extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

archnet · 2011-05-09 21:53:39

I am experiencing extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'. I call it flicker because I can't think of a better term to describe this. And while I've seen this primarily in xterm (since I'm using it primarily), I did observe this in urxvt as well.

Here is the problem: I'll be working in xterm and all of a sudden part of the text on screen will disappear, the cursor will move back to the last character visible and the keyboard will seem unresponsive (although it is still entering characters, albeit invisibly). The text is still there, but invisible. If I change focused screens (say, a second xterm) and focus back, the text will reappear.

This is intolerable behavior as I do most of my work in a terminal. I have also never observed this before on any other platform. I wonder if running dbus as a daemon or conky is causing this behavior (but, I don't know)?

Any thoughts?

archnet · 2011-05-11 00:37:42

By removing dbus from the list of daemons, the debilitating behavior has stopped, but I can still see where the cursor is jumping around.

archnet · 2011-05-12 23:42:02

I am still experiencing this problem. I have tried turning off every daemon, except network, I've removed all modules from MODULES, turned off dbus and udevd, turned off conky. I turn something off in the configuration, reboot and test -- and the test is always failing. This problem still persists. I don't know what else I can turn off.

Most often, the cursor will visibly jump an arbitrary number of characters (say, 10 to 20) and all those characters will be invisible (though they are still there) and the keyboard will be apparently dead (though the entered characters are still registered -- you can type a command 'blind'). If you switch to another window and back (or another workspace and back), all becomes visible again.

This issue occurs in every terminal I've tried (xterm, urxvt, aterm, eterm, sakura, etc.), but it only happens in a terminal. Other applications, such as web browsers and qemu don't experience this issue.

I like what I've seen in general of Arch, but as I spend the majority of my time in the terminal, this issue is making Arch useless for me. I have *never* experienced this type of an issue with a terminal (and not just one of them, but all of them).

Does anyone have any suggestions?

hellomynameisphil · 2011-05-12 23:47:41

What window manager are you using? Have you tried another window manager?

archnet · 2011-05-13 00:20:19

hellomynameisphil wrote:

What window manager are you using? Have you tried another window manager?

I am currently using Fluxbox, but I experience the same issue in plain twm.

hellomynameisphil · 2011-05-13 01:25:58

Is there anything in your .xinitrc that might be causing this? And though it seems unlikely, I wonder if there is anything funky in your .bashrc or .profile. That might explain why it is only happening in terminals.

hellomynameisphil · 2011-05-13 01:30:23

And I wonder if you have the same problem when not in X at all.

archnet · 2011-05-13 02:24:59

hellomynameisphil wrote:

Is there anything in your .xinitrc that might be causing this? And though it seems unlikely, I wonder if there is anything funky in your .bashrc or .profile. That might explain why it is only happening in terminals.

This latest time I didn't have a chance to install my bashrc file, so it is only running on the 'stock' Arch bash files.

My .xinitrc was taken straight from what the system provided (I only changed it to use fluxbox instead of twm) and recommendations from ArchWiki on the system beep and the screen dpms (but the only change is the duration before the screen hibernates). Here is a copy of my .xinitrc:

#!/bin/sh

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
sysresources=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xresources
sysmodmap=/etc/X11/xinit/.Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps

if [ -f $sysresources ]; then
    xrdb -merge $sysresources
fi

if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
    xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi

if [ -f "$userresources" ]; then
    xrdb -merge "$userresources"
fi

if [ -f "$usermodmap" ]; then
    xmodmap "$usermodmap"
fi

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ]; then
    for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/*; do
        [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
    done
    unset f
fi

# turn off screen blanking
xset s 3600 3600
xset dpms 3600 3600 3600

#turn off system beep
xset -b

# start some nice programs
#twm &
#xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
#xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
#xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
#exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login
exec startfluxbox

hellomynameisphil wrote:

And I wonder if you have the same problem when not in X at all.

No, the console is perfect.

Jonhoo · 2011-05-14 14:51:11

I have the exact same problem!
Came out of nowhere a couple of days ago.
The problem only seems to occur every now and then for me tho..
Does selecting the text in the terminal window reveal it for you as well?

Jonhoo · 2011-05-15 17:18:06

Hmm.. The problem now also occurs in Chromium when scrolling on certain websites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belay_device for instance)..

Does no-one have an idea of what might be causing this?

archnet · 2011-05-16 00:14:03

Jonhoo wrote:

I have the exact same problem!
Came out of nowhere a couple of days ago.
The problem only seems to occur every now and then for me tho..
Does selecting the text in the terminal window reveal it for you as well?

Yes, it usually does - though sometimes the highlighting almost instantly vanishes as well.

archnet · 2011-05-16 00:15:33

Jonhoo wrote:

Hmm.. The problem now also occurs in Chromium when scrolling on certain websites (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belay_device for instance)..
Does no-one have an idea of what might be causing this?

I didn't notice it in anything other than terminals. I'm almost convinced this is an issue with the new 1.3 release of fluxbox. Is that the WM you use?

Jonhoo · 2011-05-16 21:25:31

No, I use pure compiz with emerald theming...
I've noticed also that the graphics performance of my laptop seems to have been degraded since I first saw this problem. YouTube videos are having problems playing full screen even at 360p which worked fine before, minecraft lags at even the lowest graphics settings, mplayer refuses to decode any video with vdpau...
Perhaps this is an issue with an update to the nVidia driver? Are you using a nVidia card with the proprietary driver as well?

EDIT: Perhaps the problem is related to this thread? https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=117423

Last edited by Jonhoo (2011-05-16 21:32:49)

archnet · 2011-05-17 23:46:49

Jonhoo wrote:

Perhaps this is an issue with an update to the nVidia driver? Are you using a nVidia card with the proprietary driver as well?

No, it's Intel integrated video (GMA965).

dcarroll65 · 2011-06-02 18:56:43

Happens to me too. Only happens with old-school fonts such as Terminus. Video is Intel GMA965. WM is openbox. Began this spring.

What's really weird is I've never seen it happen when I'm running in dual-head mode at the office. Ie. laptop screen + external VGA. Interesting.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-05-09 21:53:39

extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#2 2011-05-11 00:37:42

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#3 2011-05-12 23:42:02

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#4 2011-05-12 23:47:41

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#5 2011-05-13 00:20:19

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#6 2011-05-13 01:25:58

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#7 2011-05-13 01:30:23

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#8 2011-05-13 02:24:59

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#9 2011-05-14 14:51:11

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#10 2011-05-15 17:18:06

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#11 2011-05-16 00:14:03

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#12 2011-05-16 00:15:33

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#13 2011-05-16 21:25:31

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#14 2011-05-17 23:46:49

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

#15 2011-06-02 18:56:43

Re: extreme x11 terminal 'flicker'

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