Comment 22 for bug 471844

For now, I have restored usability to my system by downgrading the xserver-xorg-video-intel package to a jaunty version. I used the following method:

1) Downloaded: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/27624866/xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.6.3-0ubuntu9.3_i386.deb
2) sudo dpkg -i xserver-xorg-video-intel_2.6.3-0ubuntu9.3_i386.deb
3) sudo aptitude install xserver-xorg-video-intel=2:2.6.3-0ubuntu9.3
4) echo "xserver-xorg-video-intel hold" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
5) Verified hold by issuing: apt-get -s upgrade

(Source: http://tech.akom.net/archives/45-Upgrading-to-Ubuntu-9.10-Karmic-Koala-breaks-X-xorg-on-intel-driver-on-945G-chipset.html)

I was able to re-enable gdm, my text consoles work now, the font corruption has gone away, the crashes from changing the desktop background are gone and the 10 second delays seen when switching between windows are gone. I still don't have dri, but I do have a usable desktop now.