Conference noted::excursion

I installed the SSB kit on my W95 system at home and I couldn't
get NOTES to work right either. I couldn't open a class, neither
by double clicking nor by picking the expand-tree menu selection.

I also got some mysterious message about bad block size. Sorry
I didn't capture more details, but that was home and I'm at the
office now.

It has been a long time since the base note was entered. Is
there an answer?

Dave

Don't know what to tell you.  I do it all day long.

Help/about tells me that I'm using Notes version 2.2, FWIW.

Guess you'll need to capture the error messages.

#Gary

I'm using Notes V2.5. I'll gather more information tonight.

I'm very new to eXcursion, so I may have some parameter or other
set wrong. I'm mostly using the defaults right now.

Dave

I dial in from home to a PPP connection at HLO. I can start
eXcursion and NOTES and get a correct-looking Notes window to appear.
I double-click on class MAIN to close it - that works fine.
I double-click on another class to open it - that fails and
NOTES pops up an alert window that says "Failed to allocate required
virtual memory. Bad block size."

I don't have this problem when I am at my Digital-Unix workstation
running Notes. I think it's a problem with eXcursion, not with NOTES.

Dave

>NOTES pops up an alert window that says "Failed to allocate required
>virtual memory. Bad block size."

Is there anything in the eXcursion message log with the right timestamp?
I'm looking for BadAlloc type of messages.  Maybe we're allocating pixmaps 
and the X server can't allocate them for some reason.

>I don't have this problem when I am at my Digital-Unix workstation
>running Notes. I think it's a problem with eXcursion, not with NOTES.

Hmmm.  I'm not sure I buy the conclusion.  If the memory allocation failure is
on the VMS side, I suspect Notes.  It could be that Notes is making some
invalid assumptions about the eXcursion X server.  If it's just reporting
an allocation failure of an X server-side resource, then maybe eXcursion
is at fault.

My first thought was something like Max request size.  But that's very
high by default on the 3.0 X server.  4194300 bytes with the Max Requests
extension turned on (the default) or 16K with it turned off.


If there's a notes conference that talks about DECwindows Notes, you might
ask in there if that message means anything to them.  You may also want to 
collect an eXcursion trap file.  (See section 5.0 of the release notes for
information about trap files.)

#Gary  

Thanks. I'll look at the message log and the trap file when I get
a chance to work on it.

Dave

The following is a log file from a session in which I ran notes,
got the correct-looking window, but nothing worked. I also have the
trap file. It is at cadsys::dsu$:[gross.world]xcur.req. It is
binary, else I'd try to post it.

Dave
------------------------------------------------------------------
3/12/97  7:19:38 AM  X Server        Information  eXcursion V3.0.554
(Windows95) logging enabled.
3/12/97  7:19:38 AM  Network         Warning      socket(12) failed,
error=EAFNOSUPPORT
3/12/97  7:19:39 AM  Network         Warning      socket(12) failed,
error=EAFNOSUPPORT
3/12/97  7:19:39 AM  Network         Warning      getnodeadd() failed,
error=EAFNOSUPPORT
3/12/97  7:28:47 AM  X Server        Information  eXcursion V3.0.554
(Windows95) logging enabled.
3/12/97  7:28:47 AM  Network         Warning      socket(12) failed,
error=EAFNOSUPPORT
3/12/97  7:28:47 AM  X Server        Information  TRAP will write output
to 'C:\XCUR.REQ'.
3/12/97  7:28:54 AM  Network         Warning      socket(12) failed,
error=EAFNOSUPPORT
3/12/97  7:28:54 AM  Network         Warning      getnodeadd() failed,
error=EAFNOSUPPORT

Nothing particularly shocking in the log file you posted.

Did the Notes people have anything to say about this?

#Gary

I found the same complaint in GALVIA::VAXNOTES_BUGS. I posted a "me too"
reply. There were no other responses.

Dave

Like the others, 

  1) I can open a conference from the `file' pull down
  2) I can not open a conference with double click (mem all..bad block siz..)
  3) I can not expand a class header with double click
  4) Another PC connected to the same VMS server opens the same
     conference/notebook fine w/o error.  (I endeavor to keep both machine's
     software revs the same, with the same installation of software.)
  5) I note also that ALT+F4 will not close the Notes window on either PC
     
Bruce  

[Posted by WWW Notes gateway]

 The pc that works, works on two difference VMS servers
 The pc that won't works, generates the `Failled to allocate required
          virtual memory  Bad block size' on two difference servers.

 I would take this as an indication that the problem is not with the
 VMS servers but with the PC and eXcursion...except that a reintall
 of eXcursion did not fix the problem.



 Bruce

 ...after a trip for a coffee, it all works again, but a little `sticky'.
 The double click in notes is being mostly ignored now, but after a half
 dozen tries, the selected conference opens w/o error.

 The only thing different was that I had turned on the logging to get
 some more information, information that I didn't get because now it
 works.

 Since this issue has been around now for about 4 years (based on a
 global search of DEC notes conferences with Netscape and

         http://altavista.notes.lkg.dec.com:8000

 I will include some more data.

 The machine is running Windows 95 build 950b, eXcursion 2.1
 MS Office 97 pro, and MS PLUS.  Machine is Pentium 120MHZ w/24MB
 and 2-GB disk at 50% storage capacity.

 Another problem noted around the same time as the problem was that
 double click within notes usually did not work, but did work fine in
 other applications as the same time.  Also other machines on the same
 network segment at the same time were ignoring double clicks from within
 notes but working fine in other applications.


 With hopes for eventual enlightenment... 

 Bruce

 Dial up networking has no problem and works as advertised.

 Is this a network traffic intensity problem  being masked by
 an error report that is not quite what it seems?

 Maybe someone else could confirm the issue around the double click
 not functioning in notes when the problem exists.  After rebooting
 both PCs, neither would accept a double click in notes.  Both PCs
 worked with double click after `file' was used to open any random
 conference.  At this point one machine works and the other is back
 to getting `virtual memory allocation errors'.

 
 

 

 I reinstalled eXcursion 2.1 with no improvement.

 I installed eXcursion 3.0 with a change.  There is no longer
 a virtual error message (which was probably a bogus description
 anyway) but double click to open an entry, or a click to expand
 a class is non-functional until after `file' and `open' have been
 used to open a conference.  After this operation single and double
 clicks work again.

 There have been two difference mouse drivers tried in in attempt to
 isolate the problem, PS/2 from MS and GlidePoint from ALPS, the
 problem appears to be independent of these drivers.

 Bruce

 It appears that the PC's report of virtual memory allocation
 may mean that the VMS server had an insufficient ucx rexec limit
 set.  The UCX statistics showed that the server was set for a
 limit of 3 sessions and the peak was 3, all of them.  This was
 boosted to 10 and no virtual memory allocation errors have
 shown up since.

 The double click / single click lack of response in Notes is a 
 bug (?) in eXcursion 2.1 and was propagated into 3.0; I only 
 have a solution because the release notes for eXcursion 3.0
 have a hint for a similar behavioral bug with DECterms.  In
 the eXcursion control panel, mouse tab, clear the `Automatically
 Capture Text on Button Up' box.  

 Bruce

I used VTSTAR to login to the remote VMS system. I defined DISPLAY
to match the ip address assigned to the ppp connection and I ran
NOTES from the VTSTAR session. Is the rexec limit relevant?

I checked the eXcursion control panel and I did not have
the 'Automatically Capture Text on Button Up' check box selected.
I tried to look at the rexec limit but I don't think I have the
privs to do so.

Dave

    re .18
    
    Given the way you came into the system, rexec doesn't come into play. 
    So setting limits would have no effect.
    
    #Gary