Unusable TTF rendering on integrated Intel 852/855, in Slackware 13.0

Yury_T · 10-07-2009, 03:36 AM

After upgrading my laptop (Latitude 100 with Intel 852/855) with Slackware 13.0, I encountered dire problem in X.

TTF glyphs' renderings are sort of "scattered" in the vertical direction. I won't be able to produce a shot of this right now, so I'll try to describe this: Each (N+1)th scanline of the glyph's rendering isn't put in the next raster line of the screen after the Nth, but rather several raster lines apart. With big point sizes, one may even just about guess what's the text there.

Renderings of bitmap fonts aren't affected.

What do you think, guys, is this a result of botched upgrade? Some obsolete library left over? I've checked and reinstalled the obvious suspects: X, freetype, to no avail, though.

I've upgraded this machine (others, too) with Slackwares before, never a problem. It worked OK previously with 12.2, too. I wouldn't really like to install from scratch, there's too much of a software installed (not packaged).

Didier Spaier · 10-07-2009, 05:11 AM

Did you read carefully UPGRADE.TXT before upgrading ?

I would try "slackpkg new-config" just in case.

If you suspect some file to be in concern, try to find out which package did install it, e.g.

Code:

grep "usr/share/fonts/TTF" /var/log/packages/*

Yury_T · 10-07-2009, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

Did you read carefully UPGRADE.TXT before upgrading ?

I would try "slackpkg new-config" just in case.

If you suspect some file to be in concern, try to find out which package did install it, e.g.

Code:

grep "usr/share/fonts/TTF" /var/log/packages/*

No, I don't suspect any specific package and yes, of course I've read the instructions (as I do before each upgrade). This is first time something of this magnitude happens after the upgrade. I've even went to recreation of the X config... no luck.

BTW, what precisely would the mentioned syntax of slackpkg do?

Didier Spaier · 10-07-2009, 09:09 AM

Code:

slackpkg - version 2.80.2

Usage: 	slackpkg update [gpg]		download and update files and 
					package indexes
	slackpkg check-updates		check if there is any news on
					Slackware's ChangeLog.txt
	slackpkg install package	download and install packages 
	slackpkg upgrade package	download and upgrade packages
	slackpkg reinstall package	same as install, but for packages 
					already installed
	slackpkg remove package		remove installed packages
	slackpkg clean-system		remove all packages which are not 
					present in the official Slackware 
					package set. Good to keep the house
					in order
	slackpkg upgrade-all		sync all packages installed in your 
					machine with the selected mirror. This
					is the correct way to upgrade all of 
					your machine.
	slackpkg install-new		install packages which are added to
					the official Slackware package set.
					Run this if you are upgrading to another
					Slackware version or using current.
	slackpkg blacklist		Blacklist a package. Blacklisted
					packages cannot be upgraded, installed,
					or reinstalled by slackpkg
	slackpkg download		Only download (do not install) a package
	slackpkg info package		Show package information 
					(works with only ONE package)
	slackpkg search file		Search for a specific file in the
					entire package collection
	slackpkg new-config		Search for new configuration files and
					ask to user what to do with them.
	slackpkg generate-template	Create a template with all
					official Slackware packages installed 
					in your machine.
	slackpkg install-template	Install selected template.
	slackpkg remove-template	Remove selected template. Be careful.

You can see more information about slackpkg usage and some examples
in slackpkg's manpage. You can use partial package names (such as x11
instead x11-devel, x11-docs, etc), or even Slackware series
(such as n,ap,xap,etc) when searching for packages.

When you reinstall, or install a new version of a package (e.g. following an upgrade), the installer does not remove any existing configuration file but instead create a new one with the same name plus the suffix .new. So aforementioned command let you check if you forgot to decide what to do about the old and the new configuration files.

Yury_T · 10-07-2009, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

...
When you reinstall, or install a new version of a package (e.g. following an upgrade), the installer does not remove any existing configuration file but instead create a new one with the same name plus the suffix .new. So aforementioned command let you check if you forgot to decide what to do about the old and the new configuration files.

Thanks, I see. Not exactly what I would call a useful tool to me, personally. But thanks, nevertheless.

Yury_T · 10-08-2009, 05:34 AM

I blame the new Intel xorg driver included in the Slackware 13.0.

After I've purged /usr and reinstalled all packages, the issue is still there, and an interesting nuances may be discerned:

1. The attached windowmaker screenshot shows that *either* vector or bitmap font may or may be not rendered correctly. Also, the glxgears output is "tripled" with each copy "offset".

2. Window move/resize/output leave garbage on screen.

3. In text console, there are short horizontal black lines flickering all over the screen (looks somewhat similarly to a TV interference). This is correlated with the hard disk activity.

Didier Spaier · 10-08-2009, 09:58 AM

The you could try to find something about this issue in the xorg Archives and/or post it to their mailing list.

onebuck · 10-08-2009, 10:44 AM

Hi,

You can take a look at '[TESTING REQUEST] Xorg in -current (yes, again)'. This may aid you in correcting your driver problem.

Didier Spaier · 10-08-2009, 11:58 AM

Or, if you feel brave you can try the recently released xf86-video-intel 2.9.0 as it is supposed to contain "Multiple fixes to make the driver stable for 8xx chipsets, (855GM, 865G, etc.). The 2.8 driver series was extremely unstable with many of these chipsets." (quote from the linked page).

Instructions (in case you need it):

1. From a CD, DVD or mirror, copy the directory source/x11 (and its content, of course) to your home as x11.
2. Download the new source driver archive (take the .bz2 or the .gz, it doesn't matter) and put it in /home/yuri/x11/src/driver
3. become root (su -)
4. cd /home/yuri/x11
5. run the slackbuild:

Code:

./x11.SlackBuild driver xf86-video-intel

It should make 6 Slackware packages and put them in /tmp: the five which were already in /home/yuri/x11/src/driver plus the one you just added.

Then you can use upgradepkg to change to any of these and see if after that things look better. Of course you will have to restart the X server so that each change take effect.

Would you do so, please tell us what you got.

Notes.
1. For this to work, of course you will need all packages necessary for compilation, including gcc, kernel-source and kernel-headers. A full and clean install will do.
2. Try at least the new version before complaining @ the xorg mailing-list or the intel-gfx one.

PS. Of course, first make sure that the "intel" driver is chosen in X configuration...

Yury_T · 10-08-2009, 03:19 PM

Thank you guys, but I've already DOWNgraded my Intel xorg drivers, to the 2.7.0 level, which was what helped.

Seems that that 5-fold increase in non-DRI throughput (250fps with 2.9.0, 55 with 2.7.0, on my hardware), introduced between 2.7.0 and 2.8.0, came with a price of breaking something important. One may notice on my screenshot that gears are "quintupled". I've tried playing with the "planes-looking" options, but to no avail.

So, Intel driver level 2.7.0 (http://intellinuxgraphics.org/) is "it", for the Latitude 100L with the Intel 852GM/855GM.

I really don't have time to proceed with the Xorg investigation, so feel free to take this issue there.

)

Didier Spaier · 10-08-2009, 04:51 PM

Glad you eventually have it working. Would be interesting to check that driver version 2.9.0 works as well though.

I can't try, as I don't have the same hardware...

Yury_T · 10-09-2009, 01:34 AM

Ah, forgot to tell that I actually tried versions 2.9.0 and 2.8.1 before attempting the downgrade. Those have the same issue, however.

Didier Spaier · 10-09-2009, 06:50 AM

Then it would be kind of you to file a bug, as it looks like a regression.

Cheers,

Yury_T · 10-09-2009, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

Then it would be kind of you to file a bug, as it looks like a regression.

Is this okay?

Didier Spaier · 10-09-2009, 04:23 PM

Well, I meant inform the upstream developers. But hopefully Robby Workman, who is probably in touch with them, will transmit. Maybe you could ask him to.

PS the link you provided in your last post is broken. Don't worry though, I founded the thread.