”Artifacts” in OpenOffice and LibreOffice

users
#1

I have had this problem for quite some time now (months if not years)
in LibreOffice and OpenOffice. The problems are maybe a little bit
worse in LibreOffice, but I didn't exactly measure it…

It looks like a graphics card problem, but why are nothing else
affected? It only happens to OpenOffice and LibreOffice. I tested a
few versions and it seems to not matter. The screenshots are taken
with Apache OpenOffice 3.4.1 and I saw the same thing in LibreOffice
3.5, 3.6 and 4.0. I think this also happened with earlier LibreOffice
versions, like 3.4 and 3.3. I didn't use OpenOffice since 3.2 (except
3.4.1, which I use these days), and I don't even remember what it
looked like.

Here's a screenshot with Apache OpenOffice Calc 3.4.1. I added some
arrows pointing at the problem areas:
http://ubuntuone.com/0wvqcaN38PC5835t4uJVPv

The worst thing is when I try to use the Basic IDE, take a look at
this. Very hard to write and edit code when it looks like this:
http://ubuntuone.com/4HRPQMpblZT97UxHq5ggzO

My operating system is Ubuntu 12.04 and the more stuff I run at the
same time, the worse will it look.

My graphics card is the nVidia GeForce Go 7300, which is blacklisted
for use with the Unity 3D desktop, so that may be what's causing this
problem, but still it ONLY happens to LibreOffice and OpenOffice.

One thought that I have is that LibreOffice and OpenOffice are not GTK
applications (I think – are they?), but on the other hand, neither is
my web browser (Opera), and I don't have these problems with it.

Both LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org were installed with the official
deb files. The LibreOffice version that came with Ubuntu 12.04 was
carefully removed before installing what I have now.

Thoughts? Anyone else saw this?

Packard Bell Easy Note MX66 laptop, made in November 2006.
2.0 GiB RAM, Genuine Intel® CPU T2050 @ 1.60GHz × 2.

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (32 bits)
Kernel: Linux 3.2.0-41-generic-pae

nVIDIA Driver Version: 304.88

#2

More details:
I run two screens: The laptop built-in screen (17", 1280×800) and an
external Samsung SyncMaster F2380 (23", 1920×1080). If I disable one
of them, the problem is gone or at least reduced.

Johnny Rosenberg

#3

I have had subtle redraw issues with OO off and on, and I always blamed it on an interaction between applications and the video drivers. Realize that I use nVidia video cards on 64-bit Fedora using the proprietary video drivers. What I saw was not remotely as bad. Admittedly, when I tried out the latest dev build, it was totally unusable (of course, the single tester was unable to reproduce on Windows 7).

see https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=122214

Are you able to do a test and change your video driver say between the free and not free driver to see if there is a change (I do not use Ubuntu so I don't have a good handle on what drivers are available or how).

I used to have exactly the same problem in QT, and it was very bad. I was able to avoid the problem with QT Creator by starting it using

-graphicssystem raster

Not that I expect this to help you. I did notice that it still has some rendering issues that appeared in the latest versions (I believe it is related to an over-lay issue when you edit a field.... that assumption allowed me to fix it in the software that I write, but I did not jump into the QT code base).

I have seen strange redraw issues so long in OO that correcting for it is almost automatic in my brain (scroll screen up then down to clear) so I cannot even say if I still see the problem. I think I do, but it is for sure not as bad is it used to be for me.

I know, that I have rambled on and on.... I will summarize in saying

1. I have never seen it so bad
2. I have seen screen corruption
3. You may avoid some of it based on the video driver

If I had it that bad on my Fedora system, I would likely change my desktop on login to see if it helped. With Fedora, I can easily jump between Gnome and KDE (as one example). I would also try jumping between the two different drivers available to see how that helped as well. Sadly, the "free" driver is poor with respect to 3D stuff.

#4

I see less-dramatic variants of these on Windows 8 also, using an ATI Radeon HD 5980 graphics processor with an HP Z30W monitor in 32bbp 2560 x 1600 landscape orientation.

I am certain in my case that the situation is GDI/driver/engine related. The typical situation is where editing leads to modified text appearing off-baseline and interfering with adjacent text, usually in the line above. Since causing the displayed material to refresh corrects things (e.g., by performing a Page Down followed by a Page Up), the situation is somewhere in the rendering path.

I am not so certain that the situation is unique to OpenOffice-lineage programs. That may just reflect where we are working so much. It could be attributable to heavy usage of fine-detail font rendering in these programs bringing out the defects. There might also be associated computational errors (somewhere in the code base and libraries used) in how changes in documents are first rendered in the GUI.

It is also necessary to consider that different users observe similar defects with different causes. It does seem that it is all about rendering in the GUI, not something untoward happening to the document itself (internal to the program or when made persistent).

The challenge is having tests that can reveal these situations and support isolation of causes.

- Dennis

#5

I have had subtle redraw issues with OO off and on, and I always blamed it
on an interaction between applications and the video drivers. Realize that I
use nVidia video cards on 64-bit Fedora using the proprietary video drivers.
What I saw was not remotely as bad. Admittedly, when I tried out the latest
dev build, it was totally unusable (of course, the single tester was unable
to reproduce on Windows 7).

see https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=122214

Are you able to do a test and change your video driver say between the free
and not free driver to see if there is a change (I do not use Ubuntu so I
don't have a good handle on what drivers are available or how).

I used to have exactly the same problem in QT, and it was very bad. I was
able to avoid the problem with QT Creator by starting it using

-graphicssystem raster

Not that I expect this to help you. I did notice that it still has some
rendering issues that appeared in the latest versions (I believe it is
related to an over-lay issue when you edit a field.... that assumption
allowed me to fix it in the software that I write, but I did not jump into
the QT code base).

I have seen strange redraw issues so long in OO that correcting for it is
almost automatic in my brain (scroll screen up then down to clear) so I
cannot even say if I still see the problem. I think I do, but it is for sure
not as bad is it used to be for me.

I know, that I have rambled on and on.... I will summarize in saying

1. I have never seen it so bad
2. I have seen screen corruption
3. You may avoid some of it based on the video driver

If I had it that bad on my Fedora system, I would likely change my desktop
on login to see if it helped. With Fedora, I can easily jump between Gnome
and KDE (as one example). I would also try jumping between the two different
drivers available to see how that helped as well. Sadly, the "free" driver
is poor with respect to 3D stuff.

Thanks for your input, and also thanks to all of you who replied.

I did some more tests and I found that it seems to be a problem
related to the fact that my graphics card is blacklisted for use with
Unity 3D.
First I installed KDE, just to see what happens. I wasn't sure what
package to install, so I installed kde-full, which maybe was a bit
overkill…
I logged out and then in to KDE, configured the driver to use both
screens, then I opened a spreadsheet. Oddly enough, it tried to open
the file with an archive manager, so I had to manually tell it to open
with OpenOffice. I then opened the Basic IDE window and I found no
problems what so ever, except that I don't like KDE, but that's
another question…

I didn't try the free driver, but maybe I will later.

Right now I am logged in to Unity 2D and that also works flawlessly. I
don't like Unity 2D either, though. I miss some Compiz effects, among
other things… Maybe I just have to live with it until I buy another
computer with a non-blacklisted graphics card…

Johnny Rosenberg

#6

Here's a screenshot with Apache OpenOffice Calc 3.4.1. I added some
arrows pointing at the problem areas:
http://ubuntuone.com/0wvqcaN38PC5835t4uJVPv

The worst thing is when I try to use the Basic IDE, take a look at
this. Very hard to write and edit code when it looks like this:
http://ubuntuone.com/4HRPQMpblZT97UxHq5ggzO

My operating system is Ubuntu 12.04 and the more stuff I run at the
same time, the worse will it look.

That looks pretty similar to the problems I had when I upgraded to
12.04. At the time I had a low end (~£20) fanless nvidea graphics card
in the PC that had been working just fine for years.

When I replaced it with a low end (~£15 ex VAT) fanless ATI based
graphics card, the problem went away. Can't guarantee this this will
purge your gremlins of course but it won't cost a fortune to find out.

I am not sure it's even possible to replace my graphics card; it's a
laptop. I have been planning to replace it with a desktop computer
since 2010, but so far I didn't, for some reason… Maybe I should
finally do it.

Johnny Rosenberg

#7

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahh, great to hear someone else prefers Unity to KDE!  I think the KDE team are great and doing great stuff and my neighbour thinks it's fantastic.  I just find myself enjoying Unity nowadays but i'm glad KDE is around.

Hmm, do you have to buy a whole new computer just to get a new graphics card?  My current desktop has had 4 new graphics cards over the years.  But it's also had 2 changes of fans, 1 new power-supply, more ram, 3 new hard-drives, 3 'new'(ish) Cpus and 2 new mbords, err and 2 new cases (hence the change of fans).  There's still 1 of the fans that has been in all combinations.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#8

Hi :slight_smile:
Changing the driver in Ubuntu can lead to a right mess that is difficult to boot into.  It might be worth setting up a new partition and installing Ubuntu to that in order to test out the other driver.  You can even fully install Ubuntu onto a Usb-stick.  NOT a LiveUsb but a full proper install to a stick that's at least 8Gb
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#9

Hi JOhnny,

if you have not done yet, you can do a try with the options in:

Menu/Tools/Options/LibreOffice/View - Graphics output.

specially with Anti-Aliasing, I remember sometimes have had visible effects
on the screen.
Miguel Ángel

#10

I experimented a little and now I don't have any ”artifacts” anymore.
Yet… There are other problems now, though, but nothing as serious as
before, I think… I'll try this for a while and see what more I find…

I edited the nVidia settings a bit. After opening the nVidia X Server
Settings i checked X Screen 0 → Antialiasing Settings → ☒ Enable FXAA.
So far no ”artifacts”, but sometimes when I do Ctrl+Alt, windows
disappears and when they reappear they are empty (white). A click on
Maximize/Reset takes care of that, though…

I'll try the older driver (173) another day to see what happens.

Johnny Rosenberg