ATI Linux Drivers

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
C

CopperLion

Distinguished
Feb 6, 2005
10
0
18,510
ATI's Linux drivers already fall far behind those of nVidia.
I am curious, with their announcing a long-term partnership with Microsoft, if their Linux support will suffer even more.
What do you think is the likely future of Linux drivers from ATI?
Do you think they will ever develop drivers that are installable with apt-get or other auto-updater software like SuSE Linux's YaST?
Since ATI's website isn't helpful for asking tough questions like this unless you are a "media professional" or have a direct business relationship with them, is it possible that someone reading this post might have the credentials and interest to find ATI's answers to these questions?

I have an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video card in one of my machines, and I've been sorely disappointed by their Linux drivers. I also have a machine that uses a nVidia GeForce FX 5600 card running Linux. The nVidia card is the hands-down winner when comparing the 3D quality, overall video quality, or ease of driver installation between the two. Under Windows XP, I felt the ATI had the upper hand.
As more people try Linux, more people give up their ATI cards. It's sad, but true.
------------------------------------

If ignorance is bliss, education will blow your mind.
 
Z

Zoron

Splendid
Jan 11, 2002
5,435
0
26,160
New driver is much improved; if you haven't tried it yet, I highly suggest you do. It installed painlessly on my Fedora install.

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>
 
joe_tlj

joe_tlj

Distinguished
Dec 1, 2003
116
0
18,680
I've just getten my radeon 9800 to work with Suse 9.3. I would like to say it was very hard, and that I'm a linux guru, but it wasn't and I'm not. It was just downloading the binary from SuSE, installing it with YaST and running sax from the command line.

It's hard to tell about driver quality, I only really use one PC, so I only use one AGP card at a time. It's hard to compare what you're seeing with what you remember.

Kill the free variable! Death to X5! There is only the trivial solution. We will be independent!
 
silverpig

silverpig

Splendid
Dec 31, 2007
5,068
0
25,780
It's a piece of cake with gentoo

emerge ati-drivers
fglrxconfig
opengl-update ati
<ctrl><alt><bksp>

I think that's about it.

s signature has been formatted to fit your scr
 
R

rasputinj

Distinguished
Jun 17, 2003
23
0
18,510
I have had a ATI driver issues on the X800 on the RH Enterprise 4, but did not have the problem on Suse Ent 9. I will look through RH for the latest drivers.

Rasputinj
<A HREF="http://rasputinj.com" target="_new">Rasputinj your deal and coupon code Svengali </A>
 
Zorak

Zorak

Distinguished
Mar 20, 2006
505
0
18,990
Joe_tlj wrote:
Kill the free variable! Death to X5! There is only the trivial solution. We will be independent!
Click to expand...

Haha, you have gotta love the linear algebra yes?

I am currently runnin Fedora Core 4 and I am having some difficulty installing the ATI driver and getting direct rendering to work. I am hoping that one or more of you could help me? The thread I started here to solve this problem is entitled "Help getting ATI card to work on Fedora Core 4 Linux". Any help is appreciated.

-Zorak
 
linux_0

linux_0

Splendid
Dec 18, 2005
5,314
0
25,860
Joe_tlj wrote: Kill the free variable! Death to X5! There is only the trivial solution. We will be independent!
Click to expand...

Haha, you have gotta love the linear algebra yes?

I am currently runnin Fedora Core 4 and I am having some difficulty installing the ATI driver and getting direct rendering to work. I am hoping that one or more of you could help me? The thread I started here to solve this problem is entitled "Help getting ATI card to work on Fedora Core 4 Linux". Any help is appreciated.

-Zorak


ATI has made a deal with M$ I don't know if they are going to provide drivers any more.
 
M

mdd1963

Titan
Jan 14, 2006
16,617
1,735
81,240
"It was just downloading the binary from SuSE, installing it with YaST and running sax from the command line."

Is the procedure the same for Suse 10.0, do you know, and if so, could you write me a more "noob oriented" checklist for 9700Pro driver install/config?

tiA!

(My rig says R300 is detected, but when opening a game, it says 3d not supported, etc...)
 
linux_0

linux_0

Splendid
Dec 18, 2005
5,314
0
25,860
I think I got it to run using the ATI installer, however, how do I in fact confirm which driver installed?

(ANd how do I enable 3d open gl?)

TIA
Click to expand...

It's automatic, you "shouldn't" have to enable it

[code:1:eb2b79d29e]

glxinfo -l -v | more

glxgears -v -info

[/code:1:eb2b79d29e]
 
Z

Zoron

Splendid
Jan 11, 2002
5,435
0
26,160
Can't get mine to work... of course, I did do a kernel update. I really haven't gotten the hang of rebuilding the driver myself, so I guess I'm stuck wating until a newer version is released.

Either that, or I'll see if I can get it working under the older kernel.
 
M

mdd1963

Titan
Jan 14, 2006
16,617
1,735
81,240
after doing it (i think!), I get the following:

-----
name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: No
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read,
GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
client glx vendor string: ATI
client glx version string: 1.3
client glx extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_ATI_pixel_format_float,
GLX_ATI_render_texture
GLX extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_multisample
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.2.1)
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add,
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3,
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_blend_color,
GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_texture_env_add,
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3,
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias
glu version: 1.3
glu extensions:
GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess

visual x bf lv rg d st colorbuffer ax dp st accumbuffer ms cav
id dep cl sp sz l ci b ro r g b a bf th cl r g b a ns b eat
----------------------------------------------------------------------
0x23 24 tc 0 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x24 24 tc 0 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 16 8 16 16 16 0 1 0 None
0x25 24 tc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 None
0x26 24 tc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 None
0x27 24 dc 0 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 16 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 None
0x28 24 dc 0 24 0 r y . 8 8 8 0 0 16 8 16 16 16 0 1 0 None
0x29 24 dc 0 32 0 r y . 8 8 8 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 None
0x2a 24 dc 0 32 0 r . . 8 8 8 8 0 16 8 16 16 16 16 1 0 None
linux:/home/mdd1963 # glxgears
1230 frames in 5.0 seconds = 246.000 FPS
1320 frames in 5.0 seconds = 264.000 FPS
1200 frames in 5.0 seconds = 240.000 FPS
X connection to :0.0 broken (explicit kill or server shutdown).
linux:/home/mdd1963 # glxinfo -1 -v more
Unknown option `-1'
Usage: glxinfo [-v] [-t] [-h] [-i] [-b] [-display <dname>]
-v: Print visuals info in verbose form.
-t: Print verbose table.
-display <dname>: Print GLX visuals on specified server.
-h: This information.
-i: Force an indirect rendering context.
-b: Find the 'best' visual and print it's number.
-l: Print interesting OpenGL limits.
linux:/home/mdd1963 # glxinfo -v
name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: No
server glx vendor string: SGI
server glx version string: 1.2
server glx extensions:
GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating,
GLX_EXT_import_context, GLX_OML_swap_method, GLX_SGI_make_current_read,
GLX_SGIS_multisample, GLX_SGIX_fbconfig
client glx vendor string: ATI
client glx version string: 1.3
client glx extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_get_proc_address, GLX_ARB_multisample, GLX_ATI_pixel_format_float,
GLX_ATI_render_texture
GLX extensions:
GLX_EXT_visual_info, GLX_EXT_visual_rating, GLX_EXT_import_context,
GLX_ARB_multisample
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.2.1)
OpenGL extensions:
GL_ARB_imaging, GL_ARB_multitexture, GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp,
GL_ARB_texture_cube_map, GL_ARB_texture_env_add,
GL_ARB_texture_env_combine, GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3,
GL_ARB_transpose_matrix, GL_EXT_abgr, GL_EXT_blend_color,
GL_EXT_blend_minmax, GL_EXT_blend_subtract, GL_EXT_texture_env_add,
GL_EXT_texture_env_combine, GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3,
GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias
glu version: 1.3
glu extensions:
GLU_EXT_nurbs_tessellator, GLU_EXT_object_space_tess

Visual ID: 23 depth=24 class=TrueColor
bufferSize=24 level=0 renderType=rgba doubleBuffer=1 stereo=0
rgba: redSize=8 greenSize=8 blueSize=8 alphaSize=0
auxBuffers=0 depthSize=16 stencilSize=0
accum: redSize=0 greenSize=0 blueSize=0 alphaSize=0
multiSample=1 multiSampleBuffers=0
visualCaveat=None
Opaque.
Visual ID: 24 depth=24 class=TrueColor
bufferSize=24 level=0 renderType=rgba doubleBuffer=1 stereo=0
rgba: redSize=8 greenSize=8 blueSize=8 alphaSize=0
auxBuffers=0 depthSize=16 stencilSize=8
accum: redSize=16 greenSize=16 blueSize=16 alphaSize=0
multiSample=1 multiSampleBuffers=0
visualCaveat=None
Opaque.
Visual ID: 25 depth=24 class=TrueColor
bufferSize=32 level=0 renderType=rgba doubleBuffer=1 stereo=0
rgba: redSize=8 greenSize=8 blueSize=8 alphaSize=8
auxBuffers=0 depthSize=16 stencilSize=8
accum: redSize=16 greenSize=16 blueSize=16 alphaSize=16
multiSample=1 multiSampleBuffers=0
visualCaveat=None
Opaque.
Visual ID: 26 depth=24 class=TrueColor
bufferSize=32 level=0 renderType=rgba doubleBuffer=0 stereo=0
rgba: redSize=8 greenSize=8 blueSize=8 alphaSize=8
auxBuffers=0 depthSize=16 stencilSize=8
accum: redSize=16 greenSize=16 blueSize=16 alphaSize=16
multiSample=1 multiSampleBuffers=0
visualCaveat=None
Opaque.
Visual ID: 27 depth=24 class=DirectColor
bufferSize=24 level=0 renderType=rgba doubleBuffer=1 stereo=0
rgba: redSize=8 greenSize=8 blueSize=8 alphaSize=0
auxBuffers=0 depthSize=16 stencilSize=0
accum: redSize=0 greenSize=0 blueSize=0 alphaSize=0
multiSample=1 multiSampleBuffers=0
visualCaveat=None
Opaque.
Visual ID: 28 depth=24 class=DirectColor
bufferSize=24 level=0 renderType=rgba doubleBuffer=1 stereo=0
rgba: redSize=8 greenSize=8 blueSize=8 alphaSize=0
auxBuffers=0 depthSize=16 stencilSize=8
accum: redSize=16 greenSize=16 blueSize=16 alphaSize=0
multiSample=1 multiSampleBuffers=0
visualCaveat=None
Opaque.
Visual ID: 29 depth=24 class=DirectColor
bufferSize=32 level=0 renderType=rgba doubleBuffer=1 stereo=0
rgba: redSize=8 greenSize=8 blueSize=8 alphaSize=8
auxBuffers=0 depthSize=16 stencilSize=8
accum: redSize=16 greenSize=16 blueSize=16 alphaSize=16
multiSample=1 multiSampleBuffers=0
visualCaveat=None
Opaque.
Visual ID: 2a depth=24 class=DirectColor
bufferSize=32 level=0 renderType=rgba doubleBuffer=0 stereo=0
rgba: redSize=8 greenSize=8 blueSize=8 alphaSize=8
auxBuffers=0 depthSize=16 stencilSize=8
accum: redSize=16 greenSize=16 blueSize=16 alphaSize=16
multiSample=1 multiSampleBuffers=0
visualCaveat=None
Opaque.
 
M

mdd1963

Titan
Jan 14, 2006
16,617
1,735
81,240
I'm not sure if I followed your instruction exactly, as the whole "cmd line" experience is rather new, so I would need exact examples of whatt to type....

is 250 fps for glxgears a little low?

(The f117 sim still says no Opengl features...)

Again,, thanks for your assistance!

Update!!!!

Uh oh....! Now within yast/hardware, when I click on "graphics card and monitor", i do not get a response.....(A quick blue progress bar where it is gathering info, but...no answer!)

ooopS!
 
M

mdd1963

Titan
Jan 14, 2006
16,617
1,735
81,240
Well, as I had both an FGLRX (showed locked/protected, not recommended to remove?)and and an ATI installer routine done, and since my YAST/hardware/graphics card and monitor was now not giving a response at all....

I reformatted, reinstalled, allowed the lengthy online updating this morning while at the gym, so it is now a fresh install, with no ATI driver updates attempted yet...(On the positive side, I'm getting a lot of experience at installing!) :)

(ATI claims on their website that the automated driver installer works for both Redhat and Suse, but they then also list 3 or 4 different X11/XOrg packages....; do you recommend one of those isntalled manually, or letting ati auto installer generating a package specifically for Suse/Yast?)

thanks again (no hurry on this at all, as I am doing all of this jsut for the fun/experience of it, the other rig with 7800GT is good to go it seems!)
 
linux_0

linux_0

Splendid
Dec 18, 2005
5,314
0
25,860
Well, as I had both an FGLRX (showed locked/protected, not recommended to remove?)and and an ATI installer routine done, and since my YAST/hardware/graphics card and monitor was now not giving a response at all....

I reformatted, reinstalled, allowed the lengthy online updating this morning while at the gym, so it is now a fresh install, with no ATI driver updates attempted yet...(On the positive side, I'm getting a lot of experience at installing!) :)

(ATI claims on their website that the automated driver installer works for both Redhat and Suse, but they then also list 3 or 4 different X11/XOrg packages....; do you recommend one of those isntalled manually, or letting ati auto installer generating a package specifically for Suse/Yast?)

thanks again (no hurry on this at all, as I am doing all of this jsut for the fun/experience of it, the other rig with 7800GT is good to go it seems!)
Click to expand...


On Linux you almost never have to reinstall :-D

If X breaks all you have to do is revert back to the original xorg.conf file :-D

I always recommend doing this:

[code:1:f904710be6]
cp -i /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.dist
[/code:1:f904710be6]

If something breaks just:

[code:1:f904710be6]
cp -i /etc/X11/xorg.conf.dist /etc/X11/xorg.conf
[/code:1:f904710be6]


Have your tried the ATI driver with FC5?
 
MU_Engineer

MU_Engineer

Splendid
Feb 18, 2006
3,868
4
23,165
Well, if ATI kills support for their wares in Linux, woe be the person that buys a motherboard with an ATI chipset. There's nothing that will work worth a darn for at least a few months (until drivers get made by the F/OSS community) on that sucker if that happened.

Thank goodness that there are three or more major chipset and GPU providers- if only NVIDIA made Linux chipset and GPU drivers, I bet the situation would not be as nice as it is today, as in we'd likely have to pay for the privilege or put up with a semi- or non-functioning board from other vendors. But we also have VIA and Intel for chipsets and Intel and Matrox for GPUs, although they are not that great for gaming, especially Intel's IGP.

Competition == we win && monopoly == we lose. Simple as that, but few seem to see that.
 
MU_Engineer

MU_Engineer

Splendid
Feb 18, 2006
3,868
4
23,165
I saw in the Xorg.conf file a string that said:

Renderer: Mesa 3D Indirect

This means that the driver did NOT install and you are using software rendering. That is what happened when I tried to use the fglrx drivers on my old notebook's Radeon 9000. I stuck with the default "rv250lf dri" driver and it works pretty well.

If the install goes right, entering

glxinfo | grep render

should yield:

Renderer: ATI Techonologies Incorporated

instead of the Mesa Indirect.
 
M

mdd1963

Titan
Jan 14, 2006
16,617
1,735
81,240
"On Linux you almost never have to reinstall
If X breaks all you have to do is revert back to the original xorg.conf file Very Happy
I always recommend doing this:

Code:

cp -i /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.dist

If something breaks just:
Code:

cp -i /etc/X11/xorg.conf.dist /etc/X11/xorg.conf
"

I sort of knew there was bound to be an easy way out of my dilema, but, being a Win95/98 former user....

Format C!!!!!!!! :)

(Are there any scripts of useful/ common cmd line tasks that could be cut/pasted into teh cmd line? Or better yet, completely automated ones like I use with ProComm for raid controller config, configuration of NVRAM boot scripts on Yukons, etcc.?)
 
linux_0

linux_0

Splendid
Dec 18, 2005
5,314
0
25,860
"On Linux you almost never have to reinstall
If X breaks all you have to do is revert back to the original xorg.conf file Very Happy
I always recommend doing this:

Code:

cp -i /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.dist

If something breaks just:
Code:

cp -i /etc/X11/xorg.conf.dist /etc/X11/xorg.conf
"

I sort of knew there was bound to be an easy way out of my dilema, but, being a Win95/98 former user....

Format C!!!!!!!! :)

(Are there any scripts of useful/ common cmd line tasks that could be cut/pasted into teh cmd line? Or better yet, completely automated ones like I use with ProComm for raid controller config, configuration of NVRAM boot scripts on Yukons, etcc.?)
Click to expand...



There are thousands :-D

Check out:

http://tldp.org/

http://freshmeat.net/

http://sf.net/
 
Z

Zoron

Splendid
Jan 11, 2002
5,435
0
26,160
ATi just released a new driver today... so I tried it out. It installed without a hitch, however, I get this when I try to run aticonfig --initial as per the instructions:

[code:1:da8e828cfa]aticonfig: error while loading shared libraries: libfglrx_pp.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory[/code:1:da8e828cfa]

I'm sure it's something really simple for you... but it's Greek to me... lol.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom