Hi, I have the houdini apprentice version,
and am trying to install in linux, kernel version 2.4.18

My PC is an Athlon XP 1800+ with 320Mb RAM, GeForce 3 Ti200 graphics card using the Nvidia drivers (which are working because i get the nvidia splash screen)

Houdini installs perfectly fine,
the only problems arrise after source houdini_setup when trying to run houdini or hkey

when running houdini i get the following displayed in my shell

Application data saved to /tmp/riksruin.ada.hip
Spawn Error: : No such file or directory
Error running xmessage
Argument list:
0: xmessage
1: License Error: Unable to connect to hserver for license acuisition

and when running hkey it tells me that the server location on (hostname) is invalid, i have tried re-installing with several different hostnames still with the same problem

does anyone know what could be causing this problem,

Thanx for any help in advance

Rikki

May I know which Linux distribution are you using? Redhat? Mandrake?

Are you using bash Shell or Cshell?

If you're using bash Shell, you'll need to change it to the C shell by typing ‘chsh’ at the prompt. You'll be required to enter your password & at the next prompt, type ‘/bin/csh’.

After the shell has been changed, trying ‘source houdini_setup’ again. After the Houdini environment has been initialised, please start ‘hkey’ to try to acquire a license.

Houdini will not run because you do not have a license.

Also, are you running an Internet connection with DHCP?

Cheers!
steven

Thank you for your reply I am using Mandrake 8.2

have also tried this on SuSE 8.0 (with SuSE i get no activity at all after typing houdini or hkey)


Source houdini_setup works fine on both Distro's giving the my result of

'The Houdini Environment has been initialized'


I am using a bash shell but i change it to cShell by typing csh at the first prompt

yes i am Using a DHCP internet connection,

I am beginning to think that the problem is with my graphics card or drivers, because houdini works perfectly with a system on the same network as my machine with the exact same setup(internet connection network card), but an on-board graphics adapter.

Rikki,

It still seems like a network setup problem with licensing. Could you post the result you get from using the “Diagnostic Infomation…” item in the View menu of hkey?

I'll post that as soon as i get on my home computer later today,

if it is a network connections problem do you have any suggestions that i could try?


Also on an un-related note,
After putting my machine onto the work network, when taking it home (without the network card in) and unconfiguring all of the proxies, my machine connects to the internet fine (dial-up) but none of my apps pick up on the connection, is there anything else i need to do to stop thinking that it is on a network.

this is in Mandrake 8.2

--Rikki--
when running houdini i get the following displayed in my shell

Application data saved to /tmp/riksruin.ada.hip
Spawn Error: : No such file or directory
Error running xmessage
Argument list:
0: xmessage
1: License Error: Unable to connect to hserver for license acuisition

and when running hkey it tells me that the server location on (hostname) is invalid, i have tried re-installing with several different hostnames still with the same problem
Rikki

This error message is displayed because xmessage isn't installed or isn't in the path. Houdini is just trying to use xmessage to display the “Unable to connect” message, though, so xmessage isn't strictly needed.

The licensing diagnostic information will help me find where the problem is.

I have just check the diagnostic information and here it is,
it is telling me that sesinetd isnt running how do i run it?? i have tried typing sesinetd from a shell prompt but this doesnt work.
::

Diagnostic Output:
==================
If you are having licensing problems, please save this information and email it
to support@sidefx.com.

License Administrator output:
=============================
Generated on: Sat Aug 10 09:33:41 2002
Local host name: linux
Local server code: 00000000
Local ip address: 44.150.255.191
License server name: linux
License server server code: 00000000
Server ip address: (could not look up server)
License server is running: No
License Administrator version: 5.5.36
Http proxy host: (none)
Can retrieve http://license.sidefx.com/index.php: [license.sidefx.com] Yes

Installed licenses:
LicID Platform Product Ver Avail Expiry
—– ——– ——- — —– ——

sesictrl -i output:
===================
Cannot connect to server linux (92.203.159.64)- verify that sesinetd is running.



hserver -l output:
==================


licenses file:
==============
* Could not open the licenses file. *

Hi Rikki,

From the Diagnostic Output, the local ip (44.150.255.191) & the server's ip (92.203.159.64) does not match hence the errors.

Did you 'setenv SESI_LMHOST'? If you did, is the value 'linux'?

It is recommended to login as root before you try the following. Also, please make sure the Houdini environment is set. (source houdini_setup)

a. Type 'ping localhost' in the shell. You should get something like "Pinging localhost ( 127.0.0.1 )"

b. If you do, please type 'setenv SESI_LMHOST=localhost' in the shell.

c. Now, we'll restart Hserver by typing 'hserver -q' then 'hserver'. To make sure Hserver is properly set, type 'hserver -S localhost'. You should get 'License server changed to localhost'.

d. Next, we'll start the license server. Please type '/usr/lib/sesi/sesinetd.startup start' in the shell. If the license server started without any errors, please start Houdini.

If all goes well, you'll get a message saying you do not have a license & asking whether you would like to download one. Please make sure you're connected to the internet before downloading the license.

It is recommended to include 'setenv SESI_LMHOST=localhost' in your .tcshrc file.

Please do not include the single quote ( ' ) in all of the commands & let me know if the above works.

Thanks!

Cheers!
steven

Rikki,

Does your IP address change over the session of your computer? Like logging on to an internet service provider through DSL? Sesinetd (the license server) caches the computer's IP address when it starts up. So if you change your IP address later on (eg. logging onto DSL), you will not be able to obtain licenses.

Along with the IP address strangeness, the server code is empty (00000000). Do you have an ethernet card installed? On Linux, houdini uses the MAC address of the ethernet card to compute the server code.

Also, it looks like houdini is having problems resolving the domain name ‘linux’. I suspect the license server (sesinetd) is running, but it cannot connect to the machine ‘linux’ to find it. What is the output of ping linux

Can I also see the output of hostname and cat /etc/hosts

stevenong
Hi Rikki,

d. Next, we'll start the license server. Please type '/usr/lib/sesi/sesinetd.startup start' in the shell. If the license server started without any errors, please start Houdini.

If all goes well, you'll get a message saying you do not have a license & asking whether you would like to download one. Please make sure you're connected to the internet before downloading the license.

all goes fine, exepct for when i start houidni, it asks me to install a license and when i click install a non -commerical license i get the message localhost is not a valid machine name.

lucas here are the following when i type what you said


ping linux:: unknown host linux
cat /etc/hosts:: 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost
hostname:: localhost.localdomain

i do not have an ethernet card installed could thjis be the problem?? i am getting one soon, to create a small network, will it be better for me to install houdini on a networked machine?? so that the machine keeps the same IP?


edward i use a 56k dialup connection to connect to the internet, yes i have a dynamic IP

Unfortunately, yes, an ethernet card is needed to run Houdini on Linux. Otherwise, Houdini computes a server code of 00000000. (It may work with this server code – I've never tried.)

Other than the ethernet card, there are two other problems. The first is that the host name is localhost.localdomain, but licenses can't be generated for that host name. You should be able to change the hostname as root with hostname newhostname.

The second problem is that it's trying to use a machine called linux as the license server. After you've changed your host name, start hkey, choose File -> Change License Server…, click “Local Server” and “OK”.

If things still aren't working, please post the diagnostic information again after these changes.

I have successfully got Houdini running on my machine now! I ahve set-up another computer alongside this one, and have a small LAN running,

Thank you everyone for your help with this problem

–Rikki–