`ph`

Launch the Photon window system

Syntax:

ph [-cNsvx] [-n name]

Options:

-c: Open a terminal "dittoed" to the console.
-N: Don't explicitly load shared libraries; let the applications load them as required.
-n name: Use the device name to start Photon (defaults to /dev/photon). Use this option if you must run more than one Photon window system on a single node.
-s: Safe mode. Use this option if Photon doesn't display correctly on start up. This option forces Photon to start in 16-color VGA mode.
-v: Be verbose.
-x: Don't allow X11 applications in Photon.

Description:

The ph utility is a shell script that starts the Photon window system. The script starts the following, as required:

the font manager
Photon (Photon server)
crttrap to detect the graphics hardware and start the appropriate graphics driver (see below)
inputtrap to detect the input hardware and start the input manager (see below)
pwm (Photon Window Manager)
shelf (Photon Shelf Manager)
If you have a $HOME/.ph/phapps script file, Photon launches the executables listed in this file. This is a good place to put applications that you want to start each time Photon boots. This file must be executable.

If you've defined the PHGFX and PHINPUT environment variables, ph uses their values to start graphics/input drivers.

Examples:

Start Photon:

ph

Files:

${HOME}/.ph/phapps: Contains a user's list of applications for Photon to launch automatically when it starts.
/etc/system/config/nophoton: If this file exists, the system doesn't boot into Photon. The file's contents aren't important; you can just touch the file to create it.

Environment variables:

The ph command sets or uses these environment variables:

ABLPATH

If a language or path to the translations directory isn't set, it's assigned to PHOTON_PATH/translations.

ABLANG

If this environment variable isn't set, ph uses the setting in /etc/photon/ABLANG. If LOGNAME is set and the $HOME/.ph/.ABLANG file exists, the setting in this file overrides the global setting.

LOGNAME

If this environment variable isn't set (such as when ph is run in the sysinit file), ph runs phlogin, a login program for Photon.

PATH

Include the directories containing the Photon executables.

PHEXIT_DISABLE

Turn off phlogin's Exit button.

PHFONT

Set the registered name of the font server (e.g. /dev/phfont).

PHFONTOPTS

Pass options to the font server.

PHGFX

The full command that you want to use instead of the default commands to start the graphics driver.

For example, on an Aspen/Tahoe board, you could specify:

export PHGFX="io-graphics -amode=/usr/photon/config/q2sd.conf -dldevg-q2sd.so -g640x480x16"

Don't specify something like this:

export PHGFX="crttrap start"

because setting PHGFX prevents the ph script from running crttrap query, so the driver might not be started correctly. You should use this environment variable to start io-graphics with a specific driver and settings.

PHINPUT

The full command that you want to use instead of the default commands to start the input driver.

PHOTON

Name of the Photon device (usually /dev/photon; the -n option overrides this.

PHOTON_PATH

Name of the root directory containing Photon files (usually /usr/photon).

PHWM

Name of Photon Window Manager to start (defaults to pwm).

PHWMOPTS

Specify options for pwm.