[SOLVED] KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-

[gekkko]

Hi,
Can anyone help with this problem?

I am running Kubuntu Intrepid, clean installed. Graphics card is a NVidia Geforce4. I get this odd problem when I turn desktop effects on (Kwin): only in the case of some apps (KDE3 apps like Amarok, Digikam, Knetworkmanager, and also Openoffice), the text in the menu disappears. Hovering over the menu with the mouse will reveal it for a fraction of a second. It's as if there was an extra blank 'layer' on top of the text which conceals it. Gnome apps (I've got Tomboy installed) are not affected. I have spent some time looking through forums, but can't find any other reference to that problem.
Any idea what might be causing that?
I have tried disabling individual effects one by one, but none seem to be directly causing this. Only by unticking 'desktop effects' does the text reappear.
I previously had 8.04 installed, and did not have that problem.

[Guest]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps

Hi,

I'm suffering with this same problem. Have you succeeded in solving it?

[gekkko]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps

Well, after searching the forums, I can answer my own problem, I think. It is, as I doubted, a problem with the Nvidia driver. I have a Geforce4 which is no longer supported, so solutions to get this fixed would simply be to change graphics card (or downgrade to KDE3, or move to Gnome, but no way I am going to do this, KDE4 is great even without fancy effects). It seems that new versions of the driver for post Geforce6 cards improve things much.

For more info:
http://forum.kde.org/common-problems...us-t-6971.html
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/show....php?p=1897256

[Pisnaz]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps

Go to system settings / appearence / fonts and turn on antiailising. That should fix the problem with effects turned back on. They may look blocky, from some reports, but this apparently is fixed in the newest drivers being tested by nvidia atm.

[gekkko]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps


Thank you Pisnaz! But you mean antialiasing should be disabled, not turned on. Disabling it does solve part of the problem: I can now use openoffice with effects turned on (though things look a little ugly without antialiasing). However, I have tried opening Digikam (kde3), and the problem persists. It's all rather odd, I wonder if there is a way of fine tuning the settings. But it's great to see that at least some things are working now. I will report back if I find anything new.

[Pisnaz]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps

Nope I meant turned on but only in the appearance fonts section. That solved it for me and is one of the few workarounds I found when trying to fix it myself. It was the easiest to implement that still allowed me to run the effects.

That said I am on a different nvid card and driver than you (96). I found a number of hits in regards to this, let me dig through my history. Can you confirm what driver you use for me? I figure if you can get the effects though small do add the small ohhh shiny factor above and beyond, it also makes people users perk up and go hey how can I do that lol.

[gekkko]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps

I tried playing around with the settings, and can confirm that the problem is solved in openoffice when antialiasing is DISABLED, either in the control centre (under appearance and fonts), or in openoffice itself. The problem remains with Digikam, antialiasing abled or disabled.
I am using the 96 driver.

Btw, desktop effects for me are not just eye candy, they have a very useful function: making my work less boring. I spend hours in front of that dull openoffice interface, and shadow effects, window flipping and the odd exploding window just make it all just a little more enjoyable.

[gekkko]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps

(I have edited this, as I am not sure how accurate the original was)

I don't know why, but this problem is now solved. Probably a result of a recent update? Not sure because the effects were disabled for a while, and today, things seem to be working at last! I did change one setting in the desktop effects options, I switched from Cover Switch to Box Switch, not sure if that did something, though changing it back, the menu text in OOo and other apps is still working okay.

[sithlord48]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps

if your using the nvidia legacy drivers ,(nvidia-glx-96)

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3099397.0

[gekkko]

Re: KWin/desktop effects problem in Intrepid - menu text disappears in non-KDE4 apps

thanks sithlord for the link. As I said, for some reason my problem solved itself (I wouldn't mind knowing how). The thread you refer to should help others who are still having this problem. I am marking the thread as solved.