font rendering of shaded text unreadable

[wdesmet]

Binary package hint: xorg

In ubuntu 10.04 and 9.10, when rendering text that has a background shading, this shading shows up as a dark blocky background, making the text unreadable. I will attach a screenshot with an example (one of many) in firefox. It also shows up in other places throughout the OS, such as when switching to a new song in banshee, on the fade in/fade out effects.

I previously reported this against the wrong package and a worse description as #502336.

I initially thought this was related to not using compiz, but I am using compiz (desktop effects) and it is still rendering wrongly. My machines happen to all be running (different) ati cards.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-22.33-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-22-generic x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Apr 30 14:43:21 2010
DkmsStatus:
 blcr, 0.8.2, 2.6.31-21-generic, x86_64: installed
 blcr, 0.8.2, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox-ose, 3.1.6, 2.6.31-21-generic, x86_64: installed
 virtualbox-ose, 3.1.6, 2.6.32-22-generic, x86_64: installed
MachineType: Dell Inc. OptiPlex 960
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=d2cdb369-1d00-4875-b764-6e0a2ea51c34 ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: xorg
dmi.bios.date: 04/29/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A04
dmi.board.name: 0H634K
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 6
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA04:bd04/29/2009:svnDellInc.:pnOptiPlex960:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0H634K:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct6:cvr:
dmi.product.name: OptiPlex 960
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: x86_64
 kernel: 2.6.32-22-generic

[wdesmet (kromagg)]

I looked a bit further. The text in the supplied screenshot has "opacity:0.42;". So this is actually an opacity problem.

[wdesmet (kromagg)]

Oddly enough this also affects the propietary drivers. I wonder whether there's a workaround, as I can't seem to find much other instances of this problem reported elsewhere?

[penalvch (penalvch)]

wdesmet, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p xserver-xorg-video-ati REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER

Please note, given that the information from the prior release is already available, doing this on a release prior to the development one would not be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[wdesmet (kromagg)]

No, this was fixed in one of the later ATI drivers. You can close it.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

wdesmet, This bug report is being closed due to your last comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/572310/comments/5 regarding this being fixed with an update. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.