THE MI/X FAQ Last Updated 19 February 1997 Some of the questions and answers below pertain only to the Windows or the MacOS platform. This is indicated by (Windows) or (MacOS) being placed after the "Q:" If there is no such indication, assume that the question is pertinent to any platform. Q: Is MI/X really free? A: Yes. No strings attached. Q: Why is it really free? A: MicroImages gains name recognition and good will. MicroImages maintains MI/X as the X Server for its professional TNT image processing, geospatial data management, and desktop cartography products. In order to make the TNT products work exactly the same on all Windows, Macintosh and UNIX computers, MicroImages needed a robust and stable X Server whose future was not in the hands of some other company. (MicroImages also enjoys the irony that some ARC/INFO users will run our competitor's product on our free X Server.) Q: How can I get a copy of MI/X? A: You can download it from MicroImages' FTP site, or from mirror sites. The URL to download MI/X from MicroImages' FTP site in Lincoln, NE U.S.A. is: ftp://ftp.microimages.com/pub/outgoing/mix/mix68k.sit.hqx (for MacOs 68xxx) ftp://ftp.microimages.com/pub/outgoing/mix/mixppc.sit.hqx (for MacOS PPC) ftp://ftp.microimages.com/pub/outgoing/mix/getme1st.exe (all 3 files for Windows) ftp://ftp.microimages.com/pub/outgoing/mix/file0001.bin ftp://ftp.microimages.com/pub/outgoing/mix/file0002.bin (MacOS) Currently, MicroImages has an Australasian mirror for the MacOS files only. You can download MI/X from this mirror with the two following URLs: ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-server-ppc.hqx ftp://ftp.unsw.edu.au/pub/mac/comm/microimages-x-server-68k.hqx Q: Can I mirror MI/X on my FTP site? A: Yes. We do ask that you agree to the following few conditions: 1) You may not alter the state of the package as distributed by MicroImages, Inc.: this is to include the binary executables as well as any configuration files contained therewith. 2) Please register your mirror site with MicroImages, so that we know about the mirror and can point others to it, and can keep you informed on changes in the software. You can register online at this URL: http://www.microimages.com/www/html/freestuf/register.htm 3) You may not reverse engineer, or convert into any human conceivable form, the binary executable files that make up MI/X. 4) You may not charge money for MI/X itself, excepting the costs of redistribution media or shipping. 5) Also, please check back with us as we update our products quarterly, there are likely to be some improvements made in MI/X that you will want to make available as well. Q: (Windows) I've downloaded all three files for MI/X for Windows, how do I unpack it? A: Make sure that all three files are in the same directory, (don't put any capital letters in the name and don't make its name longer than 8 characters) then type GETME1ST.EXE to start unpacking the files. This will make a bunch of new files, one of which is called "SETUP.EXE." To continue the installation, type SETUP.EXE and follow the instructions on the screen. Since the setup program for TNTlite and MI/X is the same, during install it will bring up a list of files that are missing. By each file is a letter that indicates what it is a component of. As long as no X's (to mark Xserver files) appear, you have all the pieces you need and can proceed with the install. Q: (MacOS) I've downloaded MI/X for MacOS, how do I unpack it? A: You will need a decompression utitlity. One of the most popular utilities is called StuffIt Expander. Drag the file you've downloaded on to the StuffIt Expander icon, and that is all you need to do. Q: (Windows) I downloaded the installation files for Windows 95 and ran the setup.exe. After selecting 'install /setup mi/x server with twm' dialog box I received the message: "Unable to update tntproc.ini." Then the install ended. Any suggestions? A: Check to make sure that the folder that your .BIN files were donwloaded into has a name no longer than 8 characters in length and that its name contains no capital letters. This is know to cause a problem during the installation process. If this directory, or any of the directories below it does not conform to the DOS 8.3 constraints, rename them so that they do. This is a limitation in PKUNZIP, which is used to uncompress the files during installation. Q: (Windows) How do I start the MI/X program after installing it? A: You can start MI/X from the "Start" Menu (Start / Programs / Free TNTlite products / MIXServer) which runs a program called TNTstart to launch MI/X. In some rare cases using the TNTstart program to launch MI/X does not work. In those cases issue the following commands from a DOS prompt (you may have to be in the directory where you installed MI/X): XS TWM This will start the server and its window manager. Q: How do I use the X server to connect to a remote host? A: Telnet to the remote host. Set the environment variable for your display to the machine you are running the xserver on. For example on Solaris: setenv DISPLAY mymachine:0.0 or failing that: setenv DISPLAY my.machine's.ip.number:0.0 replacing "my.machines's.ip.number" with the actual IP number of the local machine running MI/X. After this, you can launch whatever X applications you wish on your remote host and they will display on the machine running MI/X. To invoke a command shell try: xterm & When the shell comes up you can close the telnet session. The commands may differ on various flavors of UNIX. Q: There are a lot of fonts included in the distribution that I won't use and are taking up space on my hard drive (such as Chinese and Japanese character fonts.) Can I get rid of some of these fonts and still use MI/X? A: Yes, you can get rid of some of the extra fonts. Of course, you will still need to keep some of them. Here are some examples of fonts to keep: 7x13b.bdf -misc-fixed-bold-r-normal--13-120-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1 ascii.bdf -mi-fixed-medium-r-normal--16-160-72-72-c-160-ascii-1 olcursor.bdf -sun-open look cursor-----12-120-75-75-p-160-sunolcursor-1 olgl10.bdf -sun-open look glyph-----10-100-75-75-p-101-sunolglyph-1 cursor.bdf cursor deccurs.bdf decw$cursor decsess.bdf decw$session The last part of the font is the language encoding. Chances are that if it isn't "iso8859-1", then you don't need it. Exceptions are the other files above. "cursor.bdf" is especially important as it contains the cursors used by the X Window System. Q: I've got all the standard X fonts here, but in the PCF format. Are these compatible with MI/X, or do they need to be in the BDF format? And how do I tell MI/X to add them? A: Yes, the PCF format can be used. Find the BDF/MISC directory (it should be in the directory into which you install MI/X), there should be a file called "fonts.dir" which contains examples of how to add BDF and PCF fonts. The "fonts.dir" file for MI/X corresponds to the file with the same name on a UNIX X server.