The first thing that you should try is the driver that came with your distribution. The Hoary driver is an older 8.8.25 version and Breezy comes with 8.16.20.
Only use this how-to for Hoary because many things have changed in Breezy. Check here for the Breezy how-to's.
Trying the included drivers (Hoary ONLY)
In your terminal:
If you aren't sure about other answers then just take the defaults--they are read from your existing file.Code:su apt-get install fglrx-control apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-$(uname -r) fglrxconfig
When you are ready you can press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to restart your desktop and refer to the Testing if it worked section below. If you can't get back into your desktop then you'll need run dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg from the command-line and go back to the ATI driver.
Upgrading to the 8.16.20 drivers (Hoary ONLY)
If you use KDE then substitute kate for gedit in the commands (command-line junkies can use nano or vi). The how-to was written primarily with Hoary 32-bit users in mind. 64-bit users will need to change the filenames when appropriate.
Deleting the included drivers
Remove everything related to the fglrx driver (if currently installed). Go into Synaptic and search on fglrx and linux-restricted. Right-click on each package and perform a complete removal.
The following find command will delete the remaining files on your hard disk that have fglrx in its name (contributed by nuk130n).
In your terminal:
The rest of the how-to assumes that this terminal window was left open.Code:xhost local: su find / -iname '*fglrx*' -exec rm '{}' -r ';'
Downloading components for compiling
Download the 32-bit or 64-bit driver source from ATI. You'll want the Xorg 6.8 package in RPM format.
amd64:
All versions:Code:apt-get install alien
Change to the directory that you downloaded the file to.
Backup your current configurationCode:apt-get build-dep fglrx-kernel-source alien -d fglrx_6_8_0-8.16.20-1.i386.rpm ls #look for the name of the .deb for the next command dpkg -i --force-overwrite fglrx-6-8-0-8.16.20-2.i386.deb cd /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod sh make.sh cd .. sh make_install.sh
In your terminal:
Go to this website to create a new xorg.conf file. (As an alternative you may type fglrxconfig in your terminal, but the website creates a file that is easier to read.)Code:cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.bak
In your terminal:
Paste the output from the online generator into the file and save it (you're replacing what was in there).Code:gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Restart your machine.
Testing if it worked
If you get to your desktop successfully, then type fglrxinfo to see if the driver is loaded.
If you see this, then it isn't working:
Output from fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.3 Mesa 4.0.4
You want to see something like this:
root@mlomkernote:/etc/X11 # fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: MOBILITY RADEON 9700 Generic
OpenGL version string: 1.3.5140 (X4.3.0-8.14.13)
Then you can run glxgears (Breezy users have to type glxgears -iacknowledgethatthistoolisnotabenchmark). The output should be well over 1000 FPS.
root@mlomkernote:/etc/X11 # glxgears
10514 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2102.800 FPS
11332 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2266.400 FPS
12600 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2520.000 FPS
Troubleshooting
If for some reason you can't get to your graphical login then log in as root and copy your backup xorg.conf file back over the one we just made using the cp /etc/X11/xorg.bak /etc/X11/xorg.conf command (or run the reconfigure command mentioned previously).
At this point you'll need to make a post to the hardware forum with relevant error messages for help (not in this thread, please). Feel free to send me a private message with a link to your post.
You should paste the output of the following commands into your post.
In your terminal:
You can also search for your error(s) and/or make a post on the ATI user's forum.Code:fglrxinfo dmesg | grep fglrx cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep Driver
Where is the ATI Control Panel? Why won't it run?
KDE users will automatically get the ATI control panel in their menus, but I've been told that gnome users do not. The filename is /usr/X11R6/bin/fireglcontrolpanel and you can create your own icon if you wish.
amd64 users may find that it won't run. This is because it is looking at the wrong shared library. Download the attached (bottom of message) fireglcontrol script to fix that. Save the script to /usr/bin and rename it fireglcontrol. chmod +x /usr/bin/fireglcontrol will make it executable. You should then be able to run it using the fireglcontrol command in a terminal (or create an icon if you prefer).
Fglrxinfo looks right but I'm stuck at 1024x768!
The 8.16.20 driver has a bug with certain monitors (laptops with Samsung LCD's are one) that causes the resolution to be misdetected. If you cannot increase your resolution (after the driver is properly installed) then you can try the older driver if you are still on Hoary.32-bit, 64-bit . There is a thread about this on the rage3d forum. Hopefully it'll be fixed in a future version.
Future updates to the operating system
Whenever they decide to update the xlibmesa-gl package (usually in a security update for Xorg) you will get an error that it cannot overwrite the /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1.2 file. This file was overwritten by the new ATI package and we need to keep it.
In your terminal:
Errors related to DRICode:cp /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1.2 /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1.2-ATI apt-get upgrade --force-overwrite #or apt-get install --force-overwrite packagename for one package cp /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1.2-ATI /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1.2
(Thanks to Jormagand for this section)
Some breezy users see the following error in their /var/log/Xorg.0.log file:
Download the updated libdri.a (i386 only) and from the directory that you downloaded the file to:Code:(EE) fglrx(0): DRIScreenInit failed! (WW) fglrx(0): *********************************************** (WW) fglrx(0): * DRI initialization failed! * (WW) fglrx(0): * (maybe driver kernel module missing or bad) * (WW) fglrx(0): * 2D acceleraton available (MMIO) * (WW) fglrx(0): * no 3D acceleration available * (WW) fglrx(0): ********************************************* *
Code:mv /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libdri.a /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libdri.a_old cp libdri.a /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libdri.a
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