Finally identified the problem. I had an ASUS video card with an Nvidia chipset. The default driver xserver-xorg-video-nauveau (sp?) is bad. On a whim I installed the proprietary nvidia-331 driver. All is well. I have since swapped out that video card for one with 300+ cuda in order to participate with some additional BOINC projects. If the support/developer for that driver is in America I can ship the card to them.
Finally identified the problem. I had an ASUS video card with an Nvidia chipset. The default driver xserver- xorg-video- nauveau (sp?) is bad. On a whim I installed the proprietary nvidia-331 driver. All is well. I have since swapped out that video card for one with 300+ cuda in order to participate with some additional BOINC projects. If the support/developer for that driver is in America I can ship the card to them.