USING Cygwin/X to run the WebSphere Transformation Extender (WTX) GUIs

This document will describe the steps needed to use CYGWIN (a Unix emulator) to start and work with an X Windows environment (similar to using Exceed) so that one can run the WTX GUIs.

INSTALLING Cygwin/X

Go to this link and follow the directions:

http://x.cygwin.com/docs/ug/setup.html#setup-cygwin-x-installing

HOW TO RUN AN X SERVER ENVIRONMENT FROM THE DESKTOP USING CYGWIN.

1.  Double click on the Cygwin icon:

2.  At the prompt ($), type “startxwin.sh <enter>” to start the X server on the local desktop.

If the server starts successfully, you’ll see this window pop open:

Note: you might see an error that says something like “command not found”. Just ignore it and wait for the above window to open.

3.  You should leave this window alone as it’s the “command window” for the X server. At this window, you can start an “xterm” by typing “xterm & <enter>”, which will open another xterm window similar to the command window.

One can use colors to differentiate the windows. For example by typing:

xterm –fg lightskyblue –bg black & <enter>,

it will bring up this window:

  1. Which you can use to login to any Unix server. The “-fg” is for “foreground” color or text color and the “-bg” is the background color. Please see a listing of the colors that can be used by going to the following link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X11_color_names

LOGING IN TO THE SERVERS

To login to the servers, please follow the steps below:

1.  At the xterm command prompt ($), type:

ssh –Y loginID@SERVER <enter>

Please note: The above is using SSH (the secure shell) instead of “telnet”. The reasons for this are a) it’s more secure than “telnet” because using “telnet” the password is sent over the network as plain “text” while with SSH, the password is encrypted. And b) using SSH allows one to run the Java guis without having to export the DISPLAY variable.

So for example to login into an Aix system called “aixDEV” just type “ssh –Y lvo@aixDEV <enter>”

NOTE: After typing the above if this is the first time you login to the server, SSH will ask if you wish to authenticate this server for use.

The authenticity of host 'aixDEV (X.X.X.X)' can't be established. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Just respond “yes” if it’s a server you know and wish to connect to.

After typing “ssh –Y loginID@SERVER <enter>” you will be asked to type in the password. Once you do, you’ll be logged into the server.

RUNNING THE WTX GUIs

Once logged into the server, just cd to the WTX_INSTALL directory and run “. ./setup” to setup the WTX environment.

You can then run any of the WTX GUIs you need to work with.

Please Enjoy!!

Eduardo Mejia

IBM WebSphere Transformation Extender (WTX)