VMD-L Mailing List

From: Vlastimil Zíma (zima_at_karlov.mff.cuni.cz)
Date: Wed Dec 04 2013 - 03:11:02 CST

Hi John,

I haven't compiled Tk myself, I use system library. But all code which is
based on Tk works to my knowledge.

As noted in my first email, I created a simple script based on code I
considered to cause problems in Timeline plugin:

$ cat tk_test.tcl
package require Tk
font create tkFixedTimeline -family Courier -size -12
ttk::label .l -text "Attention!" -font tkFixedTimeline
grid .l -row 0

This script works as expected. I also use a program Seaview, which uses
libfltk1.3 as well, without any problems. For these reasons I expect that
the system Tcl/Tk libraries work as they should.

I was not able to find any other problematic code in Timeline plugin and
I'm not able to run the Timeline plugin outside of VMD, so I don't have any
other Tk GUI script to test. If you can recommend any tests I'd like to try
them out.

Vlastimil

2013/11/27 John Stone <johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu>

> Vlastimil,
> If your compilation of Tk is misbehaving, but our pre-compiled VMD
> binaries work okay, I would check what options were used when you
> compiled your Tk, and consider disabling antialiased fonts and see if
> that makes any difference. Are you able to run an Tk scripts with
> just the Tcl/Tk builds you did on your machine? In other words, is
> the problem isolated to Tcl/Tk on your machine, or do you have a
> Tk GUI script that works in 'wishx' but fails within VMD? It would be
> useful to narrow down the problem and see if it is purely an issue
> with your Tcl/Tk, or if it is something unique to running within VMD.
>
> Cheers,
> John Stone
> vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
>
> On Wed, Nov 27, 2013 at 05:11:34PM +0100, Vlastimil Zíma wrote:
> > Hi everybody,
> >
> > wheezy became stable, but I still experience this problem.
> >
> > Anyway, I now suggests this may not be a problem of fonts, but rather
> > colors. I tried to check the error output, see my previous post
> > http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/mailing_list/vmd-l/19942.htmland I
> > have an impression that fonts might be properly rendered but they are
> over
> > painted by some other invalid entity (images or colored blocks).
> >
> > Is there any other Tk-related build/runtime dependency that is not
> mention
> > in documentation?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Vlastimil
> >
> > 2012/10/5 Vlastimil ZAma <zima_at_karlov.mff.cuni.cz>
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > when I compared my compiled VMD with precompiled binary some time
> ago,
> > the fonts were present in the precompiled one. That is why I expect
> > problems in compilation. I also did not noticed any lack of fonts in
> > system paths, but I do not know which fonts to look for.
> >
> > > tclsh
> > % package require Tk
> > 8.5.11
> > % puts "$tcl_version"
> > 8.5
> > % puts "$tk_version"
> > 8.5
> >
> > All tcl and tk packages I have are for amd64 bit architecture (all
> > libraries are in /usr/lib). Specifically
> >
> > http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/tcl8.5 version 8.5.11-2
> > http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/tk8.5 version 8.5.11-2
> >
> > Regards,
> > Vlastimil
> >
> > On 10/05/2012 04:08 PM, John Stone wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> > A A Problems with Tk fonts are generally caused not by the
> > compilation of
> > VMD (or FLTK) but are usually the result of a lack of fonts
> installed
> > with the X11 Windowing system. A Tk obtains its fonts by querying
> the
> > host windowing system for fonts that match the characteristics of
> a
> > request.
> > If the host windowing system has no match, then Tk tries to
> fallback
> > to
> > some font that is available.
> >
> > A From the description below, it sounds to me like there might be
> > something
> > amiss the X11 window system fonts or one of the X11 libraries on
> the
> > machine
> > you're using, and that this is preventing the Tk library embedded
> in
> > VMD from getting anything other than the default font.
> >
> > Since you're able to get a simple test to work in a standalone
> > interpreter,
> > one thing that may be worth checking is whether there might be
> some
> > problem with the 64-bit libs on your machine. A Is the "tclsh"
> that
> > you
> > run in your example below a 32-bit or 64-bit library? A What do
> you
> > get
> > from this command, when you run it in your tclsh:
> > A A puts "$tcl_version"
> > A A puts "$tk_version"
> >
> > Cheers,
> > A A John Stone
> > A A vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
> >
> > On Thu, Oct 04, 2012 at 11:07:03AM +0200, Vlastimil ZAma wrote:
> >
> > A A Hi,
> >
> > A A after several attempts I still can not resolve troubles
> with
> > tk fonts when
> > A A I compile VMD.
> >
> > A A I am using 64bit Debian with following vmd configuration:
> >
> > A A ./configure LINUXAMD64 OPENGL FLTK TK IMD XINPUT NETCDF
> > CONTRIB TCL PYTHON
> > A A PTHREADS NUMPY NOSTATICPLUGINS
> >
> > A A and tk packages:
> > A A libfltk1.3-dev 1.3.0-8 (I also tried fltk1.1)
> > A A tcl-dev 8.5.0-2
> > A A tk-dev 8.5.0-2
> >
> > A A Still timeline, sequence viewer and other plugins which
> uses
> > customized
> > A A fonts has invisible texts. I tried anything I found on
> this
> > mailing list,
> > A A including LC_ALL=C in environment and $HOME/.tkconrc
> file. I
> > also tried a
> > A A simple script with uses custom font based on code of
> timeline
> > which works:
> >
> > A A > A tclsh
> > A A package require Tk
> > A A font create tkFixedTimeline -family Courier -size -12
> > A A ttk::label .l -text "Attention!" -font tkFixedTimeline
> > A A grid .l -row 0
> >
> > A A This shows nice small box with monofont "Attention!" in
> it.
> >
> > A A I will be glad for any help which would help to resolve
> this
> > problem.
> > A A Vlastimil
>
> --
> NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Phone: 217-244-3349
> http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/
>