XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Jim Reisert AD1C]

I have a persistent problem at work after XWin has been running for a
while (sometimes hours, sometimes days).  Windows programs will
spontaneously freeze

I am running Windows XP SP3 on a Dell Latitude D810 laptop (Intel
T7200 @ 2.0 GHz, 2 GB RAM).  I typically run MS Outlook 2007, some
form of Firefox (either release or beta), and Citrix (remote-access
software), all at the same time, though I have run the various flavors
of VNC (Real, Tight, Tiger) in the past.  Graphics is an NVIDIA Quadro
NVS 110M with two monitors connected (one digital, one analog), using
the 197.68 driver.

What happens is that windows will spontaneously freeze.  For example,
I'm composing a message in Outlook, and all of a sudden, my keyboard
stops responding, then I'll get the Windows hourglass in that window.
Or I'll be surfing in Firefox and window changes just stop, again
hourglass.  Once this happens, killing XWin.exe from the task manager
immediately releases the hang condition(s), though the hang may
release itself if I wait several minutes (yeah, right).  At this
point, I can re-start XWin, but later on, it will happen again.

I'm starting XWin.exe from the install shortcut:

  C:\cygwin\bin\run.exe /usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c /usr/bin/startxwin.exe

I'm running the latest of Cygwin everything, the problem has been
across several (many) releases of the Xorg server.  I think it's using
the default options for multi-monitor, cut/paste, etc.  I can usually
copy/paste between XWin and MS Windows (and usually Citrix) without
any problems.  I keep thinking that the problem is something in the
XWin code that interfaces to Windows' copy/paste engine (OLE?).

Is there any way to debug this problem?  It would be great to get it resolved.

Thanks - Jim

-- 
Jim Reisert AD1C, <jjreisert@alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us

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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Ryan Johnson]

On 21/11/2011 12:14 PM, Jim Reisert AD1C wrote:
> I have a persistent problem at work after XWin has been running for a
> while (sometimes hours, sometimes days).  Windows programs will
> spontaneously freeze
> For example,
> I'm composing a message in Outlook, and all of a sudden, my keyboard
> stops responding, then I'll get the Windows hourglass in that window.
> Or I'll be surfing in Firefox and window changes just stop, again
> hourglass.  Once this happens, killing XWin.exe from the task manager
> immediately releases the hang condition(s), though the hang may
> release itself if I wait several minutes (yeah, right).  At this
> point, I can re-start XWin, but later on, it will happen again.
>
> I'm starting XWin.exe from the install shortcut:
>
>    C:\cygwin\bin\run.exe /usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c /usr/bin/startxwin.exe
>
> I'm running the latest of Cygwin everything, the problem has been
> across several (many) releases of the Xorg server.  I think it's using
> the default options for multi-monitor, cut/paste, etc.  I can usually
> copy/paste between XWin and MS Windows (and usually Citrix) without
> any problems.  I keep thinking that the problem is something in the
> XWin code that interfaces to Windows' copy/paste engine (OLE?).
If you think it's clipboard related, try running with -noclipboard and 
see if that fixes it. Downside is, you lose all clipboard functionality...

BTW, what do you use x11 for? Other than the odd gnuplot session, I've 
not needed an X server since switching from xterm to mintty (which just 
became the official cygwin terminal). If a similar situation applies to 
you, you could temporarily switch to mintty while doing the above 
experiment and still be able to use clipboard in the meantime.

Finally, I've never used a multi-monitor setup myself, but according to 
the XWin man page you should specify the -multimonitors option since you 
apparently (really??) don't run in -multiwindow mode. Or maybe the man 
page is just out of date and -multiwindow is the default now, in which 
case multiple monitor support comes for free.

Ryan


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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Jim Reisert AD1C]

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 10:39 AM, Ryan Johnson
<ryan.johnson@cs.utoronto.ca> wrote:

> If you think it's clipboard related, try running with -noclipboard and see
> if that fixes it. Downside is, you lose all clipboard functionality...

Duh, I should have though of that.  Where do these settings reside
now, since I'm no longer starting XWin using the batch file?

> BTW, what do you use x11 for? Other than the odd gnuplot session, I've not
> needed an X server since switching from xterm to mintty (which just became
> the official cygwin terminal).

All my "work" work is X-based, I'm super-comfortable with the
interface, for example, using the mouse for copy/paste which is a
little more awkward in mintty.  Plus I love Xemacs.

> Finally, I've never used a multi-monitor setup myself, but according to the
> XWin man page you should specify the -multimonitors option since you
> apparently (really??) don't run in -multiwindow mode.

I think I do, because I can move the windows to the other monitor and
they still function.  Again, I don't know/remember where these
settings reside now.  They're not in my .startxwinrc

-- 
Jim Reisert AD1C, <jjreisert@alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us

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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Andy Koppe]

On 21 November 2011 17:57, Jim Reisert AD1C wrote:
> All my "work" work is X-based, I'm super-comfortable with the
> interface, for example, using the mouse for copy/paste which is a
> little more awkward in mintty.

In what way?

Andy

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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Ryan Johnson]

On 21/11/2011 12:57 PM, Jim Reisert AD1C wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 10:39 AM, Ryan Johnson
> <ryan.johnson@cs.utoronto.ca>  wrote:
>
>> If you think it's clipboard related, try running with -noclipboard and see
>> if that fixes it. Downside is, you lose all clipboard functionality...
> Duh, I should have though of that.  Where do these settings reside
> now, since I'm no longer starting XWin using the batch file?
I think you have to modify the shortcut (or run the command from a 
terminal) to add extra command-line options.

>> BTW, what do you use x11 for? Other than the odd gnuplot session, I've not
>> needed an X server since switching from xterm to mintty (which just became
>> the official cygwin terminal).
> All my "work" work is X-based, I'm super-comfortable with the
> interface, for example, using the mouse for copy/paste which is a
> little more awkward in mintty.  Plus I love Xemacs.
Eh? Mouse copy/paste in mintty is identical to xterm AFAIK... select = 
copy, middle button = paste. If you're in a mouse-using terminal app you 
have to hold down [shift] but that's the same in xterm, I think.

Re xemacs: fair enough. I mostly stick with emacs + xt-mouse because of 
slow/unreliable network connections to the servers I do most of my work on.

Ryan


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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Jim Reisert AD1C]

On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 1:20 PM, Ryan Johnson wrote:

> Eh? Mouse copy/paste in mintty is identical to xterm AFAIK... select = copy,
> middle button = paste. If you're in a mouse-using terminal app you have to
> hold down [shift] but that's the same in xterm, I think.

Not on mine it isn't:

* double-click on word  hightlights, but does not copy
* middle button paste does work

In my xterms, I just have to double-click LMB to copy, then MMB pastes.

-- 
Jim Reisert AD1C, <jjreisert@alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us

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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Ryan Johnson]

On 21/11/2011 4:25 PM, Jim Reisert AD1C wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 1:20 PM, Ryan Johnson wrote:
>
>> Eh? Mouse copy/paste in mintty is identical to xterm AFAIK... select = copy,
>> middle button = paste. If you're in a mouse-using terminal app you have to
>> hold down [shift] but that's the same in xterm, I think.
> Not on mine it isn't:
>
> * double-click on word  hightlights, but does not copy
> * middle button paste does work
>
> In my xterms, I just have to double-click LMB to copy, then MMB pastes.
That's very strange... I can't tell you how many ad-hoc excel graphs 
I've populated with numbers grabbed by double-click from experiment 
output. Triple-clicking to get the whole line also comes in handy at 
times. I just tested again in case it changed since yesterday, and it 
still works for me.

Ryan


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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Andy Koppe]

On 21 November 2011 23:45, Ryan Johnson wrote:
> On 21/11/2011 4:25 PM, Jim Reisert AD1C wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 1:20 PM, Ryan Johnson wrote:
>>
>>> Eh? Mouse copy/paste in mintty is identical to xterm AFAIK... select =
>>> copy,
>>> middle button = paste. If you're in a mouse-using terminal app you have
>>> to
>>> hold down [shift] but that's the same in xterm, I think.
>>
>> Not on mine it isn't:
>>
>> * double-click on word  hightlights, but does not copy
>> * middle button paste does work
>>
>> In my xterms, I just have to double-click LMB to copy, then MMB pastes.
>
> That's very strange... I can't tell you how many ad-hoc excel graphs I've
> populated with numbers grabbed by double-click from experiment output.
> Triple-clicking to get the whole line also comes in handy at times. I just
> tested again in case it changed since yesterday, and it still works for me.

Options -> Mouse -> Copy on select

This is on by default these days, but wasn't originally. Evidence
again that functionality that isn't enabled by default might as well
not be there as far as most users are concerned. Speaking of which, my
own favourite mintty feature is 'Clicks place command line cursor' on
the same page, which can greatly speed up navigating long command
lines.

Andy

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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Ryan Johnson]

On 22/11/2011 12:27 AM, Andy Koppe wrote:
> On 21 November 2011 23:45, Ryan Johnson wrote:
>> On 21/11/2011 4:25 PM, Jim Reisert AD1C wrote:
>>> On Mon, Nov 21, 2011 at 1:20 PM, Ryan Johnson wrote:
>>>
>>>> Eh? Mouse copy/paste in mintty is identical to xterm AFAIK... select =
>>>> copy,
>>>> middle button = paste. If you're in a mouse-using terminal app you have
>>>> to
>>>> hold down [shift] but that's the same in xterm, I think.
>>> Not on mine it isn't:
>>>
>>> * double-click on word  hightlights, but does not copy
>>> * middle button paste does work
>>>
>>> In my xterms, I just have to double-click LMB to copy, then MMB pastes.
>> That's very strange... I can't tell you how many ad-hoc excel graphs I've
>> populated with numbers grabbed by double-click from experiment output.
>> Triple-clicking to get the whole line also comes in handy at times. I just
>> tested again in case it changed since yesterday, and it still works for me.
> Options ->  Mouse ->  Copy on select
>
> This is on by default these days, but wasn't originally. Evidence
> again that functionality that isn't enabled by default might as well
> not be there as far as most users are concerned. Speaking of which, my
> own favourite mintty feature is 'Clicks place command line cursor' on
> the same page, which can greatly speed up navigating long command
> lines.
Holy smokes Batman! How long has that been there? A quick test confirms 
that it also works for readline-enabled app prompts (python, gnuplot, 
gdb). And here I've been copying long commands to notepad for editing 
all this time...

Too bad screen spoils the fun for the prompts it manages.

Ryan

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Re: XWin.exe causes Windows apps. to freeze

[Jim Reisert AD1C]

> Options -> Mouse -> Copy on select

mintty has *options*?

:-)

Thanks!


It would still be good to nail down the cause of the non-X application
pauses when the server is running.  I've been running the server with
cut/paste turned off since yesterday (as Jon Stewart would say,
"Awkward....").  Anyway, no pauses yet, will keep trying.

- Jim

-- 
Jim Reisert AD1C, <jjreisert@alum.mit.edu>, http://www.ad1c.us

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