[SOLVED] Blocks instead of letters in Cinammon menu

StepanSebestian · 2020-05-02 22:21:16

Hi. (english isn't my 1st language, please bear with me)

After some hopping between distros and Windows because my school has a weird app that didn't user to run under wine or a VM, I came back to where my modern Linux journey began (and yes, I do consider 2010 Linux NOT modern), to Arch.
After fiddling around with i3-gaps, I ended up switching to cinnamon, it just felt weird not being able to stack windows easily. I have been trying out some FOSS animation programs, and this issue started happening after yay finished installing Synfig Studio from https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/synfigstudio although I am not sure if this is somehow related.

Whenever I open the application menu on Cinammon, instead of letters I see blocks, as if I didn't have any fonts installed, however

[stepan@destr01 ~]$ pacman -Qs ttf
local/noto-fonts 20190926-4
    Google Noto TTF fonts
local/ttf-ibm-plex 4.0.2-2
    IBM Plex Mono, Sans, and Serif
local/ttf-ubuntu-font-family 0.83-5
    Ubuntu font family
[stepan@destr01 ~]$

Since I rebooted, it started happening to the taskbar as well, however my Firefox and System Settings appear unaffected.

I have configured my fonts with the Cinammon settings, here they are in their current state:

Default font: Ubuntu Regular 9
Desktop font: Ubuntu Regular 10
Document font: Ubuntu Regular 11
Monospace font: Ubuntu Mono Regular 10
Window title font: Ubuntu Bold 10

Text scaling factor: 1,0
Hinting: None
Antialiasing: None
RGBA Order: RGB

The reason I have disabled both hinting and aliasing and have tried the Ubuntu font is because of a forum post somewhere that suggested doing this. Changing any of these options doesn't do anything to the menu.

I have tried creating a new user, and the only thing that has changed is that whenever I log in with the new account instead of blocks I get those unicode symbols when your font doesn't support the character and I get them everywhere instead of just the menu and taskbar.

My .xsession-errors contains this (I haven't been able to decipher anything meaningful):

[stepan@destr01 ~]$ cat .xsession-errors
[cinnamon-settings-daemon-smartcard] Failed to start: no suitable smartcard driver could be found
[cinnamon-settings-daemon-smartcard] Failed to start: no suitable smartcard driver could be found
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: unsetenv() is not thread-safe and should not be used after threads are created
Clutter-Message: 00:05:30.392: Sync method: PRESENTATION TIME
** Message: 00:05:30.470: nemo-desktop: session is cinnamon, establishing proxy

(nm-applet:21651): nm-applet-WARNING **: 00:05:30.487: NetworkManager is not running
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.552: JS LOG: About to start Cinnamon
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.568: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Cinnamon.AppSystem.get_default() started in 16 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.571: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] loading user theme: /usr/share/themes/Arc-Dark/cinnamon/cinnamon.css
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.584: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] added icon directory: /usr/share/themes/Arc-Dark/cinnamon
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: posix_spawn avoided (fd close requested)
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.734: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] PlacesManager: Updating devices
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.744: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] loaded at Sun May 03 2020 00:05:30 GMT+0200 (CEST)
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.744: JS LOG: Cinnamon started at Sun May 03 2020 00:05:30 GMT+0200 (CEST)
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.756: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] ExtensionSystem started in 2 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.756: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] DeskletManager started in 0 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.757: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] SearchProviderManager started in 0 ms
openGL version 4.6 detected (GL3 Cogl Driver)
MetaSyncRing disabled: couldn't find required GL extensions, or the minimum safe openGL version was not met
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.821: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet show-desktop@cinnamon.org in 24 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.859: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet calendar@cinnamon.org in 38 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.866: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet removable-drives@cinnamon.org in 6 ms
St-Message: 00:05:30.871: cogl npot texture sizes SUPPORTED
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.875: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Role locked: tray
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.876: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet systray@cinnamon.org in 10 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.882: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet xapp-status@cinnamon.org in 6 ms
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: posix_spawn avoided (automatic reaping requested) (fd close requested)
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.900: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet printers@cinnamon.org in 18 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.905: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Role locked: notifications
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.910: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet notifications@cinnamon.org in 8 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.922: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet keyboard@cinnamon.org in 12 ms
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: posix_spawn avoided (automatic reaping requested) (fd close requested)
current: X-Cinnamon
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.949: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet power@cinnamon.org in 26 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.967: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Role locked: panellauncher
Cjs-Message: 00:05:30.978: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet grouped-window-list@cinnamon.org in 30 ms

(csd-power:21483): power-plugin-CRITICAL **: 00:05:31.002: abs_to_percentage: assertion 'max > min' failed
Cjs-Message: 00:05:31.031: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet sound@cinnamon.org in 52 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:31.049: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet network@cinnamon.org in 18 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:31.063: JS LOG: NetworkManager is not running, hiding...
Cjs-Message: 00:05:31.191: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Loaded applet menu@cinnamon.org in 142 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:31.192: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] AppletManager started in 448 ms
Cjs-Message: 00:05:31.194: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Cinnamon took 642 ms to start
Cjs-Message: 00:05:31.457: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Hiding systray: network
** Message: 00:05:32.220: nemo-desktop: session is cinnamon, establishing proxy
cinnamon-session[21260]: WARNING: t+7,05735s: Detected that screensaver has appeared on the bus
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: posix_spawn avoided (fd close requested)
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: posix_spawn avoided (fd close requested)
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: posix_spawn avoided (fd close requested)
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: posix_spawn avoided (fd close requested)
Cjs-Message: 00:12:22.643: JS LOG: [LookingGlass/info] Adding XAppStatusIcon: flameshot (org.x.StatusIcon.PID-21692-0)
Cinnamon warning: Log level 128: posix_spawn avoided (fd close requested)
[stepan@destr01 ~]$

Is there some sort of simple solution to this or should I just screw cinammon and go back to KDE Plasma and try to make it look and feel at least a little bearable?

Thanks.

Last edited by StepanSebestian (2020-05-03 09:19:21)

seth · 2020-05-03 07:22:25

Installing synfigstudio drew in make dependencies for the various xorg-fonts-* packages which provide bitmap fonts (something you'd have noticed and understood by not using a stupid AUR helper)
Apparently there's an issue w/ your font configuration, but those fonts end up being the prefered ones (check "fc-match sans") - at least by cinnamon (no idea, and there're stacking WMs that are closer to i3 and not complete DEs)
Anyway, since pango doesn't support bitmap fonts anymore, you'll end up with those boxes.

=> purge the xorg-fonts-* packages. Maybe deal with the present fontconfig resolution first.
Also check "pacman -Ql synfigstudio" to ensure there're no bitmap font residuals. Especially if you didn't deal w/ the fontconfig resolution.

StepanSebestian · 2020-05-03 09:16:05

Oh, yes I noticed that I just didn't realise that installing xorg-fonts-* would have broken things. Welp, I am going to try it. Thank you.

Well, that ended up being the problem. Sorry for bothering you and thank you very much.

Last edited by StepanSebestian (2020-05-03 09:19:09)

Arch Linux

#1 2020-05-02 22:21:16

[SOLVED] Blocks instead of letters in Cinammon menu

#2 2020-05-03 07:22:25

Re: [SOLVED] Blocks instead of letters in Cinammon menu

#3 2020-05-03 09:16:05

Re: [SOLVED] Blocks instead of letters in Cinammon menu

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