questions about xset

[Nigel Wade]

On 25/10/11 16:24, Richardson, Joshua A. wrote:
> Just a quick guess, but have you actually verified the path you are trying to set exists?  You may need to physically copy the fonts from the CD to the machine.
>
> http://shortrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/06/mathematica-xset-bad-font-path-element.html
>
> Joshua A. Richardson
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: redhat-list-bounces at redhat.com [mailto:redhat-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Doll, Margaret Ann
> Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 11:09 AM
> To: General Red Hat Linux discussion list
> Subject: questions about xset
>
> CentOS release 5.6 (Final)
>
>
> We have Mathematica 7.0 installed on our computer cluster, but are unable to
> get the display to work.   The initial trademark comes up, but not the rest
> of the application.
>
>   mathematica&
> [1] 2527
> [mdoll at ted ~]$ xset:  bad font path element (#1149), possible causes are:
>      Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
>      Directory missing fonts.dir
>      Incorrect font server address or syntax
>
>
> Mathematica says that the problem is
>
> Font Installation
> All machines that display the front end must have access to the fonts
> included with *Mathematica*. If the *Mathematica* process is running on a
> remote machine and the front end is displayed on the local machine, the X
> server on the local machine must know where to find the *Mathematica* fonts.
> To do this, add the *Mathematica* fonts to the local font path by running a
> command like the following on the local machine.
>
> xset fp+ /usr/local/Wolfram/Mathematica/8.0/SystemFiles/Fonts/Type1; xset fp
> rehash
>
> Be sure to execute xset fp rehash to make the fonts available to the local X
> server.
> For optimal onscreen performance, Type1 fonts should appear before BDF fonts
> in the font path. Hence,
> $InstallationDirectory<http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/ref/$InstallationDirectory.html>
> /SystemFiles/Fonts/Type1 should appear before
> $InstallationDirectory<http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/ref/$InstallationDirectory.html>
> /SystemFiles/Fonts/BDF. You can check the order of the font path by
> executing the command xset q.
>
> *Note:* TrueType fonts are automatically loaded and do not require an
> xsetcommand.
>
>
> I have tried
>
>
> xset +fp
> /share/apps/Mathematica7.0/SystemFiles/Fonts/Type1,/share/apps/Mathematica7.0/SystemFiles/Fonts/BDF
> xset:  bad font path element (#1149), possible causes are:
>      Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
>      Directory missing fonts.dir
>      Incorrect font server address or syntax
>
>
> xset +fp
> /share/apps/Mathematica7.0/SystemFiles/Fonts/Type1
> xset:  bad font path element (#1149), possible causes are:
>      Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
>      Directory missing fonts.dir
>      Incorrect font server address or syntax
>
> What's going wrong?
>
> "xset q"   shows
>
> Font Path:
>
> /usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/misc/,/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/,/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/OTF,/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/,/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled,/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled,/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/,/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/,/Library/Fonts,/System/Library/Fonts

I presume when you say that it's installed on the cluster that you are 
using a remote X display.

Have you installed the fonts on the client?

You either have to do that, or setup the machine on which the fonts are 
installed as a font server. Then direct the local machine with the X 
display to the font server.

If you login remotely, using for example ssh, and attempt to set the 
fontpath when logged in remotely this will fail. Font paths refer to the 
X server, not the X client. So the X server (on your desktop) has to 
have access to the fonts.

For example, on my desktop I issue the following:
xset +fp fontserver:tcp/7100

to access the fonts on the host fontserver. This host is the machine on 
which Mathematica is installed. On fontserver it's necessary to add the 
Mathematica font directories to the font server, in my case it's an old 
RHEL 4 system, and the font configuration is in /etc/X11/fs/config. I've 
added the entries for Mathematica to the catalogue entry:

catalogue = /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/korean,
         /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled,
...
         /opt/Wolfram/Mathematica/5.2/SystemFiles/Fonts/Type1,
         /opt/Wolfram/Mathematica/5.2/SystemFiles/Fonts/BDF,
         /opt/Wolfram/Mathematica/5.2/SystemFiles/Fonts/AFM

You then need to fire up the font server, in the RHEL 4 case it's 
handled by chkconfig, and the service is xfs. Finally, poke a restricted 
hole for port 7100 in your firewall, if you have one, so that clients 
can access the font server.

Fonts in X are fun...

-- 
Nigel Wade, System Administrator, Space Plasma Physics Group,
             University of Leicester, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK
E-mail :    nmw at ion.le.ac.uk
Phone :     +44 (0)116 2523548, Fax : +44 (0)116 2523555