[ubuntu-uk] Display issue on slide shows in Impress

[Barry Titterton]

Hi All,

I would like to draw on the collective knowledge of the group to help me
diagnose a problem with slide shows in Impress, and then decide against
which feature or software I should report the bug. The display problem
seems to be getting worse with each release of Ubuntu, but does not
effect all distributions equally.

System:- Lenovo G550 laptop. Intel Core2Duo. nVidia GeForce G210M graphics
16.04.2 Ubuntu Unity.
Libreoffice 5.1.6.2

A few weeks ago my wife created a slide show, and set the slide
transition of every slide to Smooth Fade. She had done this many times
before without problems. When testing the presentation, there was a
white flash at the end of each transition, sometimes full screen, other
times a thick horizontal bar across the full width of the screen.

I tried three different graphics drivers (nouveau, nVidia 304.135 and
340.102) but it had no effect. I then booted the machine into 14.04
Unity from a live DVD (LO 4.2.3.3) and the presentation worked
perfectly. Next I tried 17.04 Unity from live USB, and things got even
worse: the fade transition didn't work at all, it displayed a blocky,
patchy, mixed up mess of a screen as if Impress was trying to display
several different types of transition at the same time. Libreoffice then
crashed after only the first two slides. This behaviour is repeatable.

In order to try and understand what is causing this problem I tested
several different releases and distributions of Ubuntu. I tried each in
three different ways: with the presentation only on the laptop screen;
using my TV to simulate the second screen/projector; and then with the
Presenter Console disabled within Impress settings. The results are
shown below:-

			Laptop		TV	No Presenter Console

Unity 14.04		no flash	no flash	no flash
LO 4.2.3.3

Unity 15.04		no flash	flash		no flash
LO 4.4

Unity 16.04		flash		flash		flash
LO 5.1.6.2

Unity 17.04		bad fade	bad fade	bad fade
LO 5.3.1.2		LO crash	LO crash	LO crash

Mint 18.1 Cinnamon	no flash	flash		no flash
LO 5.1.6.2

Kubuntu 16.04		no flash	no flash	no flash
LO 5.1.6.2

Kubuntu 17.04		no flash	no flash	no flash
LO 5.3.1.2

Mate 17.04		bad fade	bad fade	bad fade
LO 5.3.1.2		LO crash	LO crash	LO crash

Gnome 16.04		flash		flash		no flash
LO 5.1.6.2

Gnome 17.04		bad fade	no second screen display
LO 5.3.1.2		LO crash

You will notice two things from the above table: Kubuntu was unaffected
with the presentation worked perfectly under all conditions; and
secondly that Ubuntu Gnome was the worst performing of all the set ups:
The laptop screen (primary screen) went blank when I connected the
second screen, and as that screen had all the task bar, icons etc it
made the machine unusable so I had no alternative but to shut it down
using the power button.

I have also tried most of the above on a Dell Studio 15 laptop (Intel
Core2Due, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4530/4570/545v) with very similar
results, except that the second screen worked under Gnome 17.04 but gave
the bad fade+LO crash result. I have also tried a HP desktop (Intel
Core2Duo, Intel G33 x86 graphics) which worked perfectly under all set
ups, but without the second screen option (obviously).

It does not seem to be a Libreoffice bug as it sometimes works and
sometimes doesn't. It may have something to do with Gnome desktop as it
seems to affect only Gnome based distros. I would, therefore, like to
ask the group if they could suggest what is causing the problem, and how
I should report the bug.

I have found bug 78703 but its description isn't exactly the same.

Yours in hope,
Barry T