Ugly font and invisible mouse pointer (LiveCode 6)

[czayas]

Hi, I'm new with LiveCode, this is my first post in the forums.

I want to try LiveCode in Linux, my preferred distro is Linux Mint KDE, and I notice that the font used in the LiveCode GUI is not the same as the standard system font, and I find it ugly, it seems like a fixed width font.

But most annoying is the fact that the mouse pointer dissappears inside the LiveCode GUI, that is, only inside the LiveCode windows. The mouse pointer works on them, only it is invisible.

I tried LiveCode 6 in two different computers with the same distro, Linux Mint 14 KDE Edition, with the same results. I tried it also in a netbook with Fuduntu, a Fedora/GNOME2 based distro, and it works flawlessly.

Are there packages that I need to install? I tried installing the GNOME desktop, but I want to be able to use LiveCode in KDE.

I will appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

[FourthWorld]

Please post the output of lspci and we'll see what we can come up with.

[mwieder]

I run LC 6 on linux mint 14 without problems. The first time I launched after registering things were a bit weird, but after the second launch everything's been fine.
I've been using Source Code Pro as my default font for some time, so I'm not sure what the default font looks like.

...and I *highly* recommend Source Code Pro for any coding environment.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/sourcecodepro.adobe/


...you do know that you can change the font in LiveCode's preferences, right?

[wsamples]

I run KDE under openSUSE. I am familiar with both of these issues. The disappearing cursor is not a universal problem with LiveCode and KDE and can be tough to resolve when it ocurrs. (It's a compositing issue which is hard to track down and has various possible causes. I also see it in some web browsers displaying certain media content.) Try throwing away your livecode preference file. This will be: ~/.runrev/preferences/livecode.rev if you installed LiveCode just for yourself or look for the file in /opt if you installed it for all users. It's also sometimes a result of bad interaction with plugins, in particular those which use window shapes to display. While you try to resolve it, I can offer a workaround that worked for me; after opening LiveCode, open the Dictionary (yeah, it's tricky with the dissapearing cursor, but you can do it!). After the dictionary opens, click on an item and then the item's entry. This always solved the problem for me when I had it - until you open LiveCode and have to do it again, of course.

About the toolbar text... Go to "Configure Desktop > Application Appearance > Gtk configuration" and, depending on your version of KDE and the option it presents to you, either set a font (I use DejaVu Sans 10), or select the option to use your fonts for Gtk apps. You may be able to set a nicer theme for GTK2 apps as well. The Oxygen theme doesn't play so nice with some LiveCode controls. I installed and use Oxygen-Molecule and it works much better.

Good luck and post back with your results!

--- if the click on the dictionary trick works, you can close it afterward. You don't need to keep it open. Also, make sure that pango and xft are installed. From the release notes: "pango/xft (optional – required for pdf printing, anti-aliased text and unicode font support)"

[mwieder]

I just did a fresh install into a new mint vm and I can confirm that the default font is pretty ugly.

While you try to resolve it, I can offer a workaround that worked for me; after opening LiveCode, open the Dictionary (yeah, it's tricky with the dissapearing cursor, but you can do it!). After the dictionary opens, click on an item and then the item's entry. This always solved the problem for me when I had it - until you open LiveCode and have to do it again, of course.

...that's pretty bizarre...
I've seen the disappearing cursor trick before with other applications as well. I fiddle around enough and it usually eventually comes back. Sometimes switching to a different workspace and back does the trick. Wine seems to grab the cursor at times.

[czayas]

First of all, thank you all for your comments.

I want to add a couple of things:

- I noticed these problems immediately after installing LiveCode, without modifying any of its default preferences.

- I have these problems in my desktop PC and in my laptop PC, both running Linux Mint 14 KDE.

- I had none of these problems on a VirtualBox VM with a clean install of Ubuntu Desktop 12.10.

- I noticed that the Tools window is in a fixed position, I can't move it elsewhere. Is it normal?

Here is my standard lspci output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:16.3 Serial controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family KT Controller (rev 04)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 05)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Q65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)

Just in case, I also attached a text file containing the output of lspci with the -vvv option.

The "case of the disappearing cursor" seems to be solved... sort of. The dictionary trick worked somehow, but the cursor keeps disappearing at times, and always disappears within Stack windows. The "solution" is to delete the preferences file, but I think it's quite annoying to have to re-customize everything.

I looked through the Preferences window but I couldn't find how to change the standard font, I only found the option to change the font for the script editor.

I tried the "Configure Desktop > Application Appearance > Gtk configuration" thing and selected DejaVu Sans 10, but it does nothing. I also tried the QtCurve theme, which I read it's nicer for GTK2 apps, but I didn't notice any change.

I have both libpango1.0-0 and libxft2 packages installed. Is there any other font or library package that I should install?

[wsamples]

Try 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer'

http://community.linuxmint.com/software ... -installer

[czayas]

Try 'ttf-mscorefonts-installer'

I had it already installed. I also installed a lot of extra TTF packages. The ugly font persists.

Also, deleting the preferences file solves only temporarily the disappearing cursor problem. It's back seconds later.

I modified the command script in the launcher to delete the preferences file before executing LiveCode. This seems to work, but obviously I can't have customized preferences.

[wsamples]

Ugly font -- do you have anti-aliasing enabled in "Configure Desktop > Fonts"? How is it configured? --- EDIT --- in Mint, "System Settings > Application Appearance > Fonts"

Disappearing cursor -- What happens if you disable desktop effects before launching LiveCode? The default keyboard shortcut to toggle them is Alt+Shift+F12. LiveCode has several compositing issues which can be worked around this way. You can toggle effects back on (using same shortcut) after launching LiveCode and any issues which are resolved by turning them off them off will continue to be resolved. We're only concerned about the status of the effects as LiveCode is launched.

Tools palette pinned -- Press "Alt" before grabbing the palette and it can be relocated. If you put it hard against the left edge, you will probably be free to move it up and down along that edge normally. This is an issue I and others have in KDE, so you're not alone. --- EDIT --- Press and hold 'ALT' as you grab the tools palette.

[CILz]

Hi,
I encounter exactly the same issue on my box which run Debian Wheezy (7) 64-bit. My initial post about this is here http://forums.runrev.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=15165 which I tagged as "DUPLICATE" to follow the thread here.
I have tried all the above tips, however none of them works for me!
Regards,

[CILz]

So far, the only tips that works for me is to go into my home directory and in the "preferences" folder within the "."runrev" folder, I have to remove the file called livecode.rev before lunching LC. This fix the invisible pointer but sadly it has no effect on the ugly font.
Best,

[wsamples]

CILz, I have installed Mint 14 KDE here (in VirtualBox) in both 32 bit and 64 bit versions. I am attaching screenshots. The image you have posted shows fonts that are not antialiased, but a clean install of Mint 14, using default settings, does not exhibit this problem here, as demonstrated by these screenshots. What are your font settings? I am including screenshots with fonts set for sub pixel rendering with full hinting.

[xircon]

I have this problem now, Manjaro x64 multilib installed. It occured after I swapped to the free amd/ati driver, I think.

Tried on openbox (with and without compton) and cinnamon, basically unusable, which is a pain as I have invested a lot of time trying to learn.......

:Edit: Think I may have solved it - lib32-gtk2 2.24.20-2 was not installed all appears to be working now, will test further tomorrow its' late.

[richmond62]

LC_gadfly.png

Certainly part of the problem seems to be with KDE.

As I find KDE a top-heavy windowing system I stick to XFCE 4.10, Pantheon, LXDE and GNOME 2, where I have had none of these problems with LC, from versions 2.2.1 through to 6.1.1.

[jwkuehne]

Similar problems with Linux - only I have examples of systems both running RedHat 5 and Gnome, and one shows the cursor and the other doesn't. The one that shows it requires non-opaque and a Graphics Effects. I only see the font problem in older RedHats that don't meet the pango requirements. I give up.

At least you can show a cursor in textfields in your own stack, which saves the day for me! Use a small transparent button with a down-arrow icon called "cl" with

on selectionChanged
set the loc of button "cl" to the selectedLoc
end selectionChanged

on rawkeyup keyval
set the loc of button "cl" to the selectedLoc
end rawkeyup