[Moshroum]

8.22.5 Release Notes

New Features

• ATI Proprietary Linux Driver now supports Linux Kernel 2.6.15.

Issues Resolved

• Creating 22 or more display configuration mode lines in the X Server configuration file no longer results in a fatal server error.

Known Issues

• Attempting to install the driver on distributions that have updated certain 3D components outside of the stock XOrg 6.8.2 may result in the driver not initializing 3D applications properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-20868
• TV Display is Corrupt After Switching Resolutions. Further details can be found in topic number 737-1086
• Running two X servers simultaneously results in the system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-220

Reviews:

• Phoronix

PS: Don't forget to update your driver bugs.

[jamse101]

And no X1800 support.

[RIV@NVX]

As UberLord once said (not an exact quote) "ATI is making progress, but slowly".

[UberLord]

Originally Posted by RIV@NVX

As UberLord once said (not an exact quote) "ATI is making progress, but slowly".

Here's a new quote for you

"ATI are making progress with their drivers, but at a pace akin to limpets"

The fact that they've gone through several driver releases and their new hardware still isn't supported shows just how true this is. They've probably spent more time on making the installer more bling or a shiny control panel.

[Kombatant]

I am actually getting frustrated with the constant lack of X1000 series support - I haven't properly used Linux since November, because I have a X1800, and I have to resort to the vesa driver in order to get a GUI. But wait; there's more! I have a 24" Dell TFT, which does 1920x1200 natively, and because I use the vesa driver, all I can do is up to 1600x1200. And all we have from ATI is Matthew's statement in Phoronix:

How long until the X1000 series will be supported by ATI's proprietary fglrx drivers? Well, earlier this morning we had spoken with Matthew Tippett from ATI's Linux department for a public comment and he has simply said that the supportive drivers are indeed coming and they will be out eventually, and he also said it will likely not be for a couple of releases at least. With the department's present strategy of releasing monthly Linux drivers as of late, these drivers will likely not be in the hands of the public until sometime this spring, unless of course a miracle was to occur with their development process...

[UberLord]

these drivers will likely not be in the hands of the public until sometime this spring, unless of course a miracle was to occur with their development process...

A miracle like hiring competent developers?

If any ATI devs do happen to read that, then read this as well.
If you're a competent dev and you're salaried to write solid code, I don't expect to see compiler warnings. Or if I do I expect them to get less and less with each release which is not what I'm seeing with the fglrx kernel module.

[RIV@NVX]

Originally Posted by UberLord

Here's a new quote for you

"ATI are making progress with their drivers, but at a pace akin to limpets"

Luckily, when you don't know what some word means, there is always Wikipedia... Still, I can only agree with this one... r300 driver is becoming more and more interesting to me...

The fact that they've gone through several driver releases and their new hardware still isn't supported shows just how true this is. They've probably spent more time on making the installer more bling or a shiny control panel.

(I don't know whether this is fixed or not, but last time I tried it it didn't work.) Let's not also forget compositing. If you enable composite extension, OpenGL stops working and there is no Quake 3 for you anymore.

I am actually getting frustrated with the constant lack of X1000 series support - I haven't properly used Linux since November, because I have a X1800, and I have to resort to the vesa driver in order to get a GUI. But wait; there's more! I have a 24" Dell TFT, which does 1920x1200 natively, and because I use the vesa driver, all I can do is up to 1600x1200.

A friend of mine has VIA UniChrome (that integrated onboard gfx junk). But see this: VIA provides Linux drivers for that card! You don't have to settle for vesa driver. And you would expect ATI to do the same for their >$300 cards, but no.

A miracle like hiring competent developers?

I think that if they wanted to hire, they would easily find competent developers. Guys working on Mesa/X/r300/whatever would probably know how to do the job right.

If you're a competent dev and you're salaried to write solid code, I don't expect to see compiler warnings. Or if I do I expect them to get less and less with each release which is not what I'm seeing with the fglrx kernel module.

Those warnings really do look unprofessional, but "now we support 2.6.X kernel" a month after kernel comes out is more irritating. I mean, do all the other modules break with every kernel revision? I wouldn't say so, because I remember going thru two kernel versions with same ipw2200 version without any problems.

[jamse101]

Originally Posted by Kombatant

because I have a X1800, and I have to resort to the vesa driver in order to get a GUI.

Thanks!

I first tried configuring vesa with xf86config and it didn't seemed to work. Now I tried it again and it turned out that X didn't start because of missing "Core pointer" ie. xf86config defaulted to "/dev/mouse" which I didn't have. I changed "/dev/psaux" into "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" and after that X started just fine.

I should have looked Xorg.0.log file more carefully allready last November

[jec0s]

Management there needs to change thats for sure.. I mean if you have a lame driver (fglrx)get more people on it early to get it working better then you can back off people.. This notion of keeping the team small b/c thats proportional to its market share is ridiculus! and its also why Linux's market share is so low b/c ATI doesn't give good support there, so when large companies that happen to have ati cards in their dells/gateways/hp\compaq's/ibm's they are in a hole making sure that apps will work like they should, or they have spend money on cheap nvidia cards to fix the problem.

I realized this after running a geforce 4mx 64mb(geforce 2 practically) at work, and noticed how all the tv apps worked and nothing ever had problems. I also got Xgl and Compiz to run with little trouble.