Bug 417241

I had the same problem until I've reverted back to older version 
xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.195-3.fc8.

I'm seeing broken/distorted fonts as well.  I have a:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility
FireGL 9000] (rev 01)

This only seems to affect fontconfig fonts; old-style (server side) fonts are
not broken.  (E.g., Firefox looks like crap, but Emacs is fine.)

I haven't tried reverting xorg-x11-drv-ati to the "updates" version, but based
on the other comments, I fully expect that will avoid the problem.

I can supply more information and/or screenshots if needed...

Reporter, thanks for the bug report.  We have reviewed the information you have
provided above, and there is some additional information we require that will be
helpful in our diagnosis of this issue.

Please attach your X server config file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf) and X server log
file (/var/log/Xorg.*.log) to the bug report as individual uncompressed file
attachments using the bugzilla file attachment link below.

Could you please also try to run without any /etc/X11/xorg.conf whatsoever and
let X11 autodetect your display and video card? Attach to this bug
/var/log/Xorg.0.log from this attempt as well, please.

We will review this issue again once you've had a chance to attach this information.

Thanks in advance.

Created attachment 285931 [details]
/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Created attachment 285941 [details]
Xorg.0.log with xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-4.fc8 [with xorg.conf]

Created attachment 285951 [details]
Xorg.0.log with xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-4.fc8 [without xorg.conf]

Created attachment 285971 [details]
Xorg.0.log with xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-1.fc8 [with xorg.conf]

I'm also attaching Xorg.0.log for the working  xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-1.fc8.

Also I'm currently using kernel-2.6.23.9-78.fc8

Created attachment 286081 [details]
Xorg.0.log, with xorg.conf

The is an Xorg.0.log file from an xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-1.fc8 X server that
had corrupted fonts.  The X server had an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (as
configured by system-config-display).

Created attachment 286091 [details]
Xorg.0.log, without xorg.conf

The is an Xorg.0.log file from an xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-1.fc8 X server that
had corrupted fonts.  The X server did not have an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

Sorry, I got the version wrong; both of my log files (in comment 7 and comment
8) were xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-4.fc8, not xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-1.fc8.

Additionally, I'm running kernel-2.6.23.8-63.fc8.

(Argh; I meant comment 8 and comment 9.)

*** Bug 425401 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

What happens when you use the current driver plus

  Option "AccelMethod" "exa"

in your xorg.conf? Bug 425401 has been closed as a duplicate, and there,
choosing EXA solves the issue completely. Moreover, in bug 425401, only
bitmap fonts are concerned, all other, i.e. the standard antialiased
fonts, are rendered correctly. Have I understood you correctly that just
these non-bitmap fonts are affected in your case?

Just tried using Option "AccelMethod" "exa"

The fonts in gnome-terminals & firefox are working fine with this change.

[Note: I do not know what type of fonts the are - I guess I'm using the standard
gnome fonts]

However I've noticed a few problems after this change

- draging windows arround is sluggish
- sometimes switching windows takes linger time.
- desktop background doesnt get refreshed correctly [after moving arround windows]
- nautilus [in file browser mode] background is totally messed up. Normally it
has white background. But after this change - sometimes I see blue background,
and sometimes it has black background [so no text is visible]

I'm going back to using xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-1.fc8.i386.rpm without "exa"
options now.

(In reply to comment #14)
> Just tried using Option "AccelMethod" "exa"

Thanks for doing so. However, if you are using standard fonts, then they
are -not- bitmap fonts, e.g. such as "Fixed" in the font preferences of
gnome-terminal. Moreover, you seem to talk of minor artifacts whereas in
my case, it's impossible to recognize a -single- character, see

  https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=289401

for "LucidaTypewriter". Can you confirm this?

Created attachment 289703 [details]
screenshot of fonts

I'm attaching a sceenshot of my desktop, with the following terminals:

- firefox
- gnome-terminal with the option system-fixed-font
- gnome-terminal with LucidiaTypewriter 12 font
- xterm with the default fixed font.

The first two are broken - but the last 2 are fine for me.

The behavior I notice with the broken fonts is:
- When they are broken - the fonts are slightly smaller then they should be. So
the artifacts are at the location where the normal-size font should have been.
- when the text with the broken font is selected [with the mouse], then the
font gets reset in the selected text to the correct size, and the artifacts go
away. 
- If I change the focus to a different terminal, the fonts [in the previously
selected text] go back to the bad state.

I've just updated to xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-5.fc8, and I don't see this
problem anymore.

I guess this issue is resolved in this update

The font corruption I was seeing is the corruption that Satish was seeing (in
the attachment in comment 16).

I was *not* seeing the corruption that Joachim is seeing (in the attachment in
comment 15).

As with Satish, when I switched to EXA acceleration, it fixed the corrupted
fonts, but introduced delays in dragging windows and switching workspaces.

With xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.7.196-5.fc8, I do not see corrupted fonts, regardless of
the acceleration method.