Fglrx
Contents
ATI drivers for Linux
Linux ATI driver for Radeon, FireGL and Mobility boards
How much is the speed gain versus the opensource drivers?
I've noticed appx 40% speed gain with ATI fglrx vs open source drivers. However, there are issues with freezing/garbage after suspend, garbage when resizing desktop (ctrl-alt-plus, ctrl-alt-minus), and garbage while using VMware.
Project Homepage / Availability
http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/linux/radeon-linux.html
Status
Current version: 8.14.13 (9th June 2005)
Problems & Help
Driver Version 8.8.25: The following patch may be needed for kernels >= 2.6.10: http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33798874
Driver Version 8.8.25: For kernels >= 2.6.11-rc1 try the following patch: http://www.gehirn.org.uk/wiki/images/8.8.25-kernel-2.6.11+.patch
If the ATI driver works only without the hardware acceleration, take into consideration that fglrx_dri.so was linked against libstdc++.so.5 which may not be present if your system uses gcc-3.4. To fix this, compile gcc-3.3.5 and copy libstdc++.so.5* to /usr/lib and update the dynamic linker cache.
Troubles using software suspend : when the computer comes back of suspend, X only displays a garbaged image and the computer is frozen. You have to install vbetool and use it to save/restore the video card state. If you use swsusp2 scripts you just have to uncomment "EnableVbetool yes" in /etc/hibernate/hibernate.conf. Tested with kernel 2.6.10, Debian packaged ATI drivers and swsusp2 patch on a IBM Thinkpad T42p. This does not seem to work on the T43: The machine displays a sligthly garbaged image and is frozen upon resume.
Packages
- Debian Packages: http://xoomer.virgilio.it/flavio.stanchina/debian/fglrx-installer.html
- SuSE Packages: ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/supplementary/X/ATI/
- Gentoo
# emerge media-video/ati-drivers
Useful links
- ATI Linux Driver FAQ
- ATI Proprietary Linux Release Notes (for 8.12.10)
- ATI Radeon Linux How-To
- Rage3D Linux Discussion Forum
- Radeon Driver Forum at Driverheaven
- Gentoo ATI Radeon FAQ
- Unofficial community ATI bugzilla Very newly setup (!) bugzilla, which might grow to be a source for information about ATI bugs. Might then be monitored by ATI guys ([1], [2]). We will see how this develops.