Totally at my wits end, i need help! or point to a place that can help!

[ted leslie]

This is one bitch of a problem.
I have a product, a boot DVD, runs linux, used by companies, and generally works fine.
Now I have it for CAA.
Agents answering call for CAA use a linux system from a boot DVD.

90% of them work perfect.
100% work perfect in LINUX.


All of them use rdesktop into a MS windows terminal service environment (win2003 server).
In the microsoft desktop, maybe 3% have experienced "invisible text" when typing into
various things in the Windows2003 server apps.

10% when running a particular MFC generated custom CAA app, they get "invisible text"
or they get "wonky text". They can type and see nothing printing on the screen, but its 
there in the "input box", and if the mouse over the invisible text, as highlighted
mouse-over, the text show 100% fine!!
Or they type and the text runs together and overlaps something fierce, but highlight over
it and its 100% fine!!!!
now for the most part i solved the problems up until now by suggesting a different video card.
In all cases the boot DVD didnt have support for, for example Ati Xpress 200, etc.
Once using a card that was detected, the problem goes away.
Its odd thou, that the apps in Linux: browser, large flash soft-phone, etc, all work fine under
the fall-through VESA mode.

this is so odd because, yes in the end , i can fix it by making sure the users computer has a 
supported video card, but thats a nightmare, especially when you do a distro, and you don't know
whats around the corner for new cards (chip sets).
But whats also weird is for the most part, apps in Win2003 server, standard supplied MS apps
like notepad, Internet Explorer, File Explorer, etc, the fonts are all clear and visiable
when at the SAME TIME the custom app shows this distortion or invisibility font issue.

I am baffed. I am wondering if there is some change i could do on the windows side, something to do
with font setting, but i know jack about windows.

What i don't understand is why it happens, ESPECIALLY given that you highlight the text thats invisible,
or wonky, and just by highlighting it, it makes it perfect!!!

i have tried altering monitor size parameters in the xorg.conf so as to alter DPI choice for fonts,
i've tried different resolutions 1024x768 1280x1024, nothing works, however 640x480 or 800x600 sometimes
works, but its to small for use.

I don't know how WTS or rdesktop works, i mean, taking it from front to back, the custom app on the
MS win2003 server uses a MFC library and renders a font, at that time, does Win2003 do something? do
a calculation of true-type, or whatever? then the font gets sent over WTS protocol (in rdesktop),
and i assume its a protocol that says here is my font letter and info about the font and size,
and linux X.org (or desktop system) does a best fit calculation? but why sometimes totally invisable?
and why ALWAYS you mouse over it to highlight it, and like magic it shows,
if I don't get a fix to this, this could be my first ever failure to fix an issue i have had with Linux,
but then again? maybe Linux isn't totaly to blame, maybe, since the problem seems to primarily happen
with this custom app run on the Win2003 server, maybe the coded it such a way that it uses odd ball
font selection, and its a bugger to translate over a remote type connection.

i am just wondering if there is any useful community to post this issue to (aside from TLUG of course!) , so it can hit people knowledgable in this area of WTS, fonts, and such, hopefully someone in the TLUG may have an idea - I can only hope. I am running out of options here :(
I have already exhausted the rdesktop community resources. And a posting to a USENET linux group,
that probably not the most appropriate area, but maybe i might have to. 
You know your screwed when you google the hell out of a problem and get very little results of people
running in to same issue. 

Since the occurance is rare to begin with maybe not even 10%, maybe more like 5% in the end,
I have thought to try and see if the problem would occur in a MS to MS environment, i.e. ruling out
Linux, but the task of getting that test suite set up, given it might occur very rare, isnt first on 
my list. I thought of VNC, but that doesn't do multiple sessions like WTS does.
I might try Citrix but get a load of this, I have left my name and number twice with the Citric office
in Toronto, even express great interest in potentially using their product, which by the way is
expensive as hell, and they just dont call me back, unbelievable.!
on that note, any one have access to a Citrix MetaFrame server on Windows that i could dump this app
onto, and see if citrix would solve my problem .. i can't even get hold of Citrix to ask for that :(


-tl

--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://tlug.ss.org
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://tlug.ss.org/subscribe.shtml