Arch Linux

Expez

Member

Registered: 2012-03-31

Posts: 14

[Solved] Blurry fonts and icons in X

I'm trying to configure a new system and the fonts on my main monitor are blurry to the point of being unreadable (both in terminal and in apps like Firefox).  The X cursor, as well as icons like 'back' and 'refresh' in Firefox, looks like they have the wrong resolution or are 'out of focus'.

Prior to starting X, everything is fine.  The monitor has resolution 2560x1440 and the 1920x1080 monitors have fonts that look fine.

The gfx card I'm using is a gtx680 with Nvidia's proprietary drivers.

/etc/X11/xorg.conf:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 319.32  (buildmeister@swio-display-x64-rhel04-14)  Wed Jun 19 15:50:23 PDT 2013

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 319.32  (buildmeister@swio-display-x64-rhel04-14)  Wed Jun 19 15:50:37 PDT 2013

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL U2711"
    HorizSync       29.0 - 113.0
    VertRefresh     49.0 - 86.0
    Option         "DPMS"
    Option	   "DPI" "96 x 96"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 680"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +1080+240, DFP-3: nvidia-auto-select +3640+0 {rotation=90}, DFP-4: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {rotation=90}; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0; DFP-0: 1920x1200 +0+0; DFP-0: 1680x1050 +0+0; DFP-0: 1600x1200 +0+0; DFP-0: 1280x1024 +0+0; DFP-0: 1280x1024_60 +0+0; DFP-0: 1280x800 +0+0; DFP-0: 1152x864 +0+0; DFP-0: 1024x768 +0+0; DFP-0: 1024x768_60 +0+0; DFP-0: 800x600 +0+0; DFP-0: 800x600_60 +0+0; DFP-0: 640x480 +0+0; DFP-0: 640x480_60 +0+0; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=1920x1080}; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=1440x900, viewportout=2304x1440+128+0}; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=1366x768, viewportout=2560x1439+0+0}; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=1280x720}"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

As can be seen here I tried setting the DPI manually, for the high res monitor, but that had no effect.  I also tried "UseEdidDPI" "False" along with manual DPI setting as option in the Screen section, like suggested in the Wiki, but that too did not have any effect.

output from xrandr:

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 4720 x 1920, maximum 16384 x 16384
DVI-I-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-I-1 connected primary 2560x1440+1080+240 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 597mm x 336mm
   2560x1440      60.0*+
   1920x1200      59.9  
   1680x1050      60.0  
   1600x1200      60.0  
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1280x800       59.8  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.0     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     60.3  
   640x480        75.0     59.9  
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-D-0 connected 1080x1920+3640+0 left (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 475mm x 267mm
   1920x1080      60.0*+
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.0     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     60.3  
   640x480        75.0     59.9  
DP-1 connected 1080x1920+0+0 left (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 475mm x 267mm
   1920x1080      60.0*+
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1152x864       75.0  
   1024x768       75.0     60.0  
   800x600        75.0     60.3  
   640x480        75.0     59.9  

I've had a working setup with these monitors and the same GFX card on Arch linux before, but I set that up over a year ago and can't remember using any magical invocations.

edit: while reconnecting monitors after move I accidentally single and dual-link DVI cables.

Last edited by Expez (2013-07-12 11:39:32)