[Xastir] Unuseable tiny dialog boxes on Aspire One under Ubuntu 8.04

[Tom Russo]

On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 08:51:28AM -0700, we recorded a bogon-computron collision of the <archer at eskimo.com> flavor, containing:
> On Wed, 12 Aug 2009, Keith Williamson wrote:
> 
> > Hello to the list! I'm new to xastir but am loving what I see so far (or can
> > see). I've searched back through the list archives, READMEs, FAQ, etc but
> > don't know if I missed a workaround for this or not. I started by just
> > installing xastir 1.90 binary from the Ubuntu repos but immediately ran into
> > a problem with some of the menu dialogs. The dialog opens as a tiny
> > bullet-shaped window with no handles to enlarge and right-click only allows
> > me to close, move, etc but not resize or maximize.
> 
> Do a Google search through the Xastir list archives looking for
> "cigar" or "cigar-shaped".
> 
> As I recall this was a window manager setting having to do with
> special effects or something (compiz perhaps?) that had to be
> switched off.  I don't run those window managers so don't run into
> that problem.  I believe other Motif-based programs have similar
> problems with that window manager setting.

This *really* needs to be in the FAQ and README. 

The issue is the interaction between Motif and compiz, which in some versions
of Ubuntu is turned on and off with a "Desktop Effects" menu item.  They made
the default "on" several releases ago.  Compiz is what enables eye-candy 
effects like animated window opening/closing, 3-d effects, and so forth.  I 
don't know if there is any solution other than turning off those effects.

-- 
Tom Russo    KM5VY   SAR502   DM64ux          http://www.swcp.com/~russo/
Tijeras, NM  QRPL#1592 K2#398  SOC#236        http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?DDTNM
  In some cultures what I do would be considered normal. 
                                  -- Ineffective daily affirmation