Problem with display color...

VP. · 07-10-2006, 09:42 AM

I'm having some strange problems with the display color on a new linux computer I am forced to work on. The linux distribution is Mandriva and I'm using windowmaker as my desktop environment. The actual menus and things are appearing properly, but the content of my browser, aim window, eclipse, etc all look horrible. The text is red and other details end up being some sort of neon blue. I didn't do any customizing of the appearance, it was like this when I first logged on, so I have no clue how to fix this or even how to describe the problem for a google search. I hope this is easy to fix...

Here is a link to a snapshot I took of the desktop so you can see what I'm talking about...

http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/nwhorton/ww.../snapshot2.jpg

Thanks in advance for any help and I hope I'm not being too big of a noob...

visaris · 07-11-2006, 10:09 AM

I'm not 100% sure, but it looks like your problem is that the display does not support true color.

It looks like the display is using some sort of a color pallet. This means: While the display is able to draw any color one wishes, only a limited number of colors can be drawn on the screen at once.

It looks to me like window-maker is somehow defining/providing the colormap. This makes window-maker look correctly but is corrupting the colors of all the other windows in the screen.

To fix this, look into the color-depth of your display or perhaps graphics drivers. Check your XF86Config or xorg.conf file and look for something about "depth".

VP. · 07-12-2006, 01:15 AM

I will check on those files to see if I find anything.

Also, I've found that some other applications look ok, while others are messed up. For example Konqueror looks fine but Firefox does not. Kopete looks fine but GAIM does not. Eclipse looks messed up and I have no replacement for it...

I'm not sure why it's only effecting certain programs though...

VP. · 07-13-2006, 06:49 AM

Here is what I found in XF86Config

Code:

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    DefaultColorDepth 24
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 8
        Virtual 1280 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 15
        Virtual 1280 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 16
        Virtual 1280 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Virtual 1280 1024
    EndSubsection
EndSection

xorg.conf had the same code in it when I searched for "depth" too. I was looking in the /etc/X11 directory...I assume that's the right place?

So any ideas?

visaris · 07-13-2006, 10:21 AM

Hmm. Your files look alright. There is only one more thing I would try:

Would you be willing to type "xwininfo" into the command line, then click on one of the windows that looks alright. Please copy and paste that information here. Next, run "xwininfo" again and click on a window that does not look right. Again, please copy and paste. Next, run "xwininfo" one more time and this time, click on the desktop. Again, please copy and paste.

I may be able to help with this extra information, but other than that, I am out of ideas.

VP. · 07-14-2006, 01:50 AM

Sure...

Here is Konqueror, which is normal...

Code:

xwininfo: Window id: 0x3812a1d "LinuxQuestions.org - Reply to Topic - Konqueror"

  Absolute upper-left X:  1
  Absolute upper-left Y:  23
  Relative upper-left X:  0
  Relative upper-left Y:  22
  Width: 1214
  Height: 928
  Depth: 24
  Visual Class: TrueColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x22 (installed)
  Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: no
  Corners:  +1+23  -65+23  -65-73  +1-73
  -geometry 1214x928+0+0

Here is GAIM, which is messed up...

Code:

xwininfo: Window id: 0x3000073 "Buddy List"

  Absolute upper-left X:  19
  Absolute upper-left Y:  97
  Relative upper-left X:  0
  Relative upper-left Y:  22
  Width: 259
  Height: 785
  Depth: 24
  Visual Class: TrueColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x22 (installed)
  Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: no
  Corners:  +19+97  -1002+97  -1002-142  +19-142
  -geometry 259x785+18+74

And here is the desktop...

Code:

xwininfo: Window id: 0x25 (the root window) (has no name)

  Absolute upper-left X:  0
  Absolute upper-left Y:  0
  Relative upper-left X:  0
  Relative upper-left Y:  0
  Width: 1280
  Height: 1024
  Depth: 24
  Visual Class: TrueColor
  Border width: 0
  Class: InputOutput
  Colormap: 0x22 (installed)
  Bit Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Window Gravity State: NorthWestGravity
  Backing Store State: NotUseful
  Save Under State: no
  Map State: IsViewable
  Override Redirect State: no
  Corners:  +0+0  -0+0  -0-0  +0-0
  -geometry 1280x1024+0+0