From: Vance Haemmerle [vance@toyvax.Glendale.CA.US]
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2003 11:35 PM
To: Info-VAX@Mvb.Saic.Com
Subject: Re: automatic screensaver

Fred Kleinsorge wrote:

> If you want to stay with increasingly old versions of VMS - heck I'm sure
> there are still happy V4.7 users out there - that's fine - but don't be
> complaining when new things aren't available for it.

  How about when old things still don't work?

  I don't know how many posts I did to vmsnet.sdk.openvms.fieldtest (several
anyway) during the VMS 7.2 and 7.3 field tests reporting that the VAX X-display
server does not work setting the default visual and that the documentation
was messed up, re: the name of the Symbol do accomplish this.  Never got a
reply and it never got fixed.

  There's applications that don't like a 24-plane visual and
if you have a VAXstation with an SPXgt card, that's what you get
and you can't change the default visual it to Pseudocolor despite what
the Docs say.  And the docs are wrong; they have the symbol as
"DECW$DEFAULT_VISUAL_CLASS" while the example has
"DECW$SEVER_DEFAULT_VISUAL_CLASS".  Both of which are wrong.  The docs
also only say it doesn't work on VMS 5.5-2.  Nothing about ALPHA only... 
which wouldn't make sense anyway.
See: http://www.openvms.compaq.com/doc/73final/6300/6300pro_002.html#config_7
Section 3.2.2.

  On Alpha the symbol in DECW$PRIVATE_SERVER_SETUP.COM is
DECW$SERVER_DEFAULT_VISUAL_CLASS (SERVER not SEVER).  If you search the
DECW EXE files in SYS$LIBRARY you can find this string in DECW$SERVER_DIX.EXE.
However there's no such string (or anything "VISUAL_CLASS") in this or other
server exe's on VAX.  I wouldn't think this would be such a difficult
thing to fix... setting the default visual.  I never reported it through
regular support channels because the SPXgt card was on a hobbiest machine.
I figured buying the External Field Tests and reporting in the newgroup
would get attention.  But they never amounted to anything.

Patch anyone?  Or is the VAX display server beyond maintence?

--
Vance Haemmerle