[R] Problem rgl

[Prof Brian Ripley]

On Tue, 10 May 2011, Duncan Murdoch wrote:

> On 11-05-10 6:23 PM, tarnus wrote:
>> Dear List,
>> 
>> I'm using R on a Fedora 14 32 bit machine and I'm trying to use the
>> rgl-package, but get the following error-messages:
>> 
>>> library(rgl)
>> Warnmeldungen:
>> 1: In rgl.init(initValue) : RGL: no suitable visual available
>> 2: In fun(...) : error in rgl_init
>> 
>>> plot3d()
>> Fehler in rgl.cur() : rgl_dev_getcurrent
>> 
>> Does anyone know how to solve this problem?
>
> I don't know how to solve it, but I can tell you what the message means:
>
> On your platform rgl needs to use X11, and it is apparently not able to get 
> the type of "visual" it needs from X11 on your host.  Do other X11 programs 
> work?

I expect some do.  The requirements are in x11rgl.cpp, namely

     GLX_RGBA,
     GLX_DOUBLEBUFFER,
     GLX_RED_SIZE, 1,
     GLX_GREEN_SIZE, 1,
     GLX_BLUE_SIZE, 1,
     GLX_ALPHA_SIZE, 0,
     GLX_DEPTH_SIZE, 1,

and 'man glXChooseVisual' explains them.  I suspect it is one of the 
first two which is the problem.

We are way off topic here (and Fedora 14 on our systems does provide 
suitable visuals), but that should be enough for you to get local 
Linux help on setting up your X server suitably.

-- 
Brian D. Ripley,                  ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk
Professor of Applied Statistics,  http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/~ripley/
University of Oxford,             Tel:  +44 1865 272861 (self)
1 South Parks Road,                     +44 1865 272866 (PA)
Oxford OX1 3TG, UK                Fax:  +44 1865 272595