ATI Mobility Radeon X300
ATI Mobility Radeon X300This is a ATI video adapter Features
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See specifications from ATI, as well as the "snapshot" data sheet (referes to the 32MB on-chip, 128MB "HyperMemory" version).
Linux driver
Use Driver "radeon" in the xorg.conf file - it works at least for xorg 6.8.2, maybe older versions too. Currently (as of xorg 6.8.2) this will only give you 2D-acceleration, though. To enbable 3D acceleration as well you need to use the binary ATI driver fglrx.
There is also an open source Radeon driver with 3D acceleration support (merged into here recently), but it's still highly experimental and does not support all features.
ThinkPad LCD
Display on the internal LCD works as long as you set the monitor settings correct.
External VGA port
There are known problems. Both the radeon and [[fglrx] drivers turn off the switching between internal and external port.
With the vesa driver
Using the "vesa" driver built into X.org, mode switching modes. However, this loses acceleration and some capabilities.
With the radeon drive
On-the-fly swiching doesn't work. To use both ports, start X without an external monitor, and then connect the external monitor. Both displays will be active, and cannot be switched off until you exit X. Note that if the external monitor is connected when X starts, the LCD will be deactivated and you will need to restart X. To have a reasonable refresh rate on the external monitor (the default is the LCD's 50Hz), use the following in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
Section "Device" Identifier "Videocard0" VendorName "Videocard vendor" BoardName "ATI Radeon Mobility X300" Driver "radeon" Option "DynamicClocks" "on" Option "MergedFB" "on" Option "CRT2Hsync" "50-75" Option "CRT2VRefresh" "30-82" EndSection
(Tested wth Fedora Core 4 on ThinkPad T43).
See also the related discussion about Additional options for the radeon driver.
With the fglrx driver
On-the-fly switching doesn't work either. To use both ports, either have the monitor connected during X startup, or force activation of both ports by adding
Option "ForceMonitors" "lvds,crt1"
to the Device section in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Powering the CRT port consumes 400-500mW, regardless of whether a CRT is attached.
S-Video port (TV-out)
Works with the proprietary fglrx driver (as of version 8.19.10). To activate, add
Option "ForceMonitors" "lvds,tv"
to the Device section in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and restart X.
DVI port
??
3D acceleration
OpenGL 3D acceleration is proided by the proprietary fglrx driver. Note that the default power mode is low-performance (and high-power). To change to a faster mode, you can for example run
# aticonfig --set-powerstate=2 --effective=now
(see How to make use of Graphics Chips Power Management features).
Linux kernel Framebuffer driver
radeonfb might cause problems with hardware acceleration under X on some systems, vesafb and vesafb-tng on the other hand has been reported to work just fine.
Clock rates, voltage and power
| Mode | core freq | memory freq | voltage | idle | 3DMarks (Windows, 1600x1200, LCD only) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | 300 | 230 MHz | 1.15V | 2.98 W | 8.28 W |
| Balanced | 183 | 210 MHz | 1.00V | 1.71 W | 3.88 W |
| Battery | 120 | 105 MHz | 1.00V | 1.61 W | 2.74 W |
| Mode | core freq | memory freq |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 297.00 | 229.50 |
| Balanced | 209.25 | 182.25 |
| Battery | 104.63 | 121.50 |
Experimentally, the difference between the Performance and Battery settings under Linux with DynamicClocks enabled is roughly 0.3W and 3-4 degrees in GPU temperature on a ThinkPad T43. Further frequency reduction leads to display flickering or corruption.
Clock rates can be changed through Rovclock, and are also affected by the DynamicClocks option to the radeon driver.
ThinkPads this chip may be found in
| FOOTNOTES [Δ] |
- according to the "Snapshot" data sheet (which refers to the 32MB on-chip, 128MB "HyperMemory" version)
- inspected using Notebook Hardware Control
