ALev said:
I am trying to install a program called SNNS (Stuttgart Neural Network
Simulator)
http://www.ra.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/SNNS/
Here is some information about the version I want to install (the first part
of the first sentence seems to be a mistake):
"
SNNSv4.2 for Windows is a SNNSv4.2 version, compiled for Windows platforms.
Since it has been originaly developed for Unix platforms, this port still
relies on the X-Windows graphical system. It includes only the executables,
the X11 dynamic link librarays and examples. Source code is available in an
extra distribution.
In order to run SNNSv4.2 on Windows you must install an X-Server,
a program that interprets the SNNS' graphic commands and controls the
display accordingly. A demo X-Server can be downloaded from:
ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-tuebingen.de/pub/SNNS/Windows/Executables/X-Server/
For more information about X-Windows, including hyperlinks to other
X-Servers, you can refer to, for example:
http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Forum/6298/
Please note that, in order to run X-Server, your computer must have
TCP/IP installed, even if it is not connected to the Internet. SNNS
and X-Server communicate over TCP/IP, even if they both reside on the
same computer.
"
The only problem is that both of the links they gave don't work. I think the
software is kind of old. Now can you give me a recommendation of a website
where I can get a free X-Server?
Thanks.
Andrew
OK, I got my Xserver running, and this one is absolutely free. Basically,
I used Virtual PC (free) to run Knoppix 6.0.1 (free), and with a couple
edits to key files, made a useful Xserver out of it.
1) Download and install Microsoft Virtual PC. I selected the
32 bit version, for my WinXP SP3 32 bit OS.
30.4MB download (link at bottom of page) Virtual PC 2007
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...02-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en
31.7MB download (link at bottom of page) Virtual PC 2007 SP1
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...22-6eb8-4a09-a7f7-f6c7a1f000b5&displaylang=en
I don't know if the SP1 download would have worked by itself.
It could be that the first download is not necessary, but I
downloaded both of them.
2) Get a copy of Knoppix Linux. I used
KNOPPIX_V6.0.1CD-2009-02-08-EN.iso 676,411,392 bytes
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/
You do not need to burn a CD with this file. The ISO9660 file
can be mounted directly.
3) Start Virtual PC. Create a new virtual machine. Give it a name
like Knoppix, a memory size of 512MB for an initial machine
size (I have 2GB of RAM on this computer, and that leaves
room to run a couple virtual machines if necessary).
Start the virtual machine, using the VPC console with its new
virtual machine entry. The virtual machine will try to boot
immediately.
At the top of the (potential) Knoppix window, there is
"Action Edit CD Floppy Help"
Select "CD" and use "Capture ISO Image". When the file browser
dialog appears, navigate to the KNOPPIX_V6.0.1CD-2009-02-08-EN.iso
file. Virtual PC will now treat the ISO file, as if it is a
physical CDROM drive. Now, Knoppix can boot, and will very quickly.
4) When you see the Knoppix background image appear, you have
3 seconds to press any key. I enter "kkkkkkk..." furiously,
to stop the boot sequence. Once characters are entered, the
timer function is disabled, and *then* you can type at your
leisure. If you don't type anything, Knoppix will start on its
own, and you don't want that to happen.
(A note about clicking inside the Virtual PC window. This
environment doesn't have working "additions", so you're going
to need to press the right "Alt" key on the keyboard and hold
it down, in order to move the mouse cursor outside the Virtual PC
window. Similarly, if you see a dialog pop up, asking you if
you want to add the "additions", dismiss the dialog and ignore
it. Microsoft has provided the additions for SUSE Linux, but
when I tried SUSE, it crashed. Additions are not available for
Knoppix. So some convenient features will be missing. You could
always set up SAMBA (SMB) if you want to pass stuff back and forth.
For this experiment, none of that is needed.)
5) Now, you want to use a boot command
knoppix 2
This runs Knoppix in text mode, temporarily.
Let it complete booting.
6) Eventually, you'll be "root" (the root account), in a
text only environment. First, you need to go through the
Xserver startup at least once, so that one of the script files
is populated by the clever Knoppix setup. Type this in the text
mode window.
startx
7) Now, you should see the colorful "LADE" desktop of Knoppix 6.0.1 .
Click the icon in the lower left corner, with a ">" symbol in
the corner of the icon. This will start a terminal window.
ps aguwwwx | grep /usr/bin/X11/X
The leftmost number of the /usr/bin/X11/X is the PID or process ID
of the X server. Now, we're going to kill the X server and return
to text mode. Say the "PID" value is 2989, as seen in the output
from the ps command. Using the kill command, should return the
session to text mode.
kill 2989
8) OK. Now you're back in text mode. There are two files to edit.
vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Use the "page down" key on the keyboard, until you see
# Monitor section auto-generated by Knoppix mkxorgconfig
Place the cursor on the line with "ModelName Generic Monitor"
Type the letter "i" to insert text. Type the letter "#" to
comment out the Generic Monitor. Press the Esc key, to exit
insert mode.
Move down to "HorizSync 28.0 - 96.0" and put the cursor over the "#".
Press the "x" key once, to delete the "#" character. That uncomments
that line.
Remove the "#" from the "VertRefresh 50.0 - 76.0" line. Now, there
are two adjacent uncommented lines, in the monitor session. The
purpose of this hack, is to allow Knoppix to select a resolution
larger than 800x600
Now type ":wq" to write out the file and quit the vi editor.
9) Next file, controls access to the X server. If you don't make
this change, a program running in WinXP will not be able to
communicate to port 6000 on the Virtual PC session.
vi /etc/X11/xinit/xserverrc
You should see a line like this.
exec /usr/bin/X11/X -nolisten tcp -noreset -br
Place the cursor on the "-" of the "-nolisten" phrase.
Use the "x" key to delete "-nolisten tcp". When
you're finished, the line should look like...
exec /usr/bin/X11/X -noreset -br
Once that is done, type ":wq" to write out the file and quit the
vi editor.
By doing this, now the Xserver in Linux, is listening on port 6000,
for Xwindows traffic. This is normally disabled for security
reasons. (Don't connect this PC directly to the Internet. At
least have a NAT router or firewall of some sort, to stop
Internet traffic from attacking the X server.)
10) Now it is time to start the Xserver again. Type this to start it.
startx
11) Now you should see a bigger Linux window with the word LADE on it.
Open a terminal window (the one with the ">" on the icon).
You're going to need the two IP addresses. One belongs to the
WinXP session and the other to the Linux Knoppix session.
Open an MSDOS window in the WinXP environment (command window) and
use ipconfig to get the IP address of Windows.
ipconfig
Say that one happens to be 192.168.1.2 for WinXP.
Now, go to the Linux terminal window, and type
ifconfig
The "eth0" section may list an IP address. Say it is 192.168.1.3.
These IP addresses are coming from my router, using DHCP.
Now, in the Linux terminal window, you should be able to do
xhost +192.168.1.2
That grants the WinXP side, the ability to display items on the
Linux side. That is basically giving permission for it to happen.
12) Now, you need some test software. This package seems to have a
few different client applications for X.
http://www.ra.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/downloads/SNNS/Windows/Sources/X11-Lib/X11-win32.zip
Unzip the package.
In the WinXP side, open an MSDOS (command) window, and navigate
to the bin folder of that package. For example, on mine right
now, I have the tools in C:\Downloads\X11-win32\X11\bin
One of the tools in there, is "xclock.exe". Make
sure you've cd'ed to the bin/ containing that file.
Now, in the MSDOS window, type
xclock -display 192.168.1.3:0
The xclock program on the WinXP side, will try to connect to
port 6000 on the Linux Knoppix session. If you're lucky,
you'll now see an Xwindows clock appear on the Linux screen.
The code is running on the WinXP side, and the display
is running on the Linux side.
Congratulations. You've just run Xwindows on your PC.
Now, you can run your neural net program, as long as
it has a preference to set the display variable to
192.168.1.3:0 or whatever your setup is using.
HTH,
Paul
