Celestia Forums

I downloaded the source code of Celestia 1.5.1 and compiled it --with-glut using the g++ compiler on Solaris.
I am viewing the windows displayed by Celestia using X Window servers running on Mac OS X and Windows XP.
But on the Mac, only the very brightest stars appear. And on XP, no sunlight falls on the planets.

Details and screen shots are posted at http://i5.nyu.edu/~mm64/planetarium/c/
I'm a total newbie at graphics--is this a GLX problem?
Thank you in advance for your help.

--- edit ---

Here is what I think the problem is.

When a program (e.g., Celestia) running on a Solaris box connects to an X Window server running on a Mac or PC, the X Window server offers a mere 27 or 32 "OpenGL Extensions" respectively. But when a program running on the Mac or PC connects to an X Window server on the *same* machine, these X Window servers that were so parsimonious with Solaris now offer a whopping 95 and 90 extensions respectively.

Why do these X Window servers offer radically fewer "OpenGL Extensions" to a program (e.g., Celestia) that connects to them from a remote machine? Are the missing extensions the reason why I see few stars on the Mac and no sunlight on the PC? Does it make sense to ask how I could get a list of the "OpenGL Extensions" that Celestia needs to render correctly? Fresh details (e.g., the actual lists of "OpenGL Extensions") at
http://i5.nyu.edu/~mm64/planetarium/c/
Seach there for "glxinfo".
Thank you in advance for any light you could shed on this.

--- edit ---

I want to execute celx scripts on Solaris containing calls to the method celestia:takescreenshot,
and put the resulting image files into a PowerPoint slideshow. (Possibly also with modifications to the
source code of Celestia, i.e., to display the grid in galactic cooridinates instead of equatorial.)

I have belatedly come to realize what should have been obvious all along: it would be simplest for
Celestia to connect to an X Windows server running on the same box. Now all I have to do is figure out
how to launch the X Window server on my Solaris host, which I share with 4000 other people.

I guess it's a Solaris and X Windows problem, not a Celestia problem, from this point on. Thanks.

The X nomenclature can be somewhat confusing.

An X server is the display device: it runs on the computer that you are sitting in front of. It provides "X display services" for programs that want to connect to it.

In other words, Celestia has to be built to be able to open an X window itself. Presumably this is what happens when Celesita has been built for use with KDE or Gnome. When you run it, you have to specify the remote X display server that it should use.