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<H2><A NAME="s7">7. AfterStep Application ("as-apps") configuration.</A></H2>

<P>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.1">7.1 What's the difference between as-apps and modules?</A>
</H2>

<P>Modules are part of AfterStep, and need to be called by AfterStep.  They
cannot be run alone.  As-apps, on the other hand, can be used by other
window managers as well.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.2">7.2 I want to add a pixmap to the background of xiterm</A>
</H2>

<P> The first thing you must ensure is that you compiled xiterm to allow
this.  The default configuration of xiterm does not permit the addition of
pixmaps.  You need to edit xiterm.h (you'll find it in xiterm/src/) before
compiling in order enable the feature: change the line 
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<HR>
<PRE>
/*#define XPM_BACKGROUND*/
</PRE>
<HR>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>to 
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<HR>
<PRE>
#define XPM_BACKGROUND
</PRE>
<HR>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>Once you're sure you've compiled and installed xiterm correctly, simply add
the switch "-pixmap {path-to-pixmap}".
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.3">7.3 I want xiterm to start as the login shell.</A>
</H2>

<P>In order for this to work correctly, you need to adjust the compile-time
settings for UTMP_SUPPORT.  The relevant section is near the end of
xiterm.h.  The exact changes you need to make vary from system to system;
just read the comments carefully, and make the correct adjustments.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.4">7.4 How do I get that cool transparent xiterm?</A>
</H2>

<P>You can't.  There is no such thing.  The "transparent" effect you are
looking for is actually just a *term program (xiterm, rxvt, whatever) with a
background pixmap identical to the desktop.  The user carefully lined up the
*term so that the pixmaps appeared to be the same ones.
<P>Apparently, the newest version of Eterm has a "transparency" option.  If you
decide to use it, I hope you have a couple of million extra CPU cycles lying
around!  The transparent Eterm actually just reads the current background,
than then tries to keep the Eterm background lined up correctly.  In order
to make this work, you will need to use esetroot, or use the new pager
introduced with the 1.5 series.  The new pager offers support for Eterm. 
You will still need to get all the necessary libraries for Eterm, however.
<P>There is also a program called roottail, which allows you to tail messages
onto the root window.  This is useful, for instance, if you want to view
/var/log/messages without having an extra xterm open all the time.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.5">7.5 I am having trouble with asmix or asmixer and Wharf</A>
</H2>

<P> This appeared in AS 1.4.4.  That release included only asmix, and not
asmixer.  You can either get asmixer and install it, or use asmix.  If you
use asmix, make sure you are invoking in correctly in the Wharf.  In
particular, you must be consistent in your invocation: it is labelled
"asMix" in the Wharf file, even though the name of the file is "asmix".
<P>The latest version fixed this, so you can use "asmix" in the Wharf file. 
The class name, however, is still "asMix", so you have to use "asMix" in the
database file, if you have any options you want to configure particularly
for asmix.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.6">7.6 I upgraded AfterStep, and now my as-apps look funny in the Wharf.</A>
</H2>

<P>This is because of some changes to the "Swallow" and "MaxSwallow" keywords
in the Wharf configuration.  Have a look at the section on Wharf, above.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.7">7.7 How do I use asmail?</A>
</H2>

<P>Asmail checks for your mail.  You configure it using the asmail
configuration file, which can be found with the rest of your AfterStep
configuration files.  (On version 1.5, this is /usr/local/share/afterstep.)
The configuration is pretty self-explanatory.
<P>Note that asmail checks for mail on the local system.  If you are connected
to another system, and are using NFS, you can check your mail on that
system.  If you are connected across a PPP or SLIP link, you may want to use
a program such as fetchmail to retrieve your mail.  Then, asmail will report
when you have received mail.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.8">7.8 What is ascp?</A>
</H2>

<P> Ascp stands for `AfterStep Control Panel', and is a program that allows
you to configure AfterStep while imitating the NEXTSTEP control panel look
and feel. It makes it really easy to configure AfterStep without manually
fiddling with the configuration file(s).  There is more information about
how to get it below.  Make sure you read it carefully.
<P>Versions of ascp before version 0.9 used Tcl/Tk and TkStep, and would write
.only to a steprc file.  Starting with version 0.9, ascp has abandoned the
Tcl-based approach.  The new ascp is based entirely upon GTK+.  The very
latest version is dependent upon having (at least) version 1.1.1 of GTK+,
and glib version 1.1.2.
<P>WARNING: AfterStep doesn't use .steprc since version 1.2, so if you use the
older Tcl-based ascp , you will have to run AfterStep in 'compatibility'
mode:
<P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><CODE>
<PRE>
 afterstep -f {yeoldsteprc}
</PRE>
</CODE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.9">7.9 I tried to install TkStep, but it doesn't work with TkStep and Tcl7.6</A>
</H2>

<P> There is a version of TkStep which is supposed to work with Tk 7.6, but
it does not seem to work for everyone.  The best approach is probably to
upgrade: the latest version of TkStep works
with Tk8.0; see below for more information about TkStep.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.10">7.10 Why doesn't ascp run on my system?</A>
</H2>

<P> This depends on which version of ascp you are talking about.  The old
ascp needed TkStep.  TkStep is a version of Tk implemented by Alfredo Kojima
(<CODE>kojima@inf.ufrgs.br</CODE>), and now maintained by Oliver Graf
(<CODE>ograf@fga.de</CODE>) and Steve Murray (<CODE>stevem@eng.uts.edu.au</CODE>); it gives
Tk the NEXTSTEP look-and-feel, and implements a few new widgets, like font
and color choosers. You can download it from 
<A HREF="http://www.fga.de/~ograf/TkStep.shtml">http://www.fga.de/~ograf/TkStep.shtml</A> or 
<A HREF="http://touchwood.ee.uts.edu.au/TkSTEP/TkSTEP.html">http://touchwood.ee.uts.edu.au/TkSTEP/TkSTEP.html</A>.  These versions of
ascp do not work with the new configurations anyway (i.e. post 1.2), so you
might not need to worry about this.  To use the Tcl/Tk based ascp versions
with the latest version of TkStep, you need a patch.  You can get the patch
from Steve Murray's site: 
<A HREF="http://touchwood.ee.uts.edu.au/TkSTEP/fixes.html">http://touchwood.ee.uts.edu.au/TkSTEP/fixes.html</A>.  These patches only
work for versions 0.8 and 0.8-SE, but <EM>not</EM> for 0.8.4.  You must
patch ascp before using it with Tk 8.0, or your .steprc file will be
corrupted.
<P>A new version of ascp which does not depend on TkStep is now available. This
is ascp 0.9, also known as gtk+-ascp.  The new version only supports the
new-style (non-.steprc) configuration.  The latest version of this depends
upon GTK+.  You can get this version from 
<A HREF="http://hubble.colorado.edu/~nwanua/htmldir/ascp.html">http://hubble.colorado.edu/~nwanua/htmldir/ascp.html</A>.  Both the
program and the site are maintained by Nwanua Elumeze
(<CODE>nwanua@colorado.edu</CODE>).  The ascp home page also tells you what version
of GTK+ you will need for the current version of ascp, and provides a link
for you to find it.
<P>
<H2><A NAME="ss7.11">7.11 Can I use Window Maker applets in AfterStep?</A>
</H2>

<P>Yes.  It was always more or less possible, except that WM apps tended not to
display correctly in the Wharf.  The changes to the Swallow and MaxSwallow
functions in Wharf have made it possible to use any Window Maker applet in
Wharf.
<P>
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