[mythtv-users] text in certain fields became too tiny after X glitch

Michael T. Dean mtdean at thirdcontact.com
Tue Feb 15 19:36:14 UTC 2011


On 02/15/2011 11:48 AM, James Miller wrote:
> This problem refers to a mythbutnu 10.04 FE/BE machine that has a pretty
> low-resolution (800x600 max), 31" CRT monitor hooked to it. I'm using the
> mythcenter SD theme, btw--the only theme I've found that displays sanely
> on this low-res monitor.
>
> I recently added an hvr-1600 capture card to the system which, I
> subsequently discovered, conflicts with the nvidia graphics card I have in
> this machine. I found the fix for that conflict (adding vmalloc=256M to
> the kernel's boot parameters) and was able to get the video working more
> sanely. But I'm now left with certain artifacts: parts of mythfrontend are
> being displayed with text that is way too small to read. A more detailed
> rehearsal of the issue follows.
>
> So, I got the hvr-1600 card and put it into the machine and booted up. I
> was greeted, on appearance of the gui, with a pop-up window telling me the
> computer had booted into low-graphics mode (apparently unaware that my
> monitor will only do low-graphics mode anyway). I presume the vesa driver
> is used when the machine runs in this mode. That presented some problems
> in that many of the dialogs with which I was presented were simply
> illegible: I think the text must have been something like 6 or 4 points
> and, on a monitor this big and with such low resolution, there was simply
> no possibility of reading it. I got past that dialog and once mythfrontend
> came up, things looked fine for the most part. But when I went to add and
> configure the new capture card, some of the pop-up dialogs with which the
> system presented me were also in very small type--though just big enough
> to read at just the right distance from the screen. So I was able to add
> and configure the card, then research the low-graphics issue and implement
> the fix listed above.
>
> I assumed that, once I would be able to get the nvidia driver to load, the
> tiny text issue would resolve itself. I find, however, that it persists.
> Most of the text is of a legible size--the same size as it's been since I
> set up this system. But certain elements display in tiny text and are
> nearly illegible. Pop-up windows, for example, such as appear when I do
> channel scans in mythsetup, are in this tiny text. But also certain
> elements of mythfrontend suffer from this problem, e.g., the clock in the
> upper righthand corner in the program guide; it's just way too small to
> read except at about 3 feet from the screen.
>
> I should point out that, from the time I set up this machine until I added
> the hvr-1600 and experienced the video issues I've described, no text
> displayed in the tiny font that now plagues certain components of the
> display. The clock in the upper-right of the program guide and all pop-up
> dialogs were in a normal, legible font size. So this issue was apparently
> precipitated by the machine reverting to low-graphics mode. And it now
> persists, even though the graphics issue that apparently triggered it has
> been resolved.
>
> Can anyone offer suggestions about how I might get those elements that
> display in a tiny font to display in a more normal-sized font?

http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Frequently_Asked_Questions#All_my_fonts_look_like_they_are_the_wrong_sizes.2C_how_can_I_correct_this.3F
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Display_Size
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Specifying_DPI_for_NVIDIA_Cards

Use:

xdpyinfo | grep -B2 resolution

to see what's being used for your screen.

Mike


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