Change Linuxcnc axis background colour to White

Firstly, thank you ArcEye for such a prompt reply,
I could not find a file named .Xresources, but I did find a Folder named Xresources (no dot in front of Xresources)

It is located in the path: File System/Etc/X11/Xresources.

There is only one file in the folder and that is - 30x11-common_xresources

I opened the file with gedit to see what it was about and there is a line of code referring to xrdb -merge $RESOURCEFILE.

My questions are:
1. Am I in the right location to change the screen colour.
2. If this is the right location, do I change the line of code from xrdb -merge $RESOURCEFILE to xrdb -merge /usr/share/doc/linuxcnc/axis_light_background with gedit

Please bear in mind I am new to both LinuxCNC and Ubuntu so plain step by step instructions will be most helpful.

Regards iano

Hi

First off you need to keep on one thread and not keep creating another one for each reply, there are currently 3 threads all with the same title on this.
I can't remember exactly what your first one contained and nor will anyone else.

.Xresources is a hidden file in your home folder, if it does not exist you need to create it
Do not edit the system wide file in /etc/X11

So NO, you are in the wrong place and could reap havoc if you replace a system wide environment variable with something that just relates to linuxcnc.

This is where it gets tricky to explain, I don't use any of the GUI file managers or editors and most will not show hidden files anyway
so will have to go via a terminal.

Open the terminal and cd to your home dir (you are probably taken there automatically but check)

Enter these commands (make sure you have the dot preceding the file name and 2 > direction arrows)

sudo echo -e "\nxrdb -merge /usr/share/doc/emc2/axis_light_background\n" >> .Xresources
sudo echo -e "\nxrdb -merge /usr/share/doc/emc2/axis_big_dro\n" >> .Xresources

That will create the file if it does not exist, append those lines to the file, preserving the existing contents if any
and prevent the lack of a terminating newline in the file buggering things up

That is how to create the file, but it does not work on my system (I am not using Ubuntu)

If you reboot and it does not show what you expected, you need to go through the thread and see if there is something else involved
www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/german/forum/...he-axis-gui?start=18

regards

Thanks for the reply,
Unfortunately it did not work.
I opened a terminal and cd .. to my Home Directory then I entered the program line you gave me.
What I got Back was Bash .Xresources: permission denied.
I then checked to ensure I was logged on as an Administrator which I was.
Reentered Terminal and put the code back in. Same response.
Reentered the Terminal again but this time changed the /emc2/ to read /linuxcnc/
Same response Permission denied.
If you could enlighten me further I would appreciate your input.
Read the Link you gave me but it left me totally in the dark.
Regards iano

The lines should be
sudo echo -e "\nxrdb -merge /usr/share/doc/linuxcnc/axis_light_background\n" >> .Xresources
sudo echo -e "\nxrdb -merge /usr/share/doc/linuxcnc/axis_big_dro\n" >> .Xresources

I just cut and pasted from your original post. Part of the problems with one topic being spread over 3 different threads.

I then checked to ensure I was logged on as an Administrator which I was.

I don't know what you mean. You are either logged in as a user or as root. There is no 'administrator' as in windoze.

You cannot have entered the lines above, because the response you would get would be different.

Cut and paste one line at a time to the command line ( copy by highlighting and Ctrl C as normal from this post and then paste at the command line with Shift Insert) and press Enter

regards

ArcEye wrote:

sudo echo -e "\nxrdb -merge /usr/share/doc/linuxcnc/axis_light_background\n" >> .Xresources

You cannot have entered the lines above, because the response you would get would be different.

By which I mean, that you would have been asked for your password.

If you were not on the sudoers list it would have errored with that information, if you were it would have done the
command with root privileges, which could not have resulted in the error you cite.

I suspect you did not use sudo

regards

Thanks again for your time,
after reading a lot of posts I feel that I am getting nowhere. I copied and pasted as you suggested and the following is he response:
iano@iano-desktop:/home$ sudo echo -e "\nxrdb -merge /usr/share/doc/linuxcnc/axis_light_background\n" >> .Xresources
bash: .Xresources: Permission denied.

I hope that I am in the correct Directory which I got to by entering cd space dot dot?

The Administrator I referred to is on my system under User/Groups and an assumption on my part led me to believe it was similar to Windows. Sorry for the confusion.

You mentioned the sudoers list, How do I find out if I am on it?

Post #19149 Dated Apr 2012 wrote a slightly different way of doing what I would like to achieve. Is this a viable option?

Regards iano

I hope that I am in the correct Directory which I got to by entering cd space dot dot?
iano@iano-desktop:/home$ sudo echo -e "\nxrdb -merge /usr/share/doc/linuxcnc/axis_light_background\n" >> .Xresources

You are not in your home directory, you are in the home directory, you exited your directory and went to the one above it

If you prefix a command with sudo, it will ask you your password, if it checks and finds you are not on the sudoers list it will refuse the command.

You seem to be logged in as a user, I don't understand why you are not seeing this

Post #19149 Dated Apr 2012 wrote a slightly different way of doing what I would like to achieve. Is this a viable option?

Attach a link to the post

regards

Thanks for your patience and time,

Opened a terminal and carried it out again and this time without changing directory. Entered the code provided and this time I was asked for my Password. Entered the Password and all seemed good or accepted ( No permission denied message).

Opened the LinuxCNC App and it was still the same black background.

Rebooted the computer, opened the LinuxCNC App and it was still the same black background.

Carried out a file search with Hidden files check box selected for the .Xresources file and No file found was returned. Was it created I wondered?

Somewhat lost now.

The post I mentioned is www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum...s-gui?start=30#19149

Regards iano

Carried out a file search with Hidden files check box selected for the .Xresources file and No file found was returned. Was it created I wondered?

from a terminal in your home dir run
ls -al

This will show all files including hidden ones

I did say at the outset that I had tried this entry and it did not do anything for me

The post I mentioned is www.linuxcnc.org/index.php/english/forum...s-gui?start=30#19149

That is showing a completely different method to do the same thing, give it a try

I personally do not want a white background.
The plot lines are difficult enough to see sometimes against black, having a white background really limits
the lighter colours that can be used.

regards

Hi ArcEye,
Well I tried the alternative method and it did not work either.
I will carry on using the default system,
Thanks for your input, at least I have learnt more about Linux.
Appreciate your help,
Regards iano