Happy birthday!
The collected works of andyjpb
Hi,
Last time I checked the Overdrives had hardly any cache. I figured that my Dual PPro/1MB would still be better.
The PR440FX can take the 1MB processors: it's just that they weren't available when the motherboard first came out. Do you have a pair of 1MB ones that you can try?
You have to be careful with the stepping tho'. It used to be the case that the PR440FX didn't like a pair of processors with a certain stepping but it was fixed in later BIOS revisions.
After a power cut my PR440FX refused to boot. It had been a little unstable for a week or so prior to that but had been running flawlessly for a few years.
On closer inspection it turned out that I had processors with the stepping that was quoted to cause problems in dual configs. Still, I was running the latest BIOS and that was supposed to be fixed. I stripped the system down and eventually got it to boot with a single processor but it was still pretty temperamental. The PR440FX has one VRM on board and another in an expansion slot for the second processor. I figured that the voltage regulation was no longer up to scratch and that I'd possibly have to replace a few capacitors. I run the system with a pair of low speed 80mm fans on the CPUs and whilst it doesn't run hot, it doesn't really run cold either.
Anyway, I had a pair of PR440FXs so I swapped them over and everything is good again.
I also have a couple of other AT form factor dual PPro boards but they take the 72pin EDO SIMMS. The PR440FX takes the 168pin ECC EDO DIMMS and I've got 1GB in each of the boards.
I've also got some of the single CPU versions of the 440.
Anyway, now that I don't have a spare board anymore I was looking around for a possible replacement and came across this:
http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11878
Now, whilst it's not considered a major performer in today's stakes I was wondering how it would fair against a Dual PPro/1MB. I guess I'm a bit snobbish and don't like the idea of only have 128KB of L2 cache. However, the PPro has 1MB running at 200MHz with 1GB of RAM on a 66MHz FSB.
The C7-D has next to no cache and 2GB RAM on a ~500MHz FSB so if it performs like a PPro with 2GB cache then I'll still be ahead. The C7-D also sports some encryption hardware, some MPEG hardware and it'll run even more quietly than the PPros.
I'm also snobbish about giving up my ECC memory. The PR440FX logs errors in the BIOS and I've seen at least one recovered error in the last 5 years.
ajerimez wrote: I'll bet Overdrives would scream
Last time I checked the Overdrives had hardly any cache. I figured that my Dual PPro/1MB would still be better.
ajerimez wrote: The CPUs have 512Kb L2 cache, which is the maximum that the Intel PR440FX motherboard can handle. It's a decent board though, with integrated SCSI, 10/100 ethernet and audio.
The PR440FX can take the 1MB processors: it's just that they weren't available when the motherboard first came out. Do you have a pair of 1MB ones that you can try?
You have to be careful with the stepping tho'. It used to be the case that the PR440FX didn't like a pair of processors with a certain stepping but it was fixed in later BIOS revisions.
After a power cut my PR440FX refused to boot. It had been a little unstable for a week or so prior to that but had been running flawlessly for a few years.
On closer inspection it turned out that I had processors with the stepping that was quoted to cause problems in dual configs. Still, I was running the latest BIOS and that was supposed to be fixed. I stripped the system down and eventually got it to boot with a single processor but it was still pretty temperamental. The PR440FX has one VRM on board and another in an expansion slot for the second processor. I figured that the voltage regulation was no longer up to scratch and that I'd possibly have to replace a few capacitors. I run the system with a pair of low speed 80mm fans on the CPUs and whilst it doesn't run hot, it doesn't really run cold either.
Anyway, I had a pair of PR440FXs so I swapped them over and everything is good again.
I also have a couple of other AT form factor dual PPro boards but they take the 72pin EDO SIMMS. The PR440FX takes the 168pin ECC EDO DIMMS and I've got 1GB in each of the boards.
I've also got some of the single CPU versions of the 440.
Anyway, now that I don't have a spare board anymore I was looking around for a possible replacement and came across this:
http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11878
Now, whilst it's not considered a major performer in today's stakes I was wondering how it would fair against a Dual PPro/1MB. I guess I'm a bit snobbish and don't like the idea of only have 128KB of L2 cache. However, the PPro has 1MB running at 200MHz with 1GB of RAM on a 66MHz FSB.
The C7-D has next to no cache and 2GB RAM on a ~500MHz FSB so if it performs like a PPro with 2GB cache then I'll still be ahead. The C7-D also sports some encryption hardware, some MPEG hardware and it'll run even more quietly than the PPros.
I'm also snobbish about giving up my ECC memory. The PR440FX logs errors in the BIOS and I've seen at least one recovered error in the last 5 years.
ajerimez wrote: The PR440FX can make use of 1mb cache processors? I've read conflicting reports on the newsgroups - either it won't boot with them, or it won't utilize more than 512kb of the cache, or that it works great. Could depend on the mobo and bios revisions. Unfortunately I don't have 1mb cache processors to test with, and I'm reluctant to spend $ on them if they might not work well.
Well, cache is just the same as memory: it uses what it can find. The 1MB ones weren't available when the PR440FX came out which is why they're not mentioned in the original manual. I've got some addendums to my manual and they're not mentioned in there either. Having said that, the manual seems to be rather thick and rather uninfomative: I can never find the detail I need but it chatters for hours on irrelevancies.
Anyway, I've had both my PR440FXs running with dual 1MB PPros each with 4x256MB ECC EDO RAM and they worked fine.
As I said before, one of my boards does now seem to have died but I put that down to running it 24/7 for years with only just enough cooling.
My boards are both running the latest BIOS.
There was a bug where to PR440FX couldn't reliably run a pair of processors that had a certain stepping but this was supposed to be fixed in the latest BIOS and, indeed, a pair of the processors that I have are in fact of that stepping.
ajerimez wrote: Also, according to the manual the PR440FX can only take up to 512MB of memory in four 128MB ECC EDO dimms. You have 1Gb running in yours? Does it work well?
Yes. It's fine.
How much do you have in yours?
87Porsche wrote:
This might help too.
I've been looking for this chart for so long... I stumbled across it a few years ago and have been unable to track it down since. It's pretty much "Google proof" if you're looking for SGI timelines or whatnot; I'd forgotten that "IRIS family tree" was the magic phrase.
mapesdhs wrote: ramq writes:
> rather a misconfigured(?) Apache webserver that denys access to any webpage on that site.
So it's the site itself that is at fault? I'm confused, how does that result in users in certain locations not being
able to access the site, while it works ok for everyone else?
From the traceroute it looks like I'm accessing the same machine as ramq so I guess that rules out DNS and routing errors.
porter wrote:
sybrfreq wrote:
but since irix 6.5 is 64 bits, maybe they have fixed this?
It's not 64bits on my R4400 Indigo2 or R4600 Indy.
IRIX isn't 64 bit on all SGIs.
64 bit IRIX advertises itself as IRIX64 in uname (possibly with some parameters).
Indigo, Indy, Indigo2 and O2 (any CPU) all ran 32bit versions of the OS.
Most R10K and above machines run IRIX64 (Octane, Octane2, Fuel, Tezro).
Not sure what happens on an R10K I2.
Hi,
How about something like scponly?
http://sublimation.org/scponly/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
You replace the users shell with the scponly binary.
It seems to support sftp as well as scp and a whole host of configurable features and restrictions
http://sublimation.org/scponly/wiki/index.php/Features
Regards,
@ndy
porter wrote:
I want to deny those clients general shell access but still permit sftp access and any custom server defined in authorized_keys?
Thoughts? If I set the client's shell to "nologin" or "false" will that prevent all access?
Thoughts? If I set the client's shell to "nologin" or "false" will that prevent all access?
How about something like scponly?
http://sublimation.org/scponly/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
You replace the users shell with the scponly binary.
It seems to support sftp as well as scp and a whole host of configurable features and restrictions
http://sublimation.org/scponly/wiki/index.php/Features
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
I guess you're aware of the RAID-5 write hole? Do you take steps to mitigate this or do you just take your chances?
I'd love to know ways around it.
I have a 90GB partition that I use for rsync snapshot style backups every hour. Last time I tried to delete a few hundred snapshots it took *all* day and had only got about a third of the way through.
Regards,
@ndy
jan-jaap wrote:
I've got 4 * 1TB in a (soft) RAID5 with LVM and XFS on my home server running Debian 'Lenny'. Works fine, but most I/O is reading and it is rarely hammered from multiple clients simultaneously.
I guess you're aware of the RAID-5 write hole? Do you take steps to mitigate this or do you just take your chances?
jan-jaap wrote:
If you regularly delete large numbers of files, you will hate the XFS synchronous file delete which is slow. There are probably ways around that.
I'd love to know ways around it.
I have a 90GB partition that I use for rsync snapshot style backups every hour. Last time I tried to delete a few hundred snapshots it took *all* day and had only got about a third of the way through.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
Have you read Filesystem performance tweaking with XFS on Linux ?
Looks good, thanks! I'll try the option that involves mount time options.
Regards,
@ndy
jan-jaap wrote:
andyjpb wrote:
jan-jaap wrote:
I'd love to know ways around it.
Have you read Filesystem performance tweaking with XFS on Linux ?
Looks good, thanks! I'll try the option that involves mount time options.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
Yes! Make sure you use a parallel cable rather than a serial cable with Laplink... That way it will go less unbearably slowly.
Regards,
@ndy
Black Cardinal wrote:
With an interlink/laplink cable (essentially a "null modem" for the parallel interface), it is much faster than using a serial cable.
Yes! Make sure you use a parallel cable rather than a serial cable with Laplink... That way it will go less unbearably slowly.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
10 seconds should be enough to bring the system down. It's a well known fact that the Cray machines are so fast that they require 2 HALT instructions to stop them.
maaarcooose wrote:
Pontus wrote:
The guy who is restoring the Cray told me that the machine has a bunch of capacitors in the bottom that are so big, it can power the machine for an extra 10 seconds after a power loss so the CPU can power down properly.
10 seconds should be enough to bring the system down. It's a well known fact that the Cray machines are so fast that they require 2 HALT instructions to stop them.
Hi,
Welcome (back)!
jpstewart wrote: Hello, everyone. I'm a newcomer here. Actually, I'm a long time lurker who has finally decided to come out of the shadows and join into the discussions. I used to be somewhat active in the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups 8-10 years ago. My Indigo2 was set aside for a number of years, but I've been playing with it again lately. (Amazingly, after five years in storage it booted up just fine!) I thought I'd introduce my Indigo2 now:
Welcome (back)!
skywriter wrote: I always found the web to be a pointless distraction.
There! I fixed that for you.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
I've been pleased with both my Thinkpad X200 and PowerBook G4 12" before it.
My requirements center around small, light and keyboard quality.
Regards,
@ndy
R-ten-K wrote:
I have both a Macbook Air and a Thinkpad, neither of them are perfect, but they both get the job/tasks I need them for done.
I've been pleased with both my Thinkpad X200 and PowerBook G4 12" before it.
My requirements center around small, light and keyboard quality.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
The O2 VICE was designed to process standard definition video in real time. If your images are bigger than this then it will take longer to decompress. From memory, the VICE supported MJPEG, h.261, and DV/DVCPRO. MJPEG is just a stream of frames, each individually compressed with JPEG.
In order to take advantage of VICE you need to use SGIs DM APIs. I seem to remember that not all the supplied SGI tools supported everything in every version but I might be mistaken. Check that the tools you are using take advantage of VICE when it's available.
You seem to have found Ian's "Melting the ICE" page which supports some of my recollections: he mentions that dmconvert doesn't always take full advantage of VICE but he doesn't mention DV/DVCPRO support.
However, it is mentioned here: http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/o2/2145.pdf
You may also want to have a look at:
+ http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/o2arch.html#ICE
+ http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/ice.html (Melting the ICE)
+ http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/o2/
+ viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15285
+ http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi ... z&srch=ice
+ http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/O2#O2_Video_System
Regards,
@ndy
geo wrote:
my purpose for this test is to find which things utilize the ICE of the O2, i use Ian's melting the ICE as reference
lets say if .pic was fast with imgview, is it safe to say if i compile a movie out of .pic images, it would be faster than a movie compose of jpegs or rgb images?
lets say if .pic was fast with imgview, is it safe to say if i compile a movie out of .pic images, it would be faster than a movie compose of jpegs or rgb images?
The O2 VICE was designed to process standard definition video in real time. If your images are bigger than this then it will take longer to decompress. From memory, the VICE supported MJPEG, h.261, and DV/DVCPRO. MJPEG is just a stream of frames, each individually compressed with JPEG.
In order to take advantage of VICE you need to use SGIs DM APIs. I seem to remember that not all the supplied SGI tools supported everything in every version but I might be mistaken. Check that the tools you are using take advantage of VICE when it's available.
You seem to have found Ian's "Melting the ICE" page which supports some of my recollections: he mentions that dmconvert doesn't always take full advantage of VICE but he doesn't mention DV/DVCPRO support.
However, it is mentioned here: http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/o2/2145.pdf
You may also want to have a look at:
+ http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/o2arch.html#ICE
+ http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/ice.html (Melting the ICE)
+ http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/o2/
+ viewtopic.php?f=16&t=15285
+ http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi ... z&srch=ice
+ http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/O2#O2_Video_System
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
You might like to check out ffmpeg (I'm not sure what the builds for Windows are like). Be careful tho': to be useful with VICE you need to ensure that you use an SGI compatible version of MJPEG.
Have you got the AV card for your O2? If so it's probably easiest to plug a video source into that and capture it: that way it'll be in the correct format. (The VICE can encode MJPEG as well as decode it. I think there was both realtime encoding and decoding for a lot of the codecs, except DV which was never publically released; most DV comes in via IEEE1394 where it's already encoded.)
Regards,
@ndy
geo wrote:
i want to try to play a mjpeg movie but unfortunately i couldn't find a movie in that format. tried to find converter for WinXP but its output is not supported.
You might like to check out ffmpeg (I'm not sure what the builds for Windows are like). Be careful tho': to be useful with VICE you need to ensure that you use an SGI compatible version of MJPEG.
Have you got the AV card for your O2? If so it's probably easiest to plug a video source into that and capture it: that way it'll be in the correct format. (The VICE can encode MJPEG as well as decode it. I think there was both realtime encoding and decoding for a lot of the codecs, except DV which was never publically released; most DV comes in via IEEE1394 where it's already encoded.)
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
Ah... Now I understand more about your objectives.
Try encoding on the PC side to DV. I imagine that it'll be easier than working out the esoteric MJPEG options and the quality will be higher. If the disk on your O2 can sustain 4MB/s then VICE should be able to play that file in realtime. Lots of PC video editing software knows how to export in DV.
Regards,
@ndy
geo wrote:
the reason why i dig about this is i want to make a converter in my PC side. Convert any movie file into a playable movie file in my O2
coz waaah most movies i downloaded to my O2 really slow or even will hang-up
really strange i cannot play movies using mplayer.. mediaplayer only few files. even the avi's i got it will complain. i try the divx player by hmm forgot his name, also didn't work..
coz waaah most movies i downloaded to my O2 really slow or even will hang-up
really strange i cannot play movies using mplayer.. mediaplayer only few files. even the avi's i got it will complain. i try the divx player by hmm forgot his name, also didn't work..
Ah... Now I understand more about your objectives.
Try encoding on the PC side to DV. I imagine that it'll be easier than working out the esoteric MJPEG options and the quality will be higher. If the disk on your O2 can sustain 4MB/s then VICE should be able to play that file in realtime. Lots of PC video editing software knows how to export in DV.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
Oops... Sorry. I must have had an editor error.
Regards,
@ndy
PymbleSoftware wrote:
No I did not write that.
Oops... Sorry. I must have had an editor error.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
Google is still linking to pages such as http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/Index.php/ ... x_Commands which now say "There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs.", rather than returning a 404. The page can currently be found at http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/Useful_Irix_Commands .
This has happened on a number of pages that I have looked up today.
Regards,
@ndy
nekonoko wrote:
I set up MediaWiki to hide 'index.php' to be a bit cleaner. I also ran a query against the forum database to update any wiki links to use the new format, so there shouldn't be any need to go back and edit old posts.
Google is still linking to pages such as http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/Index.php/ ... x_Commands which now say "There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs.", rather than returning a 404. The page can currently be found at http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/Useful_Irix_Commands .
This has happened on a number of pages that I have looked up today.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
I hoped that this would be the case but I just wondered how the lack of 404/3xx would affect it.
Regards,
@ndy
nekonoko wrote:
Google will catch up eventually. Unfortunately I don't have any control over them, you'll just have to wait until they update their index.
I hoped that this would be the case but I just wondered how the lack of 404/3xx would affect it.
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
Earlier it was thought to be the PowerOne one...
Regards,
@ndy
nekonoko wrote:jan-jaap wrote: Not really, but there's another way: if you engage that breaker switch and you hear a fan humming inside before you flip the on/off switch on the front you have a PowerOne PSU. If not, you have a Cherokee PSU.
Since this is a 'late' Crimson (original configuration R4400 + RE) my guess is it has the Cherokee PSU.
A fan does come on as soon as the breaker switch on the PSU is flipped on, so it must be a PowerOne. Once the front panel switch is flipped the others roar to life. The manufacture date on the card cage door is 12/94.
nekonoko wrote: I call that a bargain
Yeah, that was my thinking as well - certainly didn't haggle on the asking price
Earlier it was thought to be the PowerOne one...
Regards,
@ndy
hamei wrote:
Do we have any networking wizards who want to waste some time on VOIP questions ?
I'm not claiming to be a wizard, but what do you want to know?
@
Hi,
I have one of these for a little light stuff at home:
http://uk.farnell.com/duratool/d00671/s ... dp/1498360
I use it mostly for my home made SMT boards and I occasionally fix the odd radio-mic for a musical theatre group.
For a cheapie it's amazingly good. I think I paid about £100 for mine (a few years ago now).
It's also possible to get it as a separate solder station and hot air station which were about £50 each. There's also a version with a desoldering gun instead of hot air, if that kind of thing floats your boat.
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00674/ ... dp/SD01386
The only slightly painful thing is that it's difficult to change soldering bits when they're hot but yous gets whats yous pays for and I think replacement irons are available separately so you could just get a couple of them: they have a more-easy-to-change connector where they plug into the base-station.
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00755/ ... dp/SD01388
It came with almost all the soldering bits, a separate iron-holder-with-sponge (so that you can put it somewhere convenient rather than with the base-station), euro and uk power leads and a good range of air nozzles. There are also other nozzles available at reasonable prices:
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/79-3903 ... 5-00001001
CPC seem to have it but it's a little more expensive now, but still on the Utlra Cheap end of things:
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00671/ ... dp/SD01383
It's well worth every penny!
They also have the stand-alone units:
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/zd-939a ... dp/SD01139
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00673/ ... dp/SD01385
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00672/ ... dp/SD01384
Regards,
@ndy
SAQ wrote:
I'm looking at replacing my current soldering equipment, which was marginal to begin with and not very useful now (lead-free solder). I'm pretty sure I want temperature control.
I have one of these for a little light stuff at home:
http://uk.farnell.com/duratool/d00671/s ... dp/1498360
I use it mostly for my home made SMT boards and I occasionally fix the odd radio-mic for a musical theatre group.
For a cheapie it's amazingly good. I think I paid about £100 for mine (a few years ago now).
It's also possible to get it as a separate solder station and hot air station which were about £50 each. There's also a version with a desoldering gun instead of hot air, if that kind of thing floats your boat.
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00674/ ... dp/SD01386
The only slightly painful thing is that it's difficult to change soldering bits when they're hot but yous gets whats yous pays for and I think replacement irons are available separately so you could just get a couple of them: they have a more-easy-to-change connector where they plug into the base-station.
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00755/ ... dp/SD01388
It came with almost all the soldering bits, a separate iron-holder-with-sponge (so that you can put it somewhere convenient rather than with the base-station), euro and uk power leads and a good range of air nozzles. There are also other nozzles available at reasonable prices:
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/79-3903 ... 5-00001001
CPC seem to have it but it's a little more expensive now, but still on the Utlra Cheap end of things:
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00671/ ... dp/SD01383
It's well worth every penny!
They also have the stand-alone units:
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/zd-939a ... dp/SD01139
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00673/ ... dp/SD01385
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d00672/ ... dp/SD01384
Regards,
@ndy
Hi,
I've just been installing audacity (and pidgin) on a fresh 6.5.22f IRIX running on O2 R5k.
I have arranged my nekoware such that I untarred all the .tardist files into nekoware/current/dist and then loaded that distribution in swmgr.
I unmarked all and then selected a few things including audactiy (neko_audacity-1.3.3), pidgin (neko_pidgin-2.5.7) and firefox (neko_firefox-2.0.0.22pre_nov2012). I then clicked "Start" and elected to resolve all the conflicts by including the recommended subsystems.
When I tried to run either audacity or pidgin I get the error about fontconfig reported earlier in this thread.
Firefox appears to work fine, but my O2 is not currently connected to the net so I couldn't browse any websites. However, the chrome, et al. is displayed as it should be.
I returned to swmgr and installed the whole of the fontconfig package (neko_fontconfig-2.6.0).
On trying to run pidgin now get a load of Pango errors and all the text shows up as empty boxes as if the font is not available. In the shell window I see lots of Pango whinging about "No builtin or dynamically loaded modules..." and a bunch of Pango assertions.
I returned to swmgr again and installed the entirety of the pango package (neko_pango-1.12.4).
Now the text appears but it's black on purple and almost unreadable.
Logging out and back in again gives me a nice black on green rendering of the same thing.
Audacity behaves in a similar way.
Audacity also spews error messages about "GdkPixbugf-WARNING **: Cannot open pixbuf loader module file '/usr/nekoware/etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders': No such file of directory"
...and lots of Gdk-CRITICAL erros about things not being drawable and xpm not being supported.
I returned to swmgr and installed the whole of glib (both versions: neko_glib-1.2.10 and neko_glib-2.26.1-10) as well as the whole of gdk-pixbuf (neko_gdk_pixbuf-0.22.0).
...This made no difference what-so-ever to either audacity or pidgin.
Just For Luck I rebooted.
As feared, this did diddly for my dilemma.
Can anyone offer any advice about how to make this programs run nicely?
Regards,
@ndy
I've just been installing audacity (and pidgin) on a fresh 6.5.22f IRIX running on O2 R5k.
I have arranged my nekoware such that I untarred all the .tardist files into nekoware/current/dist and then loaded that distribution in swmgr.
I unmarked all and then selected a few things including audactiy (neko_audacity-1.3.3), pidgin (neko_pidgin-2.5.7) and firefox (neko_firefox-2.0.0.22pre_nov2012). I then clicked "Start" and elected to resolve all the conflicts by including the recommended subsystems.
When I tried to run either audacity or pidgin I get the error about fontconfig reported earlier in this thread.
Firefox appears to work fine, but my O2 is not currently connected to the net so I couldn't browse any websites. However, the chrome, et al. is displayed as it should be.
I returned to swmgr and installed the whole of the fontconfig package (neko_fontconfig-2.6.0).
On trying to run pidgin now get a load of Pango errors and all the text shows up as empty boxes as if the font is not available. In the shell window I see lots of Pango whinging about "No builtin or dynamically loaded modules..." and a bunch of Pango assertions.
I returned to swmgr again and installed the entirety of the pango package (neko_pango-1.12.4).
Now the text appears but it's black on purple and almost unreadable.
Logging out and back in again gives me a nice black on green rendering of the same thing.
Audacity behaves in a similar way.
Audacity also spews error messages about "GdkPixbugf-WARNING **: Cannot open pixbuf loader module file '/usr/nekoware/etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders': No such file of directory"
...and lots of Gdk-CRITICAL erros about things not being drawable and xpm not being supported.
I returned to swmgr and installed the whole of glib (both versions: neko_glib-1.2.10 and neko_glib-2.26.1-10) as well as the whole of gdk-pixbuf (neko_gdk_pixbuf-0.22.0).
...This made no difference what-so-ever to either audacity or pidgin.
Just For Luck I rebooted.
As feared, this did diddly for my dilemma.
Can anyone offer any advice about how to make this programs run nicely?
Regards,
@ndy