text disappears under compiz in intrepid

[Ioannis]

Binary package hint: compiz

Under Compiz, on some of the applications, such as kile and I think KDE 3.5 apps in general, the text disappears on menus and other lists or is just showing a '____' . It may flicker at times as I click or scan across the menu items. KDE4 apps, like the new kate, or gnome apps are ok. It also happens when using an NX client. Some of the applications on the remote session have underscores instead of text in their menus. In the NX case, this even happens under Metacity.

This started after upgrading to Intrepid from Hardy. I have an nvidia chipset with the legacy drivers, install from the main repositories. I've blacklisted agpgart and intel_agp and use NVAGP instead (otherwise compiz is dead slow). I was using the same setup under Hardy with no problems.

what information do I need to provide to track this bug down?

Thanks

related packages
compiz : 1:0.7.8-0ubuntu4.1
nvidia-glx-96: 96.43.09-0ubuntu1
metacity: 1:2.24.0-0ubuntu1
nxclient: 3.1.0-2

I've also attached my xorg.conf file as is

[Gianpa (gianp)]

Same here..

Not all gnome applications work, in Mine game for example you can't read the numbers. GFtp also have problems and Openoffice is a mess.

I also have nvidia-glx-96 installed (I've got a GeForce TI4200).

If I disable compiz everything is ok.

[Ioannis (ioannisnousias)]

it's definitely the nvidia drivers, since using the software renderer doesn't exhibit any of the artefacts I see in the NX sessions (in Metacity obviously, since Compiz doesn't run in software rendering anyway)

It's probably some incompatibility the drivers have with the new Xorg in Intrepid. I'm not sure if the Ubuntu devs can do much about it, although one can always hope :)

PS: Gianpa, I have a similar gfx to you (NV28 - mobile GeForce TI4200)

[Colin Kelly (colinrk)]

same problem here, I found a workaround on the compiz forums here:

http://forum.compiz-fusion.org/showthread.php?t=10304&highlight=text

I had to add:
        Option "RenderAccel" "False"
to the device section of my xorg.conf and now everything displays correctly. The posters also suggest an earlier driver version but I haven't tried that yet so as not to bork the apt-get handling of my drivers.

[Colin Kelly (colinrk)]

Also, under metacity's compositing I have the same problem. Metacity compositing can be disabled using the command:

gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool false

or using the gconf-edit GUI

[Ioannis (ioannisnousias)]

Thanks Colin!

adding the 'Option "RenderAccel" "False"' fixed the problem for me as well. So it seems this is a known bug in the nvidia 96.43.09 drivers.

cheers

[Ioannis (ioannisnousias)]

a workaround is available that seems to work well.

[haelix (haelix)]

new beta version 96.43.10 released today... can hardly wait for it to see if disabling RenderAccel is still needed !

[Gianpa (gianp)]

I hope there's going to be a .deb for ubuntu soon, I dont' want to mess everything up trying to install the new drivers... Let me know if there's an easy way to do that :D

[Gianpa (gianp)]

I found this on the nvidia forums:

    * Added support for X.org server 1.5.99.901.
    * Fixed a text corruption problem on X.org server 1.5 and up.
    * Fixed a problem that caused nvidia-installer to remove Compiz's libglx.so.
    * Added "nvidia-uninstall" as a shortcut for "nvidia-installer --uninstall".
    * Added the ability to run distribution provided pre- and post- installation hooks to 'nvidia-installer'; please see the 'nvidia-installer' manual page for details.
    * Fixed an X server crash with multiple server generations when GLX is disabled.
    * Fixed a bug that caused corrupt window decorations in Compiz.
    * Worked around an X server bug that causes text to disappear when a composite manager is enabled on X.org 1.5 and newer.
    * Fixed a problem that prevented X from starting on 2.6.29-rc1 with an error like the following:

          X:6500 map pfn expected mapping type write-combining for d0000000-d0500000, got uncached-minus

Looks like our problem is solved, I'm still waiting for a deb from ubuntu, I hope it's going to come as soon as possible...

[Gianpa (gianp)]

I just installed the new drivers using Jounty debs and it solved the problem. There shuld be an update for intrepid too because it's a really ugly problem.

[haelix (haelix)]

Same as gianpa; can't wait till jaunty, now ;)

(I mean, the 96.43.10 packages of Jaunty would install fine in Ibex, and fixed the problem (in esvn, openoffice, gitk...)