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.

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>

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!

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

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>

Joe_tlj wrote:

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

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.

"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...)

You need to install the proprietary driver from ATI.

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/920 [...] 7-i386.run

To install the .run file:

[code:1:74a0759c13]

su -
chmod a+rx ati-driver-installer-8.23.7-i386.run
./ati-driver-installer-8.23.7-i386.run

[/code:1:74a0759c13]

I got the link from here:

https://support.ati.com/ics/support [...] ionID=1176

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

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

[code:1:eb2b79d29e]

glxinfo -l -v | more

glxgears -v -info

[/code:1:eb2b79d29e]

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.

This might help, it is complicated tho...

http://xoomer.virgilio.it/flavio.s [...] aller.html

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
linuxhome/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).
linuxhome/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.
linuxhome/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.

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!

It half - worked.

Doh!

I'll give you some stuff to try, let me go research it first.

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!)

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?

Well, if ATI kills support for their wares in Linux, woe b