1,7 @@ +2001-11-28 John Levon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> + + * README: fix ghostscript comment + 2001-11-12 Jean-Marc Lasgouttes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * INSTALL: document change in --prefix behaviour. Index: README =================================================================== RCS file: /usr/local/lyx/cvsroot/lyx-devel/README,v retrieving revision 1.13 diff -u -r1.13 README --- README 2001/10/30 17:05:57 1.13 +++ README 2001/11/28 00:28:08 @@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ A decent LaTeX2e installation (e.g. teTeX or NTeX) not older than 1995/12/01 Optionally ghostscript and ghostview (or compatible) - - note that ghostscript versions 6.22 through 6.50 + - note that ghostscript versions 6.22 through 6.52 won't render inline figures in LyX. This is due to a ghostscript bug. Perl5.002 or later to import LaTeX files into LyX -- "By the way, it's not binaries, it's Perl code. Sometimes they look confusingly similar." - Pavel Roskin
