[SOLVED] WMs show garbled text and are unresponsive

arwen__89 · 2023-04-24 18:41:10

(nothing is really visible due to the thumbnail size; please Open Image in New Tab)

This is what I see when I start awesome using startx or sudo xinit /usr/bin/awesome. The first one is what I see when it starts, the one after that is after clicking randomly around those two buttons on the top. The only thing that works is exiting awesome with Super+Shift+Q

The same thing happens with i3.

Following the wiki and whatever information I could find with a search engine, here are the things I've tried -

- Copied a .xinitrc from /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc, and modified it to start awesome
my .xinitrc
- Generated an xorg.conf with sudo Xorg :0 configure, and put it in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
my Xorg.0.log; Xorg.0.log.old
- Noticing error messages in /var/log/Xorg.0.log about fonts, installed a monospace font monofur. Then it complained about not finding font.scale, so I had to install xorg-mkfontscale to run mkfontdir. This made that specific error go away, but the issue remained unchanged.
(my xorg.conf)
- made sure vboxservice.service was started and enabled
- lsmod shows that vboxsf, vboxvideo, vboxguest are all present
- ran mkdir -p /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers, then reinstalled virtualbox-guest-utils
- Upgraded VirtualBox, as well as the Guest Additions, to the version of the Arch package virtualbox-guest-utils (7.0.8).
- ran VBoxClient-all and VBoxClient --vmsvga before startx
- scrolled through 8 pages of the VirtualBox bug tracker for Linux

None of it did anything for the wierd display.

I should also add that this was all AFTER trying to get Wayland compositors to work. Sway, Hyprland, River... they all produced a blank screen, and would not accept any keyboard input. I had to force-shutdown the VM to get out of them. So I -Rns ed all of them and tried Xorg WMs.

Also, this is unfortunately probably a non-exhaustive list, because I have been doing this for so long I've begun to forget what I've tried... but I'll probably be able to remember details if specifically asked.

Last edited by arwen__89 (2023-04-26 14:23:55)

Trilby · 2023-04-24 18:52:27

arwen__89 wrote:

when I start awesome using ... sudo xinit /usr/bin/awesome.

Don't ever do that.

arwen__89 wrote:

Copied a .xinitrc from /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc, and modified it to start awesome
my .xinitrc

I'm assuming that's a copy-paste error with the link as that's not an xinitrc.

~~In any case, the (main) problem just appears to be missing fonts.~~ What fonts (other than monofur) have you installed?

(edit: given that ttf-dejavu has been installed, my suspicion is almost certainly wrong - this is not a fonts issue, but likely a graphics rendering issue perhaps driver related).

Last edited by Trilby (2023-04-24 20:54:21)

arwen__89 · 2023-04-24 19:52:13

I'm assuming that's a copy-paste error with the link as that's not an xinitrc.

Ugh, mixed up the .xinitrc and xorg.conf links. Fixed the post.

What fonts (other than monofur) have you installed?

ttf-inconsolata and ttf-dejavu

I also tried adding gnu-free to the font paths -

 	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/gnu-free"

But for some reason Xorg seems to ignore that, going by the input of Xorg.0.log.

seth · 2023-04-24 20:34:56

http://ix.io/4ubS/
Remove that file, it's full of nonsense and cruft (I know that you didn't write it, Xorg -cofigure did and it produces this kind of nonsense and is not required, nor is a staic server config)

As this is a virtualbox installation:
- What's the host system?
- disable the HW acceleration in the virtual machine:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Virtua … rting_Xorg

arwen__89 · 2023-04-24 20:57:46

disable the HW acceleration in the virtual machine

HOLY CRAP THAT FIXED IT!
I remember reading somewhere else that it needed to be on, so I never thought that it would be an issue...

For future newbies - you do this by going into Settings>Display, and unticking the checkbox saying 'Enable 3D Acceleration'.

What's the host system?

Oops, should've mentioned that... VirtualBox 7.0.8 on Windows 10.

Thank you so much for your help, both of you! ^^

seth · 2023-04-24 21:11:56

VirtualBox 7.0.8 on Windows 10.

See also https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=284675

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

Arch Linux

#1 2023-04-24 18:41:10

[SOLVED] WMs show garbled text and are unresponsive

#2 2023-04-24 18:52:27

Re: [SOLVED] WMs show garbled text and are unresponsive

#3 2023-04-24 19:52:13

Re: [SOLVED] WMs show garbled text and are unresponsive

#4 2023-04-24 20:34:56

Re: [SOLVED] WMs show garbled text and are unresponsive

#5 2023-04-24 20:57:46

Re: [SOLVED] WMs show garbled text and are unresponsive

#6 2023-04-24 21:11:56

Re: [SOLVED] WMs show garbled text and are unresponsive

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