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Installing AVS/Express

Chapter 1 System Prerequisites Release 6.2

This chapter supplies system prerequisite information for UNIX and Windows platforms, including memory, graphics adapters, swap space, operating system features, the windowing system, compilers, and graphics libraries.

You must ensure that all supporting hardware and software are in place and that all necessary vendor-supplied system revisions are present on your workstation before you install and try to run AVS/Express, otherwise AVS/Express may not work on your system.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Of these sections, you must read and complete Supported Platforms and the section pertaining to your operating system. Once you meet the listed prerequisites, continue to Chapter 2, Installing and Licensing AVS/Express.

1.1 Supported Platforms

The table below outlines the platforms that are supported in this AVS/Express release (Release 6.2). Requirements for operating systems, graphics libraries and compilers are also listed

Release 6.2 of AVS/Express is available for the following platforms:

Table 0-1
Platform
Motif
C
C++
FORTRAN
Compaq/HP Tru64 Alpha AXP 5.1
2.1
6.3-026
6.2-024
5.3
HP HP-UX 11
2.1
A.03.13
A.0313
10.30
IBM RS/6000 (AIX 5.1)
2.1
5
5
5.1.0.0
Red Hat Linux 8.0 Intel x86
2.2
3.2
3.2
3.2
Red Hat Linux 7.0 Intel x86
2.1
2.96
2.96
2.96
Red Hat Linux 7.2 Intel Itanium
2.1
2.96
2.96
2.96
SGI IRIX 6.5 (n32 MIPS3)
1.2
7.2.1
7.2.1
7.2.1
SGI IRIX 6.5 (n64 MIPS4)
1.2
7.2.1
7.2.1
7.2.1
Solaris 8
2.1
Forte 6
Forte 6
Forte 6
Solaris 8 64-bit
2.1
Forte 6
Forte 6
Forte 6
Intel Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0, 2000, XP
N/A
MSVC++ 6.0
MSVC++ 6.0
Digital Fortran 6.0

Table 0-2 The AVS/Express Release 6.2 CD-ROM does not include the software for the IBM AIX and HP TRU64 platforms. If you want an AVS/Express Release 6.2 for this system, please contact AVS Customer Support. 
Note: On all UNIX platforms, you must install gzip in order to install AVS/Express. If gzip is not installed on your UNIX machine, downloads the gzip source and compile/install it before you run the installation script install.xp. For more information about gzip go to www.gzip.org.

1.2 Windows Platform Prerequisites

This section contains the prerequisites for various Windows platforms.

Table 0-3
Operating System
 
Requirement
Windows NT 4.0, 95, 98, 2000, or XP
 
To Verify
  1. Bring up Windows Explorer.
  2. Select Help->About Windows.
Disk Space
 
Requirement
Minimum: 138 MB
 
To Verify
  1. Bring up Windows Explorer.
  2. Select the icon of the disk on which you are installing AVS/Express.
  3. Right-click on that icon and select Properties.
  4. Select the General tab folder on the dialog box.
Virtual Memory
 
Requirement
Minimum: 100 MB
Note: You may need more, depending on local variables (specify additional memory if you encounter any problems).
 
To Verify
  1. Select Start->Settings->Control Panel from the Task Bar.
  2. Double-click the System icon in the Control Panel.
  3. Select the Performance tab folder and look at the Virtual Memory section.
Environment Variables
 
Requirement
On Intel processors: MACHINE= pc.
 
To Verify
  1. Select Start->Settings->Control Panel from the Task Bar.
  2. Double-click the System icon in the Control Panel.
  3. Select the Environment tab folder and verify that the MACHINE environment variable is set correctly.
C++
 
Optional
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 is required only if you plan on creating modules in AVS/Express.
 
To Verify
  1. Go to the \Program Files\DevStudio directory at the top level of your directory hierarchy.
  2. Confirm that MS Visual C++ is installed there.
If it is not, contact your system administrator regarding purchasing or installing this application. You do not need MS Visual C++ to execute AVS/Express; you need it if you will be creating modules.
Fortran
 
Requirement
Digital Fortran 6.0 is required only if you plan on creating fortran modules in AVS/Express.
 
To Verify
See your system administrator regarding purchasing or installing the required software.
Network Software Requirements
 
Requirement
TCP/IP network protocol is required because the FLEXlm License Server requires it.
 
To Verify
  1. Select Start->Settings->Control Panel from the Task Bar.
  2. Double-click the Network icon in the Control Panel.
  3. Select the Protocols tab folder.
  4. Click Add to add it if it is not already installed. Consult your network administrator for more details on installing TCP/IP.
 
1.3 Linux Prerequisites
Non Red Hat distributions

In deciding which version of AVS/Express to install for a non-Red Hat Linux distribution, the most important criterion is the compiler revision level.

Type the command:

gcc --version

at a command prompt.

If the result is "3.2", then you should be able to use the Red Hat 8 version of AVS/Express. If you have a different compiler version, you may run into difficulties especially when compiling or relinking a project. It may be possible to install the 3.2 compilers on your machine because the source is available from Red Hat.

If the result is "2.96", then you should be able to use the Red Hat 7 version of AVS/Express. If you have a different compiler version, you may run into difficulties especially when compiling or relinking a project. It may be possible to install the 2.96 compilers on your machine because the source is available from Red Hat.

X11/Motif

AVS/Express 6.2 for Red Hat Linux 8.x uses Open Motif version 2.2. You *can not* use Open Motif 2.1.x. Open Motif is available from a variety of sources, including the Open Group (http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/).

AVS/Express 6.2 for Red Hat Linux 7.x uses Motif version 2.1. This means you can use Open Motif 2.1.x. Open Motif is available from a variety of sources, including the Open Group (http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/). Red Hat 7.3 users should note that you can not use the Open Motif 2.2 that comes with Red Hat 7.3.

The simplest way to install Open Motif 2.1 is to use the RPM package that can be found on the powertools disk of Red Hat 7.0 and 7.1 or downloaded from Red Hat. Note that Red Hat did not produce a powertools disk for Red Hat 7.2. Alternatively you can download them in form RPM files from the ftp site: (ftp://ftp.avs.com/pub/express/linux/).

You can also use a commercial Motif 2.1 implementation such as that distributed by Metro Link (http://www.metrolink.com/).

The Red Hat 7.x and 8.x version of AVS/Express with comes with a special executable, bin/linux/express.static, that has been statically linked with Motif. You may use this executable without installing Motif. If you want to re-link AVS/Express in the course of compiling a project or generating a runtime, then you must install the Motif libraries.

AVS/Express will not run on Linux without Motif libraries, which must be accessible via the LD_LIBRARY_PATH or within a standard location such as /usr/X11R6/lib. It also works to put the Motif shared library in <install_dir>/lib/linux, because AVS/Express will look there to find its own shared libraries.

Open Motif on Itanium

If you are having trouble locating Open Motif 2.1 for Itanium, you can download it in the form of RPM files from the AVS ftp site (ftp://ftp.avs.com/pub/express/linux_ia64/).

Mesa

All versions of AVS/Express 6.2 for Linux are built with Mesa 3.4.2, an OpenGL emulator. If you are using Red Hat 7, you can use the versions of Mesa that come with your Red Hat distribution. However, the Mesa 3.3 that comes with Red Hat 7.0 is considered a beta release. It is strongly recommend that you upgrade to at least Mesa 3.4 and preferably Mesa 3.4.2. The Mesa libraries are freely available directly from the Mesa web site (http://www.mesa3d.org). We recommend that you install the patched versions of these libraries prepared by AVS, which are available on the AVS ftp site (ftp://ftp.avs.com/pub/express/linux/). Generally, you should use the most recent version available, which was 3.4.2 (Mesa3d_342.tar.gz) at the time AVS/Express 6.2 was released. This tar file contains a README file outlining the changes made to the original Mesa distribution. The Mesa libraries must be installed prior to running AVS/Express and should be accessible via the LD_LIBRARY_PATH or within a standard location such as /usr/X11R6/lib. You should also edit the MESA_HOME variable defined in <install-dir>/include/linux/machine.mk to point to the installed Mesa library.

Fortran Libraries

AVS/Express requires a Fortran library in order to compile new projects. If you did not install the Fortran support that came with your Linux distribution, you should do so before compiling a new AVS/Express project. Alternatively, you can copy the required file from <install-dir>/lib/linux/missing to <install-dir>/lib/linux. If you do not do so you may see an error about missing "libg2c."

In Red Hat 8, the libg2c library has been moved to the libf2c-3.2-7 package, instead being a part of the Fortran compiler (g77). So you can install libf2c without needing to install the entire Fortran compiler.

1.4 Sun Platforms Prerequisites

This section provides system prerequisites that are specific to the Solaris platform. There are two different versions of AVS/Express for the s8 platform: s8 is a 32-bit application, s8_64 is a 64-bit application and requires a 64-bit processor.

Worldwide Language Support
 
Requirement
AVS/Express is enabled for use with the Western European language locales on Solaris described below.
It has not been possible to provide an exhaustive list of all the other locales supported by AVS/Express on Solaris. These are the general criteria in order for a system locale to be supported:
  • The system locale name must match one of the following: the AVS/Express locale name, the AVS/Express language name, and one of a list of aliases provided by AVS/Express for each locale
  • The system locale must support: the relevant national or international standard character sets, EUC encodings for multi-byte character sets, and fonts that match these character sets and encodings.
 
Languages
da
de, de_CH
en_AU, en_CA, en_IE, en_NZ, en_UK, en_US
es
fr, fr_BE, fr_CA, fr_CH
it
nl, nl_BE
no
pt, pt_BR
su
sv

1.5 SGI Platforms Prerequisites

This section provides system prerequisites that are specific to the SGI platform. There are two different versions of AVS/Express for the SGI platform: sgN32 supports the SGI 32-bit processors and sg6 supports the SGI 64-bit processors.

Compilers and Language Libraries
C/C++

You need the C and C++ compilers, together with their runtime libraries, to relink your application.

You must also have the C and C++ compilers' runtime libraries (libc.so and libC.so) in order to run the express executable. These are supplied on the IRIX CD, and are included in the standard installation, so they should already exist in /usr/lib on your system. If they do not, you can install them from the c_eoe.sw.lib and c++_eoe.sw.lib packages on the CD.

The C compiler is supplied on the IRIS Development Option CD, which is a separately purchased product.

The C++ compiler is also a separately purchased product.

FORTRAN

You need the FORTRAN runtime library (libftn.so) to run AVS/Express with the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer present or to relink applications that contain them.

The libftn.so library is supplied on the IRIX CD. It is part of the standard installation, so it should already exist in /usr/lib on your system. If it does not, you can install it from the ftn_eoe.sw.lib package on the CD.

To remove these FORTRAN dependencies, you must relink AVS/Express without the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer. See Removing Fortran Dependencies, for information on how to remove these dependencies.

Table 0-4
Disk Space
 
Requirement
For sgN32: 184 MB, including the on-line help files.
For sg6: 230 MB, including the on-line help files.
The help files are about 78 MB and can be omitted at installation.
 
To Verify
Type df -k.
Rendering Hardware
 
Requirement
The hardware renderer requires that OpenGL be supported in an RGB pixel format with a Z-buffer. At least one such visual must exist for a compliant OpenGL implementation running on an X Window system using the GLX extension.
 
To Verify
Type /usr/gfx/gfxinfo.
The first line will verify which graphics board you have. The following lines will give the details of the board.
Rendering Software
 
Requirement
The software renderer will work on any SGI work station.
Windowing Systems
 
Requirement
AVS/Express runs as an X Window System client under the Xsgi X_Window system server. It can work with any X window manager, including Tom's Window Manager (twm), in addition to the 4Dwm window manager (SGI's Motif-standard window manager) under which it was developed and tested.
 
 
 
C++
 
Requirement
See C/C++.
Fortran
 
Requirement
The Fortran library libftn.so must be installed on your system in order to relink AVS/Express with the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer.
The Fortran library libftn.so is supplied on the IRIX CD.
 
To Install
If it is not available on your system:
  1. Change to the /usr/lib directory.
  2. Copy libftn.so from the ftn_eoe.sw.lib package on the IRIX CD.
OpenGL
 
Supported Options
All SGI graphics options support the RGB blend extension for XOR rendering. The high-end graphics options, such as Reality Engine, Reality Engine2, VTX and Solid/High/Maximum Impact, support the 3D texture extension. Reality Engine 2 also supports the texture colortable extension which allows direct rendering of indexed textures (especially useful for volume rendering).
Worldwide Language Support
 
Requirement
AVS/Express is enabled for use with the Western European language locales described below. English and Japanese locales are supported with local strings for the User Interface and Network Editor.
 
Languages
en, en_AU, en_CA, en_US
fr, fr_BE, fr_CA, fr_CH
de, de_AT, de_CH
nl, nl_BE
es, pt, it, da, sv, no, is, fi
sk, pl
ru, el, tr
kr, ja_JP.EUC

1.6 HP Platforms Prerequisites

This section provides system prerequisites specific to the HP platform.

HP distributes a patch which corrects a memory leak in the libcl.2 system library. The patch number is PHSS_21950. You should install PHSS_21950 and PHSS_21959 before running AVS/Express. These patches can be obtained from the HP web site (requires proper ID and password):

http://us-support2.external.hp.com/wpsl/bin/doc.pl/screen=wpslDisplayPatch

Compilers and Language Libraries Required

AVS/Express was compiled with the HP C compiler with ANSI mode enabled (-Aa -D_HPUX_SOURCE) and the HP C++ compiler.

AVS/Express was compiled with the HP ANSI C compiler (c89 -D_HPUX_SOURCE) and the HP ANSI C++ compiler (aCC -D_HPUX_SOURCE). It is linked dynamically with the HP C++ compiler's libraries.

C++
If libC.sl is not present on your system, you can copy a version of libC.sl that is included in the AVS/Express HP distribution. Copy <install-dir>/express/lib/$MACHINE/missing/libC.sl to /usr/lib. This will allow you to run the express executable, but you will not be able to relink the express executable.

To determine what compilers are available on your system, select "General" from the "Toolboxes" pop-up menu on the HP VUE panel, and then select "System Info".

FORTRAN

You must have the FORTRAN runtime libraries that form part of the standard HP-UX installation to relink the express process with the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer present.

To remove this FORTRAN dependency, you must relink AVS/Express without the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer. See Removing Fortran Dependencies, for information on removing this dependency.

Table 0-5
Disk Space
 
Requirement
210 MB, including the on-line help files. The help files are about 76 MB and can be omitted at installation.
Rendering Hardware
 
Requirement
Uses the native graphics hardware and the PEXlib graphics library.
 
Adapters
The hardware renderer will work with the CRX, CRX24, CRX24Z, CRX48Z, HCRX8, HCRX8Z, HCRX24, HCRX24Z, Visualize-8, Visualize-24 or Visualize-48 graphics adapters as well as any built-in graphics adapter that comes on some platforms.
Rendering Software
 
Requirement
The software renderer operates on any supported HP workstation model with an 8- or 24-plane color frame buffer, the XPutImage xlib call, and a local X server that supports them.
Compilers and Language Libraries
 
Requirement
AVS/Express was compiled with the HP C compiler with ANSI mode enabled (-Aa -D_HPUX_SOURCE) and the HP C++ compiler. It is linked dynamically with the HP C++ compiler's libraries.
 
Library Requirement
  • You must have the C++ libC.sl library present on your system to run the express executable.
  • If libC.sl is not present on your system, you can copy a version of libC.sl that is included in the AVS/Express HP distribution.
  • Copy <install-dir>/express/lib/<machine type>/missing/libC.sl to /usr/lib.
This will allow you to run the express executable, but you will not be able to relink the express executable. You must have the C++ development environment to relink both the express and user process.
 
To Verify
  1. Select HP VUE->Toolboxes->General.
  2. Select "System Info."
  3. Verify presence of libC.sl library.
C and C++
 
Requirement
See C++.
Fortran
 
Requirement
You must have the Fortran runtime libraries that form part of the standard HP-UX installation to relink the express process with the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer.
PEXlib and Powershade
 
Required
AVS/Express supports hardware rendering on the graphics adapters mentioned previously. In order to access this functionality, AVS/Express requires that PEXlib runtime library level 5.1 or greater and PowerShade be installed on the workstation..
  • PowerShade products are not included with base HP workstations and must be ordered separately. However, all of the "Z" adapters (e.g., CRX24Z, CRX48Z, HCRX8Z, etc) supply PowerShade.
If you do not have the PowerShade product, the hardware rendering will still work but all objects will be rendered without lighting and without Z buffering.
 
To Verify
  1. Select HP VUE->Toolboxes->General.
  2. Select "System Info" and verify library and Powershade.
Worldwide Language Support
 
Requirement
All the Western European languages supported by AVS/Express are available on HP-UX. The default locale names are the language names, for example, french and german are valid locales for the HP-UX system. These default locales use HP-specific character sets, but AVS/Express requires fonts based on ISO 8859-1. You must add this codeset field to the locale name.
 
Western European
english.iso88591
american.iso88591
french.iso88591
c-french.iso88591
german.iso88591
spanish.iso88591
portuguese.iso88591
italian.iso88591
dutch.iso88591
danish.iso88591
swedish.iso88591
norwegian.iso88591
icelandic.iso88591
finnish.iso88591
 
Eastern European
The following Eastern European locales use the ISO 8859 character sets by default and are enabled for use by AVS/Express on the HP-UX:
czech
polish
hungarian
russian
 
Greek and Turkish
The default Greek and Turkish locales use HP-specific character sets GREEK8 and TURKISH8 respectively. AVS/Express requires the corresponding ISO 8859 character sets, so you must use these modified system locale names. These locales are enabled:
greek.iso88597
turkish.iso88599
 
Japanese and Korean
The default Japanese locale on HP-UX is called japanese. It uses the HP-specific JAPAN15 character set. AVS/Express requires the JIS X 0208 character set, with fonts mapped with the EUC encoding, so you must use a modified locale. This locale is supported by AVS/Express on HP-UX:
japanese.euc
AVS/Express does not support the special Japanese locale katakana.
There is only one Korean locale on HP-UX. It is called korean, and it uses the HP-specific KOREA15 character set. AVS/Express requires the KSC 5601 character set. It is expected that Korean cannot be supported by AVS/Express on HP-UX, although this has not been tested.
 
Chinese
The simplified Chinese locale on HP-UX is called chinese-s. It uses the HP-specific PRC15 character set. AVS/Express requires the GB 2312 character set. It is expected that Simplified Chinese cannot be supported by AVS/Express on HP-UX, although this has not been tested.
AVS/Express does not support the traditional Chinese locale chinese-t.
 
Modifying Locale
To modify the default locale for your environment:
  1. Edit the /usr/vue/config/Xconfig file.
  2. Change the resource value for Vuelogin*language. For example, to change to the Japanese EUC locale, replace
Vuelogin*language: japanese
with
Vuelogin*language: japanese.euc
For more details see the HP publication Native Language Support: User's Guide.
The HP-UX inquiry for system locale returns a list of names, one for each aspect of the locale. The list also contains some unusual field separators. Here is example output for the default locale when you have set the XP_DEBUG_LOCALE environment variable:
Express: LANG is not set
Express: system locale is /:C;:C;:C;:C;:C;:C;:C;/
Express: express locale is C Default

1.7 IBM RISC System/6000 Prerequisites

This section provides system prerequisites specific to the IBM RISC System/6000 platform.

Table 0-6
Disk Space
 
Requirement
150 MB, including the on-line help files. The help files are about 78 MB and can be omitted at installation.
Rendering Hardware
 
Requirement
Uses the native graphics hardware and the OpenGL graphics library.
 
Adapters
  • GXT155 (Baby Blue) family
  • GXT500 (Magenta)
  • FS/6000 (Freedom Series) from Evans & Sutherland
Other adapters (except GTO and Sabine) will support OpenGL through SoftGraphics.
 
Verifying Adapter Types
With one exception, it is possible to determine interactively which graphics adapter your RS/6000 uses.
  1. Login as root.
  2. Type lsdev -C -c adapter.
This command produces a listing of various board options, including the graphics adapters. Sample listings are shown below.
 
Adapter Type Output
  • gda0 Available 00-02 Color Graphics Display Adapter
Indicates the low-end 8-bit 2D Color Graphics Display Adapter.
  • wga0 Available 00-0J Power Gt1x Graphics Adapter
Indicates the Gt1 2D 8-bit graphics adapter.
  • ppr0 Available 00-03 POWER Gt3 Graphics Adapter
Indicates the Gt3 2D 8-bit graphics adapter.
  • hiprfmge0 Available 00-07 High Performance 3D Color Graphics Processor
    hiprfmrv0 Defined 00-06 Color Graphics Video Card
    hiprfmev0 Defined 00-06-01 24-bit Color Graphics frame buffer card
    hiprfmzb0 Defined 00-06-02 24-bit Z-buffer option card
Indicates the low end "Sabine" High Performance 3D 24-bit Color Graphics Processor with Z-buffer option. If the Color Graphics frame buffer card says 8-bit instead of 24-bit, or if the final 24-bit Z-buffer option card line is missing, then you must use the AVS/Express software renderer option.
  • hispd3d0 Available 00-07 High Speed 3D Graphics Accelerator
Indicates the high-end "GTO" Graphics Adapter. The message does not reveal whether you have an 8- or 24-bit adapter.
  • ppr0 Available 00-02 POWER Gt4 Midrange Graphics Adapter
    pgr0 Defined 00-03 POWER Gt4 Midrange 8-bit Frame Buffer
    pop0 Defined 00-04 POWER Gt4 Midrange 24-bit Frame Buffer option
Indicates the POWER Gt4. If just pgr0 is listed, then you have an 8-bit adapter. If both pgr0 and pop0 are listed, then you have a 24-bit adapter.
  • ppc0 Defined 00-02-01 POWER Gt4x Midrange Graphics Adapter Turbo option
Indicates the POWER Gt4x graphics accelerator.
  • ppr1 Available 00-01 POWER Gt4e Graphics Adapter
means you have the special 8-bit version of the Gt4.
  • rby0 Available 00-03 7250 POWER GXT1000 Graphics Accelerator Model Z
Indicates the Gxt1000.
 
Adapter Type Output (continued)
  • esl0 Available 00-04 E&S High Performance Graphics Display Adapter
Indicates the Freedom Series 6000 from Evans & Sutherland. This release of AVS/Express has been tested on the Freedom with Velocity 1.0.2.1 system software. Consult the Velocity 1.0.2.1 Release Manual from Evans & Sutherland for more details about installing and using the Freedom adapter.
 
Multiple Adapters and Starting the X-Server
Machines can have more than one graphics adapter, but AVS/Express can only run on one screen in a multi-screen configuration.
To use the AVS/Express OpenGL renderer you must start AIXwindows with certain X server extensions enabled: MBX for double-buffering; ABX for use of ancillary buffers with OpenGL; and GLX, the OpenGL extension to X.
If you are starting AIXwindows on the hft console, type:
xinit -- -x GLX -x abx -x mbx
If the display is not the hft console, perhaps because you are running a multi-headed system, then you must specify the screen number:
xinit -- -P00 # -x GLX -x abx -x mbx
To find the screen number, "#", for the adapter, type lsdisp the hft console.
For additional information about using OpenGL on the IBM AIX platform, see the /usr/lpp/OpenGL/README file.
Workstation Models
 
Requirement
RS/6000 workstations: 2xx, 3xx, 5xx, or 7xx-series models.
Environment Variables
 
Memory Allocator
AVS/Express requires libmalloc version 3.1.
AVS/Express looks for the MALLOCTYPE environment variable. If it is not set, then it sets it itself to "MALLOCTYPE 3.1". This reinstates AIX 3.1.x malloc behavior and prevents potential bus errors, failure of simple operations, and severe performance degradation. You should only notice this if you explicitly set MALLOCTYPE to something other than 3.1
Compilers and Language Libraries
 
Requirement
AVS/Express was compiled with the C compiler version 3.6.4, the C++ compiler version 3.6.4, and the XL Fortran compiler `xlf', version 5.1.00.
 
To Verify
To find the compiler version for your system, use the corresponding lslpp command as listed below:
  • For C: lslpp -h xlC.C
  • For C++: lslpp -h xlC.cpp
  • For Fortran: lslpp -h xlfcmp
 
C++ Libraries
AVS/Express requires the C++ runtime environment, including /usr/lpp/xlC/lib/libC.a, to relink the express executable.
Fortran
 
Requirement
The XL Fortran compiler xlf and the libxlf.a shared library are required to build AVS/Express with the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer present or to link applications that contain them. The libxlf.a library (which should be located in /usr/lib in a standard installation) is also required simply to run the default installed version of AVS/Express (which contains the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer).
For your convenience, libxlf.a is provided in the AVS/Express distribution in the <install-dir>/express/lib/ibm/missing directory, where <install-dir> is the directory where you installed AVS/Express. (The environment variable $XP_ROOT corresponds to the <install-dir>/express directory). If libxlf.a is not present on your system, you can make it available by copying it to /usr/lib.
  1. Log in as root.
  2. Type the following command.
cp -p $XP_ROOT/lib/ibm/missing/libxlf.a /usr/lib
Some configurations of Fortran compilers require AVS/Express to be linked with the IBM Fortran 90 library, even though there is no F90 source code in the AVS/Express system.
The symptoms are unresolved symbols, such as _pxlidnnt and _pxldatn2. The solution is to add -lxlf90 to the link line. This can be done by using the alternative definition of F77LIBS in $XP_ROOT/include/ibm/machinc.mk:
F77LIBS = -lxlf90 -lxlf
To remove these Fortran dependencies, you must relink AVS/Express without the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer. See Removing Fortran Dependencies for information on removing these dependencies.
OpenGL
 
Required
The AVS/Express hardware renderer uses OpenGL. AVS/Express requires that the OpenGL runtime library (/usr/lib/libGL.a) is installed on the workstation. This is not bundled with the operating system.
Most IBM platforms support OpenGL, either with a software pipeline called "SoftGraphics", or with some degree of hardware acceleration in the graphics adapter. The exceptions are base GTO and Sabine options, which do not support any RGB visuals, hence cannot support OpenGL in any form.
In order for a graphics adapter to be used by the OpenGL renderer, it must support an OpenGL RGB pixel format and have a Z-buffer, otherwise the renderer will choose a SoftGraphics visual that does fulfill these criteria. If you have the OpenGL examples installed, you can find the xglinfo inquiry utility in /usr/lpp/OpenGL/samples/xglinfo. It will tell you which visuals OpenGL support.
Worldwide Language Support
 
Requirement
AIX supports two distinct sets of locales. The LANG environment variable can take the standard XPG locale names with lower case language and uppercase territory. These locales use international or national standard character sets. For example, fr_FR for French as used in France, based on the ISO 8859-1 character set. All such locales are enabled within AVS/Express.
The English and Japanese locales are fully supported with strings for the User Interface and Network Editor.
 
Locales
da_DK
de_CH, de_DE
en_GB, en_US
fi_FI
fr_BE, fr_CA, fr_FR, fr_CH
is_IS, it_IT
nl_BE, nl_NL
no_NO
pt_PT
sv_SE
el_GR
tr_TR
ja_JP
ko_KR
 
Eastern European
There are many new Eastern European locales available in AIX 4.1.x. AVS/Express is enabled for use with Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish and Russian locales under AIX 4.1.x:
cs_CS
sk_SK
hu_HU
pl_PL
ru_RU
 
Japanese
The Japanese locale, ja_JP, uses the IBM-eucJP codeset. This is a combination of JISX0201-1976, an EUC encoding of JISX0208-1983 and IBM-udcJP (IBM-specific user defined characters). AVS/Express does support this locale, but does not support display of characters from the IBM-udcJP character set.
The Japanese locale, Ja_JP, uses the IBM-932 codeset. This is a combination of JISX0201-1976, half-width katakana, Shift-JIS encoding of JISX0208-1983, and IBM-specific user defined characters. AVS/Express does not support this locale.
 
Chinese
AVS/Express does not support the traditional Chinese locale for Taiwan, zh_TW.
 
Korean
The Korean locale, ko_KR, uses the IBM-eucKR codeset.

1.8 Compaq Tru64 UNIX Prerequisites

This section provides system prerequisites specific to the Compaq UNIX platform (formerly DEC Alpha OSF) platform.

Table 0-7
Disk Space
 
Requirement
150 MB, including the on-line help files. The help files are about 78 MB and can be omitted at installation.
Rendering Hardware
 
Software Renderer Requirement
The software renderer supported by AVS/Express works on any supported workstation model with an 8- or 24-plane color frame buffer, the XPutImage Xlib call, and a local X server that supports them.
The supported software renderer implements a set of graphics primitives (polygons, lighting model, perspective, shading, color, and others) in software, rendering the resulting image into an X Window System image.
 
OpenGL Hardware Renderer Requirement
AVS/Express supports an OpenGL hardware renderer for DEC graphics options. It can be used by any DEC graphics options that have 8 or 24 color planes and a Z-buffer and that support OpenGL in RGB mode. (See Appendix B, Hardware and Software Renderers.) The xglinfo inquiry utility, installed in /usr/examples/GL/tools/xglinfo, is part of the Open3D OpenGL Examples software subset. In general, all current DEC products except the HX entry level graphics option on the Alpha AXP 3000 series have the necessary support for hardware rendering.
Window System Requirements
 
Requirement
Your window system must provide consistent placement of AVS/Express Viewer windows on the screen. You can do this in either of the following ways:
  • Set the XP_WIN_PLACEMENT environment variable, which determines window placement, to None as follows:
setenv XP_WIN_PLACEMENT None
  • In your .Xdefaults file, change the resource that interprets window position information to True. For example, if you are using the Motif window manager, set Mwm*positionIsFrame as follows:
Mwm*positionIsFrame: True
Note that if you modify the .Xdefaults file, you may affect the way windows are displayed in other software programs you are running.
Compilers and Language Libraries
 
Requirement
AVS/Express was compiled with the C compiler at optimization level -O2, with ANSI mode enabled (-std1), the C++ compiler version 6.2-024 and the Fortran-77 compiler `f77' version 5.3.
 
Language Libraries
AVS/Express is dynamically linked to all system libraries that are available in shareable form, including C, C++ and FORTRAN-77. The C runtime environment is a mandatory part of the operating system, so this will already be part of your base system. However, you need to install the C++ and Fortran-77 runtime environments (from the Digital UNIX operating system CD).
C++
 
Requirement
You need to install the C++ runtime environments to run AVS/Express. The C++ runtime environment is in the file DEC_C++_RTL, subset CXXSHRDA on the Digital UNIX CD. You do not need licenses or PAKs to install this operating system option.
 
C++ Linker
AVS/Express was linked with the C++ linker, so you need this linker to rebuild the AVS/Express executable.You do not need the C++ development option to build projects with C source modules in the user process, or to run applications in the user or express processes. You need to install the C++ development option to relink any AVS/Express project that runs in the express process.
Fortran
 
Requirement
You need to install the Fortran-77 runtime environments to run AVS/Express. The FORTRAN-77 runtime environment is in file DEC_Fortran_RTL, subset DFARTL on the Digital UNIX CD. You do not need licenses or PAKs to install this operating system option.
 
FORTRAN Dependencies
To remove FORTRAN dependencies, you must relink AVS/Express without the Annotation and Graphing Kit and the PrintViewer. See Removing Fortran Dependencies, for information on removing these dependencies.
Although AVS/Express must be linked with FORTRAN libraries if the Annotation and Graphing Kit and PrintViewer are present in the express executable, AVS/Express does not provide a FORTRAN Application Programming Interface (API) nor support the import of user code written in FORTRAN.
OpenGL
 
Required
AVS/Express was built with OpenGL from Digital Open3D version 4.5. AVS/Express is dynamically linked to all shareable system libraries, including X, X Extensions, X Toolkit, OSF/Motif and OpenGL (GL, GL Utilities and GLX protocol interface).
Note: These shared libraries must be available in the runtime environment to run AVS/Express.
The X and OSF/Motif runtime environments are mandatory parts of the operating system for workstation configurations. Your base system will already have them loaded.
 
Loading the OpenGL Runtime Environment
The OpenGL runtime environment is loaded from the Layered Products CD #1, product #11, product name Open3D. Three sets of software are required from Open3D:
  • Base support in subsets O3DDWSBASE and O3DDWSCOMMON.
  • Hardware driver support, for instance, subset O3DDWSZLXM if you have a ZLX-M graphics option.
  • OpenGL libraries (GL, GL utilities and GLX protocol interface) in subset O3DDWSGLBASE. Select the runtime environment when prompted by the installation script.
Note: You need the OPEN3D license to load this software.
The license PAK is available from DEC at a nominal fee.
It is possible to remove the dependency on OpenGL. To do this, you relink the express process without the OpenGL renderer using the C++ linker from the C++ development option. See Appendix B, Hardware and Software Renderers.
Worldwide Language Support
 
Requirement
Compaq Tru64 UNIX supplies individual locales packaged into software subsets on the operating system CD-ROM. There are no licenses to buy or configure, but you must unpack the relevant subsets using the wwinstall tool before you can successfully use these nondefault locales. See your Tru64 UNIX installation guide for details.
You must specify each locale in the LANG environment variable with a codeset field. For most European languages, this is the relevant ISO8859 character set. Asian languages have standard characters sets, perhaps with DEC extensions, and DEC-specific codesets.
Locale names with optional modifiers of the form @modifier are recognized, but the modifier itself is ignored and has no effect on the operation of AVS/Express.
 
Western European
 
en_US.ISO8859-1, en_GB.ISO8859-1
fr_FR.ISO8859-1, fr_BE.ISO8859-1
fr_CA,ISO8859-1, fr_CH.ISO8859-1
de_DE.ISO8859-1, de_CH.ISO8859-1
es_ES.ISO8859-1
pt_PT.ISO8859-1
it_IT.ISO8859-1
nl_NL.ISO8859-1, nl_BE.ISO8859-1
da_DK.ISO8859-1
sv_SE.ISO8859-1
no_NO.ISO8859-1
is_IS.ISO8859-1
fi_FI.ISO8859-1
 
Eastern European
cs_CZ.ISO8859-2
sk_SK.ISO8859-2
pl_PL.ISO8859-2
hu_HU.ISO8859-2
 
Single-Byte
ru_RU.ISO8859-5
el_GR.ISO8859-7
tr_TR.ISO8859-9
 
Japanese
ja_JP, ja_JP.eucJP, ja_JP.deckanji, ja_JP.sdeckanji
The Japanese Shift-JIS locale, ja_JP.SJIS, is not supported.
 
Other Asian
ko_KR, ko_KR.eucJP, ko_KR.deckorean
zh_CN, zh_CN.dechanyu, zh_HK.dechanyu

1.9 Database Kit Requirements

After you install AVS/Express Release 6.2, you can link it with the Database Kit. Read this requirements section only if you intend to link AVS/Express with the Database Kit.

Note: The Database Kit is available in the AVS/Express Developer Edition only; it is not available in the Visualization Edition.
Supported Platforms

The table below lists the operating platforms and the databases that are supported in this release of AVS/Express. Note that the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) database is supported only on Windows platforms.

Table 0-8
UNIX Hardware
Operating System
Oracle
ODBC
Digital Alpha AXP
Compaq/HP Tru64 UNIX 5.1
8.1.6
N/A
HP
HP-UX 11
8.1.6
N/A
Intel
Red Hat Linux 8.0
8.0
N/A
Intel
Red Hat Linux 7.0
8.0
N/A
IBM RS/6000
AIX 4.3.3
8.1.6
N/A
SGI (n32)
IRIX 6.5 (32 bit)
N/A
N/A
SGI (n64)
IRIX 6.5 (64 bit)
8.1.6
N/A
Sun
Solaris 8
8.1.6
N/A
Sun
Solaris 8 64-bit
8.1.6
N/A

Table 0-9
PC Hardware
Operating System
Oracle
ODBC
Intel
Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP
Windows NT 4.0
8.1.6
2.0

Requirements

You must meet the following requirements in order to use the Database Kit with a supported database.

Note: Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 is required if you plan on creating modules in AVS/Express.
In addition to insuring that the libraries are accessible, you should note that these libraries require additional executable filespace when linked to AVS/Express. You should refer to the ODBC or Oracle documentation to determine the files that are required and the space requirements.

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