IID(1G)
IID - the IRIX Interactive Desktop, SGI's graphical user interface (GUI)
As shipped in IRIX 6.5.5. Unchanged since IRIX 6.5.
NAME IID - the IRIX Interactive Desktop, SGI's graphical user interface (GUI) DESCRIPTION The IRIX Interactive Desktop is an end-user environment that provides an icon-oriented interface to the IRIX operating system. Users can launch applications and select files using icons instead of pathnames. The icons represent files, directories, URLs, printers, hosts, and disk and tape drives, including zip, jaz, magneto-optical, and PC cards. The IRIX 6.5 desktop consists of five different products: the 4Dwm window manager, the desktop_eoe applications, the desktop_base libraries, the desktop_tools utilities (GL screensavers, Jot, IconSmith, and the Twilight background), and the sysadmdesktop system administration active guides. The desktop environment is configured to be on by default. If for some reason no icons appear on the background, users can invoke the desktop environment by running the file manager: In a Unix shell, type fm -b & on the command line. Users can turn off the desktop environment for their account by touching the file $HOME/.desktop-<hostname>/nodesktop where <hostname> is replaced by the name of the system as returned by the hostname(1) command and $HOME is the user's home directory (ex., /usr/people/mary). See the touch(1) man page. Alternately, the system's administrator can disable the desktop environments for every user on the system with the command chkconfig desktop off. See the section VARIABLES THAT AFFECT THE DESKTOP for more information. DESKTOP APPLICATIONS The IRIX Interactive Desktop environment is a software package consisting of dozens of executables, scripts, and libraries. Most desktop executables reside in the /usr/sbin, /usr/lib/desktop, and /usr/bin/X11 directories. Each primary desktop component has its own reference page. Please refer to those man pages for detailed information about each tool. The primary desktop components can be organized into six categories: main interfaces, customization panels, desktop tools, support programs, system administration tools, and libraries. 1. MAIN INTERFACES In IRIX 6.3 and later releases, the following desktop applications that appeared in previous IRIX releases are obsolete: desktopManager is obsolete and its functionality has been moved into the file manager fm findanicon has been subsumed as the File QuickFind dialog in the file manager newdir has been replaced by the new accessworkstation tool permissions and tapetool have been replaced by several new IRIX Interactive System Administration tasks. In IRIX 6.3 and later releases, the findanicon tool is part of the file manager, is no longer a separate program, and is known as File QuickFind. It allows the user to retrieve the icon for a particular file, or conversely to obtain the full path-specified filename for a desktop icon. A similar version of this tool appears as part of every directory view in the desktop. Invoked by selecting File QuickFind from the Find toolchest. The following components are the main interfaces for the IRIX Interactive Desktop: toolchest A list of push-buttons, each of which can invoke a useful command or present a submenu of additional buttons. In the standard desktop configuration, the toolchest appears in the upper left corner of the screen and contains buttons labeled Desktop, Selected, Internet, Find, System, and Help. dirview A symbolic link to the file manager fm. The dirview program presents the contents of a directory using the file manager, fm. The file manager opens the directory or directories specified as arguments to the dirview command, and presents icons of the files contained in those directories. The user can also provide URLs for Web or FTP sites as arguments to dirview. The icons can be moved, copied, opened, and manipulated in other ways. Invoked in many ways (see next fm section). fm The file manager displays icons on the Desktop background and in iconviews (dirviews), and keeps a log of all recent file system transactions made through it. In IRIX 6.3 and later releases, the Media Previewer is incorporated into the file manager. The Media Previewer instantly displays contents of Web pages, ftp files, Inventor models, text, video, audio, and other files when the user selects any icon in an iconview (dirview). File manager can be invoked in many ways in the desktop environment, including by selecting the Desktop toolchest, then Access Files, then In my Home Directory; by double-clicking any folder icon; or by selecting View Links from the Selected menu for any webjumper icon. accessworkstation This program lets the user open parts of the desktop from a specified remote machine: a toolchest, or a directory view for a directory. The user selects interactively the directory or toolchest to be viewed, and the machine, login name, and password to be used. Invoked by selecting the Desktop toolchest, then Access Files, then As Another User or By Remote Login. launch A simple dialog box providing a text field in which the user can type an application name and any required or desired arguments to it. Clicking OK then causes the command to be executed. Invoked by various applications. iconcatalog The iconcatalog contains named pages which can store many types of icons, including files, folders, programs, printers, hosts, and devices. Icons are stored as references to the actual entities. Blank pages can be added. The user can drag icons onto or out of any page. Invoked by selecting the Find toolchest, then any iconcatalog page (Applications, Collaboration, ControlPanels, Demos, and so on). searchbook Contains named pages on which users can create queries to find files located either locally or across the network. Unlike in previous versions of IRIX, only files can be searched; the user can no longer use this tool to search for other icon types like printers, people, hosts, tape drives and disk drives. Search criteria can be added from the Match menu. As in the iconcatalog, icons in the search tool are references to the actual files. Invoked by selecting the Find toolchest, then Search For Files. ov The desks overview tool provides a graphical interface for the user to create, change, copy, rename and delete desks. A user- scalable square represents each desk, and these squares appear in a collection. Windows are represented as smaller rectangles within the desk squares. A window rectangle can be dragged from one desk square to another, which has the effect of moving the window onto another desk, or can be placed on the global desk square, which has the effect of making that window visible on all desks. Invoked by selecting Desks Overview from the Desktop toolchest. slaunch Stand-alone version of launch. 4Dwm The SGI window manager provides window management functions, as well as some desks management, session management, and background management. Normally not invoked directly by the end user, but the user can choose to restart 4Dwm from the Windows customization panel in order to fully apply choices made on the panel. webjumper The WebJumper tool helps users create webjumpers, or jumpsite icons, which specify particular universal resource locators (URLs) on the World Wide Web. When double-clicked, webjumpers will cause the user's Web browser to launch and go to the specified URL. Invoked from the Internet toolchest, as the Create a WebJumper item. 2. CUSTOMIZATION PANELS In IRIX 6.3, three new customization panels were introduced: dtSounds lets users toggle which sounds they want to hear during their session, dtUtilities lets users choose their favorite viewer and editor programs, and fmprefs lets users customize the layout of their iconviews (dirviews). accessx Provides a graphical interface to the AccessX keyboard features for movement-impaired users. Supports customization of MouseKeys, BounceKeys, StickyKeys, SlowKeys, and RepeatKeys attributes. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Accessibility. background Allows the user to customize the image and colors of the background for each desk. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Background. desktop Allows users to set background icon scaling, toggle whether new files should appear on the background, toggle the launch effect on or off, select whether files should be removed to the dumpster or removed permanently, set up file overwrite and error output behavior, and choose default file permissions. (Note: Users must empty the dumpster manually by selecting from the Desktop toolchest the Empty Dumpster menu item. The dumpster does not get emptied automatically.) This data is communicated to the running Desktop and is saved between sessions. This panel also allows the user to revert to either their own original settings or the factory settings shipped with the system. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Desktop. makeDotDesktop Allows users to set their $HOME/.desktop-<hostname> directory location when they are using a machine that they do not usually use. It lets the user choose one of three options: (1) copy or (2) share their $HOME/.desktop-<hostname> directory from another machine that they usually work on, or (3) create a new $HOME/.desktop-<hostname> directory on the local machine. Not invoked directly by the end user at login, but can be invoked directly from the toolchest (Desktop > Customize > Environment Setup) after login. dtSounds Introduced in IRIX 6.3. Allows users to choose which sounds they want to hear during their session. Six toggles are provided: Mute System, Startup & Shutdown Tunes, Desktop Sounds, System Alerts Sounds, Keyboard Bell, and Key Click. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Sounds. dtUtilities Introduced in IRIX 6.3. Allows users to choose their favorite viewer and editor programs to be used when they open different types of file icons. Six different menus are provided: Text Editor, Web Browser, Image Viewer, Mailer, Book Viewer, and PostScript Viewer. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Utilities. fmprefs Introduced in IRIX 6.3. Lets the user choose how they want their iconviews (dirviews) to appear by default. Users can toggle the shelf, content viewer, filters, hidden files, image thumbnails (gallery mode), snap to grid, and open in place. They can also choose the type of sorting, view mode, and icon size. Finally, users can choose to have dynamic help on or off across all iconviews. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Icon Views. windows Allows the user to customize window options applicable to the SGI window manager, 4Dwm. The user can toggle the toolchest orientation between horizontal and vertical, toggle the keyboard focus between click to type or point to type, choose whether to use the icon box, toggle whether a window should appear opaque or transparent during a window move, toggle whether new windows should be placed on the screen automatically, and toggle whether session management should be done explicitly by the user or continuously. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Windows. ipanel Redesigned in IRIX 6.3. The internationalization panel allows the user to customize the foreign language and keyboard mapping. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Language. keyboard Allows the user to set four keyboard parameters: toggle key click sounds on or off, toggle key repeat on or off, set the rate at which a depressed key will repeat characters, and set the amount of time before a depressed key will begin repeating characters. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Keyboard. mouse Allows the user to customize the mouse acceleration, button mapping (left- or right-handed), and delay between clicks in a double-click. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Mouse. screensaver Allows the user to customize their current screen saver and their power saver options (if power saving is supported in the hardware). Also allows screen locking for certain savers. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Screen Saver. schemebr The color scheme browser allows the user to customize the different colors comprising a scheme and to select the current scheme. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Color Schemes. 3. DESKTOP TOOLS rcpDevice A script for transferring files to or from a host using the remote copy command rcp. Invoked by double-clicking its icon from the Find toolchest, from Desktop Tools. iconsmith A graphical interactive drawing program, iconsmith allows the user to create or modify desktop icons. Currently, iconsmith provides the only means for making desktop icons, aside from directly coding drawings in a low-level GL-like language. IconSmith produces and reads files whose names are expected to end with an ".fti" suffix (for examples, see the files under /usr/lib/filetype/iconlib). These icons are not the 85x68-pixel pixmaps that appear on minimized-window icons (these are RGB images stored in /usr/lib/images), but rather the scalable geometric drawings that depict system entities, such as folders, data files, mail files, dumpsters, and disk and tape drives. jot A display-oriented, cut-and-paste style, ASCII text editor tuned to run on SGI machines. Jot is written using pure GL code, and hence will not work on a generic X terminal, and it ignores the X resources. Jot was originally called Zip. It is tuned to run well on large files and can edit arbitrary binary files. Invoked by double-clicking its icon from the Find toolchest, from Applications. In IRIX 6.4, a text editor called nedit was introduced as an alternative to jot. See the nedit(1) reference page. ieditor An internationalized text editor similar to jot. bongo A GL-based program depicting many rainbow-colored jiggly bouncing cubes. Available from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Screen Savers, as the screen saver named Octahedra. noof A new GL-based screensaver in IRIX 6.5 showing spiraling rainbow-colored flower shapes. Available from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Screen Savers, as the screen saver named Diatoms. mailbox Presents an interactive GL-based image of a mailbox. When mail arrives, the red flag on the mailbox rises. The user can read mail by clicking the left mouse button on the mailbox door. When the user finishes reading mail, the mailbox closes. The lighting and background sky change to indicate the time of day. Invoked by double-clicking its icon from the Find toolchest, from Desktop Tools. colorview An X11 program that displays a color patch and a list of color names from an X11 rgb database. When the user clicks the left mouse button over a color name, the color matching the name appears in the patch above the list. Invoked by double-clicking its icon from the Find toolchest, from Desktop Tools. ep A GL-based program depicting a few twisting, spinning ranks of rainbow-colored squares. Available from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Screen Savers, as the screen saver named ElectroPaint. twilight A GL-based program mimicking a starry night sky, fading from a red-orange sunset to a dark blue-black night. Available from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Background, as the background named Twilight. 4. SUPPORT PROGRAMS In IRIX 6.3 and later releases, the desktopumask program, formerly used by the Desktop customization panel, is obsolete. Also, the ftr compiler is obsolete and has been replaced by the fftr compiler; see the fftr(1) reference page for details. In IRIX 6.5, the desktop message bus (DMB) is obsolete. In IRIX 6.3 and 6.4, the desktop message bus allowed desktop components to communicate with each other and provided run-once functionality. In IRIX 6.5, the desktop applications communicate in different ways. Note: The DMB was not a replacement for the objectserver. The objectserver is obsolete in IRIX 6.3 and later releases. ConvertLayout Runs automatically as part of the firsttime mechanism of Xsession.dt. It reads the layout files from the IRIX 5.3 or 6.2 Indigo Magic Desktop, and writes an IRIX 6.3/6.4/6.5 IRIX Interactive Desktop format layout file for those directories still existent. Not normally invoked directly by users. FLtoPopDB Reads standard input, treating each line as a fully qualified pathname. If the file exists, then the filename is converted to the special format required by bgicons (serialized DNA), and written to the standard output. This is used with bgicons to put icons for specific applications on the desktop background by default. Not normally invoked directly by users. askRestartFm Restarts the file manager on the desktop background and, if necessary, the icon catalog. Its purpose is to show new application icons immediately, saving the user the trouble of logging out and back in. Not normally invoked directly by users. bgicons Maintains icons on the desktop background. Not normally invoked directly by users. cleanCache This shell script can be used to remove stale entries from the desktop type and layout caches. See the cleanCache man page. disableXhost Prevents remote hosts from placing windows on or otherwise getting access to the local display during a user's login session. All remote hosts will have display access disabled, whether access originally was granted implicitly (ex., using xhost +) or explicitly (ex., using xhost + hostname). Not normally invoked directly by users. dropmail Supports mailing of files by dropping icons onto people icons. Not normally invoked directly by users. fam A server that tracks changes to the file system and relays these changes to interested applications, such as mailbox and the file manager. Without fam, these applications would need to poll the file system to detect changes. Fam is more efficient. fftr Builds the ftr database, which is used by various desktop applications. It creates optimized type rules files (suffixed ".otr"). These rules are in turn read by desktop libraries. Applications displaying icons use the functions provided by these libraries. The older compiled type rules (files suffixed ".ctr") format database files are no longer supported in the desktop in IRIX 6.3 and later releases. The .otr files are better designed and use much less space when loaded by the libraries than the corresponding older .ctr files. When icons are not appearing properly, they can often be restored by typing su; cd /usr/lib/filetype; make -u and logging out and back in. (This requires root privileges.) Normally invoked by application developers. flushCache This shell script can be used to flush the desktop type and layout caches. See the flushCache man page. fmserv Maintains correct folder state (open or closed) when multiple fm processes are running. It also monitors for changes to the desktop file typing database and lets the user restart the desktop if a change occurs. fmserv should never be invoked directly by users. forceout Forces the outputd window to raise itself by writing a NULL character to stderr. Not normally invoked directly by users. fserv Assists in the transfer of files when an icon is dragged from a dirview for one machine to a dirview or background for another machine. Normally not invoked by the end user. ftr2mime Generates mailcap and mime.type files from the file typing rules (FTR) database. Normally invoked by application developers. genDeviceIcons Reads an input file to determine which devices to look for. If the device is present on the system, then serialized DNA for the device is written to the standard output. This is used in conjuction with bgicons to put icons on the desktop background. Not normally invoked directly by users. haven An X screen-saver client that manages a GL window as the screen saver, enabling GL programs such as atlantis, ep, bongo, and noof to be used as screen savers. Invoked from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Screen Saver, when the user selects Atlantis, Diatoms, ElectroPaint, or Octahedra. (To see the Atlantis screensaver, demos.sw.atlantis needs to be installed on the system.) iconbooktocatalog Converts old-format iconbook pages to IRIX 6.3/4/5 iconcatalog pages. Normally not invoked directly by users. iconcatalogedit Allows the user to modify which icons appear on the pages of the icon catalog. Note that icons added to the iconcatalog system pages will appear in all users' iconcatalogs, but removing an icon from a system page will not remove the icon from all users' iconcatalogs. Normally invoked by application developers. imdmonitor This daemon monitors the state of the system and launches alerts (for example, when the disk is full). Not normally invoked directly by users. isSuper Allows a user or application developer to determine if a particular icon type has a specific supertype or not. Example uses of isSuper can be found in the file typing rules (files suffixed ".ftr") under /usr/lib/filetype. The command supports both .otr and .ctr file formats, but by default looks at the desktop.otr file. Normally invoked by application developers. launchbookviewer Launches the user's favorite book viewer as chosen on the dtUtilities(1) panel or set in the BOOKVIEWER environment variable. If the user has not chosen a favorite book viewer, the script launches Insight(1). This script can be accessed from the toolchest (Help > Online Books). Not normally invoked directly by users. launcheffect The sparkling visual effect that precedes the appearance of a window. launchWebJumper Opens a webjumper icon or URL into the user's chosen Web browser, avoiding any locked-cache dialog windows from Netscape. Invoked whenever users double-click a webjumper icon. Can also be invoked directly by users. makeIconVisuals Chooses a set of visuals based on the hardware to provide good- looking Desktop icons that use a minimum of memory and avoid colormap flashing. Normally not invoked by the end user. newer Compares the modification times (in seconds since 00:00:00 UTC, Jan. 1, 1970) of the two files given as arguments. Not normally invoked directly by users. openHintsShortcuts Loads the IRIX Interactive Desktop Hints & Shortcuts documentation into the user's favorite Web browser as chosen on the dtUtilities(1) panel. If the user has not chosen a favorite browser, it uses Netscape(1). This script can be accessed from the toolchest (Help > Hints & Shortcuts). The end user can also launch it at a Unix shell command line, though that is not its intended use. openhomepg Loads the user's OutBox(1) page into the user's favorite Web browser. If the user has not yet chosen a favorite browser on the dtUtilities(1) panel, then it will use Netscape(1). This script is launched from the toolchest (Internet > Browse OutBox Page). Not normally invoked directly by users. outputd The output daemon captures output from applications launched from the file manager, the toolchest, or session management, and displays them in popup windows, one per application. If outputd is not running, all output goes to the system console. By default, outputd requires activation from the Desktop customization panel (desktop) before it launches. Users can customize the captured output to include any combination of stdout and stderr. Can be toggled on or off from the Desktop toolchest, from Customize, then Desktop, as the item "Display Application Errors". preallocColors Runs early in the login process to preallocate a small set of colors used by the Desktop. By preallocating these colors early, it enables GL programs to run with less colormap flashing. On machines with multiple colormaps, where flashing is not a problem, preallocColors exits immediately, without allocating any colors. Normally not invoked by the end user. remotedir Opens a remote dirview using autofs or, if that fails, runs accessworkstation. Not normally invoked directly by users. removeOldLangCatalog After the user changes their language using ipanel, this script removes iconcatalog pages that were in the old language. Normally not invoked by the end user. setPowerSaver Checks to see if the system's monitor supports the powersave option. If it is supported, setPowerSaver turns on the powersave option and sets it to a default of 1200 seconds (20 minutes). Invoked automatically in Xsession.dt as long as the user has not turned off the power saver on the ScreenSaver panel. Not normally invoked directly by users. startdesktop Opens a dirview of the user's home directory. It does not restart the file manager (fm(1)) on the desktop background, however. Compare with the similar /usr/lib/desktop/telldesktop restart command. In previous releases, this script would also restart the desktop background; in IRIX 6.3 and later releases, this is no longer the case, such that you must type fm -b & in a Unix shell to restart your desktop background. The startdesktop script can be launched from the toolchest (Desktop > Access Files > In my Home Directory). Not normally invoked directly by users. tag Lets users clear, query, or set the unique numerical tag for any icon. These tags are used by the desktop to determine icon types. Normally invoked by application developers. telldesktop Invokes file manager functions as long as the file manager was invoked with the -b option. Most file manager functions require an icon to be selected before the operation can be performed. The single required argument to telldesktop can any one of the following commands: open, openDir, copy, link (or reference), remove, print, 'new directory', permissions, 'get Info', fetch, fetchHost, See the telldesktop man page for the meaning of these commands. Normally invoked by application developers. tellwm Allows other window managers to communicate with and run commands through the 4Dwm window manager. Cooperating window managers post the _SGI_TELL_WM property on the root window containing a list of command strings they support externally. If the command argument given to tellwm matches this published protocol, tellwm forwards the command to the 4Dwm window manager for execution. Normally invoked by application developers. togglexhost Turns on or off access control for the local X server, running the xhost(1) command with the appropriate argument and posting a feedback dialog to the user. The script can be run from the toolchest (System > Utilities > Disable Remote Display or Enable Remote Display). Not normally invoked directly by users. typeCache This program can be used to "pre-fill" the FTR type cache used by the desktop. See the typeCache man page. waitmap Produces an alarm when a MapNotify event has occurred. It is used as a launch function to serialize session management startup. Normally not invoked by the end user. xsetroot Allows the user to tailor the appearance of their background (root) window on a workstation display running X. 5. SYSTEM ADMINISTRATION TOOLS The system administration tools in IRIX 6.3 and later releases are completely different from all previous versions of IRIX. They make extensive use of active guides, step-by-step tools that walk the user through the system administration procedures. They inform users what they will need and what will happen in the task up front, so users can prepare for the procedure or decide to do it at another time, avoiding unnecessary interruptions in the process. Each step is performed for the user, and the user is prompted for information in the step-by-step process. The new system administration software may be accessed from the System toolchest, as System Manager. For detailed information about the system administration tools, see the IRIX Interactive System Administration (sysadmdesktop) release notes. Also see the sysmgr(1M) reference page. Most of the system administration tools require the invoker to be root or a privileged user. Most of the old IRIX 5.3 and 6.2 system administration tools beginning with the lowercase letter C (for example, cnet) are obsolete. The tapetool and backup_restore programs are also obsolete. clogin Executed at the beginning of each session on the graphics console. It replaces the functionality of /usr/bin/login. The choice between login and clogin is made on the basis of the value of the configuration variable "visuallogin." If this configuration variable is set to on then clogin is used in place of login. (See the VARIABLES THAT AFFECT THE DESKTOP section.) 6. LIBRARIES To date, libfam.a is the only desktop library whose interface is available for use by application developers. DESKTOP DEPENDENCIES The objectserver and directoryserver are obsolete in IRIX 6.3 and later releases. All IRIX Interactive Desktop and system administration dependencies on these libraries have been removed. This includes the IRIX 6.2 libraries shipped with IRIX 6.3, 6.4, and 6.5 for backward compatibility; that is, all 6.2 libraries (like desktop_base.sw.ftrdso6_2) no longer depend on the objectserver or directoryserver. The dmb and messagebus are obsolete in IRIX 6.5 and later releases. All IRIX Interactive Desktop and system administration dependencies on these components have been removed. To perform properly, the desktop also requires the following additional components: Insight and InfoSearch deliver on-line documentation for the desktop. SGIHelp provides on-line help for various desktop applications. ViewKit, a C++ toolkit, provides commonly needed facilities for applications based on the IRIS IM user interface toolkit (the SGI port of the industry-standard OSF/Motif user interface toolkit for use on SGI workstations). Soundscheme, an X-based server daemon, provides high- quality audio playback for applications. Mediad polls the removable media devices on a machine to determine their state. The demos.sw.atlantis subsystem from the Demos product needs to be installed on the system to see the Atlantis screensaver. The desktop also links with the Motif libraries, the graphics library (GL), and the image library (IL), and relies on the print product for the graphical printing tools. CONFIGURATION FILES In IRIX 6.3 and later releases, screen-specific resources are kept in subdirectories under the $HOME/.desktop-<hostname> directory named for the screen (for example, $HOME/.desktop-<hostname>/0.0). These hold many of the 4Dwm resource files that in previous IRIX releases resided in the ./desktop-<hostname> directory. Host-specific resources are kept under the $HOME/.desktophost directory. This is data that cannot be shared among hosts. Specific files and subdirectories of interest in each $HOME/.desktophost/<hostname> directory include the following: DefaultBackgroundDeviceDB a list of which device icons the user dropped onto the desktop, beyond the system default device icons, file created and maintained by /usr/sbin/bgicons Icons/ system-specific reference devices, such as printers, and icons dragged from system administration managers, directory created and maintained by /usr/sbin/bgicons SysadmBgIconDB a list of which system administration objects the user dropped onto the desktop, beyond the system default system administration object icons, file created and maintained by /usr/sbin/bgicons fsNotifyConfig filesystem-size notification levels, file created by the system administration Filesystem Manager syserr.state-$DISPLAY error messages, file created by /usr/sbin/sysmon The $HOME/.dtEnvPref file, created by /usr/lib/desktop/makeDotDesktop, recorde the user's preferred method of creating a new desktop configuration. See the makeDotDesktop(1X) man page for details. The $HOME/.Sgiresources file contains session configuration information that the user chose from customization panels (ex., color scheme, whether to show new files as they are created, whether to update session continuously). The customization panels (ex., windows, schemebr, dtSounds) and other applications write to it. This file is written automatically, and generally shouldn't be altered by end users. Specific files and subdirectories of interest in the $HOME/.desktop- <hostname> directory include the following: .userenv environment variables, file created by /usr/bin/X11/userenv from earlier versions of /var/X11/xdm/Xsession.dt, obsolete in IRIX 6.5 0.0/4DWm which backgrounds to display on each desk, and resources curNewBackground and warnOnXsetrootAndDesks, file created by /usr/bin/X11/4Dwm 0.0/4Dwmdeskname name of the home desk (not the current desk), file created by /usr/bin/X11/4Dwm 0.0/4Dwmdesks which windows are on which desks, the windows' state (normal, iconic, hidden), and their geometry (size and position on the screen), file created by /usr/bin/X11/4Dwm 0.0/4Dwmdesks.bak backup copy of 4Dwmdesks, file created by /usr/bin/X11/4Dwm 0.0/4Dwmsession launch commands, screen, launchTime, wmClass and wmName for windows on all desks, file created by /usr/bin/X11/4Dwm Bgdaemon used in IRIX 5.1, replaced by 4DWm, file created by /usr/sbin/bgdaemon DefaultBackgroundIconDB a list of which icons the user dropped onto the desktop, beyond the system default non-device icons, file created by /usr/sbin/FLtoPopDB when run from /var/X11/xdm/Xsession.dt Desktop customization information for the desktop, file created by /usr/sbin/desktop DesktopAudioDevice customization information for desktop sounds, file created by /usr/sbin/dtSounds FmState customization information for communicating with /usr/sbin/fm, file created by /usr/sbin/fmprefs or /usr/sbin/desktop, used by the file manager and the system manager Ipanel language customization information, file created by /usr/sbin/ipanel MovieMaker moviemaker application customization information, file created by /usr/sbin/moviemaker Overview desks customization information, file created by /usr/sbin/ov References/ directory holding lists of which icons appear on iconview shelves, similar to the layouts directory directory created by /usr/sbin/fm ScreenSaver screensaver customization information, file created by /usr/sbin/ssaver SysadmStopNoRootWarnings presence of this file indicates the system manager should continue to issue notifications when the user performs root- privilege tasks and there is no password for the special root user, file created by the system administration active guides TypeCache/ a cache for FTR types (one typecache file per directory, named with _+ where / would appear in the full path), directory created by /usr/sbin/fm Webjumper WebJumper options, file created by /usr/sbin/webjumper accessx/ user profiles for special keyboard accessibility features, file created by /usr/sbin/accessx configchecks/ list of which configuration files (.Xdefaults, .sgisession) have been verified to exist, directory created by /var/X11/xdm/Xsession.dt desktopenv desktop environment variable settings, file created by /usr/sbin/webjumper or /usr/sbin/dtSounds filetype/ personal desktop icons (see the ftr(1) reference page), directory and its contents created by the user firsttime flag indicating first time user is running the desktop, file created by earlier versions of /var/X11/xdm/Xsession.dt, but obsolete in IRIX 5.3 and later releases iconbook/ user-defined pages and icons users have added to system pages, directory created by /usr/sbin/iconbook and /usr/sbin/iconbookedit, but obsolete in IRIX 6.3 and later releases iconcatalog/ the contents of the user's iconcatalog pages, describing which icons should appear on the pages and how each page is laid out, directory created by /usr/sbin/iconcatalog layouts/ the layouts of the user's iconviews, directory created by /usr/sbin/fm log record of desktop file operations (removing, renaming, etc.), file created by /usr/sbin/fm log.bak backup copy of log, file created by /usr/sbin/fm nodesktop presence of this file turns off the desktop environment, file created by the user ozPanelLayout-1.00/_+<directoryName> (obsolete in IRIX 6.3 and later releases) directory view geometry from the last time <directoryName> was viewed, directory formerly created by /usr/sbin/fm ozPanelLayout-1.00/Background (obsolete in IRIX 6.3 and later releases) which icons appear on the background and where, file formerly created by /usr/sbin/desktopManager panelsession xset and xlock settings affecting the display, file created and/or written to by /usr/sbin/ssaver, /usr/sbin/keyboard, and /usr/sbin/mouse searchbook/ user-defined pages for customized searches, directory created by /usr/sbin/searchbook schemes/ user-customized color schemes, directory created by /usr/sbin/schemebr The above may not be a complete list. Other applications can also read, write, and remove files in the $HOME/.desktop-<hostname> directory. See the section VARIABLES THAT AFFECT THE DESKTOP for information about configuring such applications to run properly over the network. VARIABLES THAT AFFECT THE DESKTOP There are several configuration variables that relate to the IRIX Interactive Desktop. The default settings for a system running IRIX 6.5, NFS and IRIX Interactive Desktop are as follows: Flag State ==== ===== autofs on desktop on mediad on network on nfs on noiconlogin off soundscheme on visuallogin on It is not necessary to be on a network to run the IRIX Interactive Desktop. If a system is standalone, it will not have the "autofs" or "nfs" flags, and "network" will be "off". If a system is on a network, the IRIX Interactive Desktop will make use of the "autofs" feature, so it should be "on". To disable the Desktop for every user on a system, the root user can execute the command chkconfig desktop off. Rather than disabling it for every account, an individual user can disable the Desktop for their account by touching the $HOME/.desktop-<hostname>/nodesktop (where hostname is replaced by the name of the system as returned by the hostname(1) command). Please see the fm(1G) man page for further information. IRIX 6.3 and later systems do not need to have "objectserver" "on". The objectserver and directoryserver are obsolete in IRIX 6.3 and later releases. The "noiconlogin" and "visuallogin" variables affect whether the login screen shows icons and images for each user, respectively. With the default settings, icons will be used, and the icons will be enabled to show photograph-like SGI image files. Please refer to the man pages for soundscheme(1) and mediad(1) for information on these tools. The desktop customization panels (available from the Desktop toolchest, on the Customize menu) and other applications like WebJumper save resource settings chosen by the user in the directory .desktop-hostname in the user's home directory. If any of these programs are run on a remote machine and displayed across the net on a different screen, then the program will still save the user's options on the remote machine but these settings will not get read by the program appropriately. The desktop used to notify the user when this happened, with a dialog message as follows: The following field does not appear at the start of your $XUSERFILESEARCHPATH: /usr/people/guest/.desktop-hostname/%N Customizations made during this session may not be properly observed the next time you login. As this condition occurs infrequently, the desktop no longer issues this alert in IRIX 6.3 and later releases. The Xt toolkit uses the XUSERFILESEARCHPATH environment variable to determine the path for retrieving resources. Its format is that of XFILESEARCHPATH as described in the XtResolvePathname(3Xt) man page. The file /usr/lib/X11/xdm/Xsession.dt sets the XUSERFILESEARCHPATH variable for users when they log in at the console. In order for an application to read changes made through the customization panels and through itself, this variable must begin with $HOME/.desktop-<hostname>/%N where <hostname> is the name of the host on which the application is running. When users log in remotely, the Xsession-remote file gets executed instead of Xsession.dt and consequently the variable gets set differently. To work around this, the user explicitly can add $HOME/.desktop- <hostname>/%N, where <hostname> is the name of the remote machine, to the user's XUSERFILESEARCHPATH setting. This can be done at the command line. Alternately, if the user often logs into a remote machine from a different console, this setting can be added to the user's .login file on the remote machine. Note: The Xsession.dt file redirects output to /dev/console but the output does not get there because /dev/console does not exist at the time Xsession.dt runs. At the top of the Xsession.dt file, there exists a commented-out section that will do X11R5 redirection of errors to a file called .xsession-errors in the user's home directory. To activate that behavior so users can see these errors, remove the initial # commenting character for each line in that section. DESKTOP COLORS AND SOUNDS If the SGI desktop is running on an X server from another vendor (such as an X terminal), then the names of icons on the background might appear as black text on a black field. (The field color normally defaults to the color SGIVeryLightGray, which is not defined on other vendors' machines.) To work around this, users can add the line FileManager*BasicBackground: white to their .Xdefaults or .Xresources file. This changes the field color to white, thereby making the icon names legible. If more colors are available on the hardware, then this resource could be set to some other color (other than "white") that contrasts with the text color. More information about desktop color schemes and sounds can be found in Appendix A of the desktop_eoe release notes and in the schemebr(1) and soundscheme(1) man pages. SEE ALSO Users can search all reference pages, release notes, and online books at once using the InfoSearch tool. Select the Help toolchest, then InfoSearch. World Wide Web -- netscape(1), xmosaic(1), fm(1) To invoke Netscape, select the Find toolchest, then Web Tools, then double-click the netscape icon. The following sites provide a list of frequently asked questions and answers, as well as a Desks Overview license. If the system is running IRIX 6.3 or a later release, then it does not need a Desks Overview license, but information is available for systems running previous IRIX versions. http://www.sgi.com/Products/software/IndigoMagic/indigo.html http://www.sgi.com/Support/pipeline.html Reference pages -- man(1), xman(1), infosearch(1) To view the man pages, select the Help toolchest, then Man Pages. Many of the desktop components mentioned above have manual pages. The following man pages may be of particular interest: sysmgr(1M) -- the System Manager with active guides 4Dwm(1X) -- the SGI window manager fm(1G) -- the IRIX Interactive Desktop file manager ov(1X) -- Desks Overview, providing extra desktops on one screen iconcatalog(1) -- most applications on the system are included here searchbook(1) -- search for files background(1) -- change the screen's background pattern clogin(1) -- the visual login screen mediad(1M) -- reads peripheral hardware (disk drives, etc.) soundscheme(1) -- provides high-quality sound Release notes -- infosearch(1), grelnotes(1) To view, select the Help toolchest, then Release Notes. Pertinent information about the various desktop releases and versions can be found under the following products: 4Dwm desktop_eoe desktop_base desktop_tools sysadmdesktop Online books for end users -- infosearch(1), desktophelp(1) To view, select the Help toolchest, then Online Books. Double-click any of the following book icons to read their contents: IRIX Interactive Desktop User's Guide Personal System Administration Guide IRIX Advanced Site and System Administration Guide The IRIX Interactive Desktop User's Guide replaces the Indigo Magic Desktop User's Guide and replaces IRIS Essentials. Online books for programmers -- infosearch(1), insight(1) To view, select the Help toolchest, then Online Books. Double-click any of the following book icons to read their contents: Programming on Silicon Graphics Systems: An Overview IRIX Interactive Desktop Integration Guide IRIX Interactive User Interface Guidelines Developer Magic: RapidApp User's Guide