Comment 37 for bug 1261916

I also noticed this in my X.log:

[ 14.230] qxl_kms_surface_create: Bad bpp: 1 (1)
[ 14.231] qxl_kms_surface_create: Bad bpp: 1 (1)
[ 14.231] qxl_kms_surface_create: Bad bpp: 1 (1)

This error comes from a recent commit to the qxl driver:
  qxl: add KMS support v1.2
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-video-qxl/commit/?id=3e37b2c

So, with that clue, I restarted my virtual machine and added "nomodeset" to the kernel command line options, and I'm not seeing any missing letters! The graphics all look fine.

It's also curious that it's only text that's missing: all other widgets -- scroll bars, radio buttons, check boxes, etc -- look just fine.

Furthermore, I opened another bug last week about the mouse cursor registering clicks a few pixels away from the actual pointer when using Spice/QXL; see bug 974662. This bug is also fixed when using nomodeset!