Ubuntu
linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15 package

truetype fonts scrambled (see screenshot)

Bug #37525 reported by John Meuser
10
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15 (Ubuntu)
New
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

In Dapper, I'm getting scrambled rendering of fonts. That's the best that I can describe it. I've attached two screenshots, one of gVim, and one of Firefox. The text is garbled (looks like static) or completely missing. Once you click or highlight the text, it will usually apear. When using gVim, whenever the cursor goes over text, it will sometimes re-scramble it or recover it, but it nearly always changes. This problem isn't limited to GTK apps.. I have the same problem with QT apps (as seen with the screenshot with Konqueror).

I'm using the nVidia proprietary drivers with TwinView on two Dell flatscreen LCD monitors. I'm using the freefont sans serif font, but it doesn't seem to help if I change fonts.

Note: the original reporter indicated the bug was in package 'freetype'; however, that package was not published in Ubuntu.

Revision history for this message
John Meuser (meuserj) wrote : Konqueror

Konqueror screenshot

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote : gVim screenshot

gVim screenshot

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote : Firefox screenshot

Firefox Screenshot

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote :

Is there anyone out there who has any idea what might be causing this to happen? It's really starting to get on my nerves, and making it very difficult to work. the effect also happens on Windows apps running under CrossoverOffice, so this is happening from a fairly low level point.

Revision history for this message
John Meuser (meuserj) wrote :

I bit of new information on this bug. I re-installed my machine and the bug still exists. I tried switching from twinview to xinerama, and the bug remains. The only difference is that the glitch is shaped slightly differently on :0.1. Not as fuzzy.. more like solid blocks. Another observation that I made was that if you drag an affected window over the edge of the display and back, it seems to wipe the artifacts off. I will attach my xorg logs and conf.

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote : xorg.conf

my xorg.conf

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote : Xorg.0.log

my xorg log

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote :

well.. the bug seems to have gone away... didn't even notice until I opened a gVim window (which are usually the worst affected), and it was completely clear of the glitch.

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote :

looks like I spoke too soon.. the problem just came back after updates yesterday.

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote :

errr.... it's fixed again..

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Manuel López-Ibáñez (manuellopezibanez) wrote :

guessing package

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John Meuser (meuserj) wrote :

errr... it's broken again... Today is the last day that I'll have the afflicted machine though... it's my work desktop, and I'm changing jobs.

Revision history for this message
Manuel López-Ibáñez (manuellopezibanez) wrote :

I am sorry to hear of your problems. It seems to me that it may be a problem with the graphics card, monitors or xorg configuration rather than a font issue. Nevertheless, I hope you have more luck with the next machine and be able to enjoy Dapper. Thanks for taking the time to report the problem.

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Manuel López-Ibáñez (manuellopezibanez) wrote :

Similar problems seem bug 23951 and bug 33792

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Rodrigo Novo (rodarvus) wrote :

This bug is a duplicate of bug 33792. (nvidia binary driver problem). There is not much we can do besides:

1. contacting nvidia about this bug (done)
2. hope for a driver update that fixes the problem

There are a few workarounds you can try, though:

1. Check if antialiasing is disabled, and enable it, in this case
2. Check if Render or Composite extensions are enabled, and try disabling one of them.

Revision history for this message
Rodrigo Novo (rodarvus) wrote :

changing package to linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15

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