Ok, I had the same issue:

Put this in your .bashrc:

# LinuxCNC SIM
alias linuxcnc="xrdb -all -query|sed -e 's#[A-Z_]*BACKGROUND# gray90#' -e 's#[A-Z_]*FOREGROUND# Black#'  -e 's#[A-Z_]*HIGHLIGHT# White#' -e 's#[A-Z_]*LOWLIGHT# Black#'|xrdb -merge; linuxcnc"

then run "linuxcnc"

Nik


Am Freitag, 27. Februar 2015 schrieb Gene Heskett:
> 
> On Friday 27 February 2015 11:27:08 Dr. Nikolaus Klepp wrote:
> > Hi Gene!
> >
> > You are the same Gene from over at the linuxcnc mailing list?
> > Did you install TDE on LinuxCNC?
> >
> > Nik
> 
> AaiiYup, thats me.  And yes. I now have control over the fonts used in kmail.
> 
> And the simulated Linuxcnc I find, in the uspace version, runs well on a 
> non-prempt AMD64 kernel.  Latency figures are of course astronomically 
> horrible so one could never ever run even a servo controlled machine with it 
> safely, but it serves to proof-read and execute cutting electronic air, the 
> gcode I write just fine.  That was the point. :) However I hadn't tried it 
> since installing TDE, and it now fails:
> 
> gene@coyote:~$ linuxcnc -l
> LINUXCNC - 2.7.0-pre4
> Machine configuration directory is '/home/gene/linuxcnc/configs/sim.axis'
> Machine configuration file is 'axis.ini'
> Starting LinuxCNC...
> Application initialization failed: unknown color name "BACKGROUND"
> Error in startup script: invalid command name "."
>     while executing
> ". configure -borderwidth 0 -highlightthickness 0"
>     (file "/usr/lib/tcltk/linuxcnc/bin/popimage" line 35)
> Found file:./core_sim.hal
> Note: Using POSIX non-realtime
> Found file:./sim_spindle_encoder.hal
> Found file:./axis_manualtoolchange.hal
> Found file:./simulated_home.hal
> Found file:./check_constraints.hal
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/usr/bin/hal_manualtoolchange", line 62, in <module>
>     app = Tkinter.Tk(className="AxisToolChanger")
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1712, in __init__
>     self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, 
> wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
> _tkinter.TclError: unknown color name "BACKGROUND"
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/usr/bin/axis", line 121, in <module>
>     root_window = Tkinter.Tk(className="Axis")
>   File "/usr/bin/axis", line 44, in __init__
>     OldTk.__init__(self, *args, **kw)
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1712, in __init__
>     self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, 
> wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
> _tkinter.TclError: unknown color name "BACKGROUND"
> Shutting down and cleaning up LinuxCNC...
> Traceback (most recent call last):
>   File "/usr/bin/axis-remote", line 78, in <module>
>     t = Tkinter.Tk(); t.wm_withdraw()
>   File "/usr/lib/python2.7/lib-tk/Tkinter.py", line 1712, in __init__
>     self.tk = _tkinter.create(screenName, baseName, className, interactive, 
> wantobjects, useTk, sync, use)
> _tkinter.TclError: unknown color name "BACKGROUND"
> Note: Using POSIX non-realtime
> Application initialization failed: unknown color name "BACKGROUND"
> LinuxCNC terminated with an error.  You can find more information in the log:
>     /home/gene/linuxcnc_debug.txt
> and
>     /home/gene/linuxcnc_print.txt
> as well as in the output of the shell command 'dmesg' and in the terminal
> 
> So how do I fix this Unknown color problem?
> 
> Cheers, Gene Heskett



-- 
Please do not email me anything that you are not comfortable also sharing with the NSA.

Dr. Nikolaus Klepp
Einnehmerstra�e 14
A-4810 Gmunden
Tel.: +43 650 82 11 724
email: office@...