ATI Linux driver version 8.23.7 Discussion

Kombatant · Mar 8, 2006, 01:40 PM

You can get them here: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...e&folderID=300

Release Notes:

Quote:

New Features

This section provides information on new features introduced in the latest release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver. This include:

New Product Support

This release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver introduces support for the following ATI AGP products:

ATI Radeon� X850 XT Platinum Edition
ATI Radeon� X850 XT
ATI Radeon� X850 SE
ATI Radeon� X850 PRO
ATI Radeon� X800 SE
ATI Radeon� X800 VE
ATI Radeon� X800 GT
ATI Radeon� X800 GTO
ATI Mobility� Radeon� X800

OpenGL 2.0 Enhancement

This release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver provides support for applications utilizing OpenGL Extension Wrangler (GLEW) Library. GLEW has a run-time mechanism that determines which OpenGL extensions are supported on a target platform.

Full Scene Anti-Aliasing Support

This release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver now provides Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA) support on all ATI Radeon� 9500 and above. FSAA is enabled through aticonfig. Information on this feature can be found executing the command aticonfig --help.

Known Issues

The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the latest version of ATI Proprietary Linux driver. These issues include:

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

TV Display is Corrupt After Switching Resolutions

This information applies to the following system configurations:

ATI Proprietary Linux Driver 3.7.1 and later
TV Out enabled in aticonfig
Big Desktop or Dual Head monitor layout is used

This issue does not occur in Clone Mode or when the TV is the only connected display.
Upon using the resolution keyboard shortcuts (ctrl-alt-+) or (ctrl-alt--) to switch resolution of the XFree86 Desktop, the display will be off center or completely corrupt.
The TV display is not usable in this state and it is not possible to get back to a stable resolution once this has happened. A restart is required.

3D Linux Applications Corrupt or Hang with Force Multi-Sample Visuals Enabled

This information applies to the following system configurations:

ATI Proprietary Linux Driver 3.7.1 and later
"force multi-sample visuals" option enabled in aticonfig

A 3D window might appear normally, but will corrupt the contents of any other window placed above it.
The 3D display may also appear corrupt. Lines, polygons, and highlights will be visible, but textures will not. The application is not usable in this state and may crash after a few seconds.
This issue does not occur on all systems or monitor configurations. Symptoms may vary between different applications.

X Fails to Load on Systems with Linux Kernel Version 2.6.x

This information applies to the following system configurations:

Linux kernel version 2.6.x
Any ATI Linux driver

A blank screen may appear momentarily when X starts to load. The following error message (or similar) may appear on the text console or in /var/log/XFree86.0.log:
(EE) fglrx(0): [agp] unable to acquire AGP, error ""xf86_ENODEV""xf86_ENODEV""
This is not a problem with the display driver.
Version 2.6 kernels require a second kernel module in addition to agpgart, which should be named similar to the manufacturer of your motherboard AGP chipset. This error message should occur if the other agp module is not loaded.
This issue can be worked around as follows:

First make sure that agpgart is loading properly.
To find out which AGP controller your motherboard uses, issue the following command: lspci | grep AGP
To find a list of AGP related kernel modules installed on your machine, issue the following command and look for a module (*.ko file) that suits your AGP Controller: ls /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/char/agp
Use the modprobe command (as root) to load the module. For example: On a motherboard using a VIA� AGP Controller, you would load the via-agp.ko using modprobe as follows (notice that the trailing.ko is omitted): modprobe via-agp

Check the modprobe manpage for more information on loading kernel modules.

To verify that the AGP module is already loaded, run lsmod as root. With the X server running and the connection established, the usage count of this module must be greater than zero.

If you cannot find a suitable agp module for your motherboard, then you may want to upgrade to the latest version of the Linux kernel, or check your motherboard manufacturer's website for more information.

3D Applications Produce Open of Shared Memory Object Failed Error Message

This information applies to the following system configurations:

ATI Proprietary Linux Driver version 3.14.6 and later

The following may occur when trying to run certain 3D applications:

3D image appears corrupt or blank
Missing textures
System performance drops sharply

The following error message may also appear numerous times:
FGLTexMgr: open of shared memory object failed (Function not implemented) __FGLTexMgrCreateObject: __FGLTexMgrSHMmalloc failed! fglX11AllocateManagedSurface: __FGLTexMgrCreateObject failed!
The display driver requires POSIX Shared Memory to be enabled on the system in order to run these applications correctly. This feature should be enabled by default on most current Linux distributions, but may be disabled intentionally by some system administrators or not included in older distributions.
To enable POSIX Shared Memory on your system, perform the following as root:

Add the following line to /etc/fstab (if it isn't there already): tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
Mount shared memory as follows: mount /dev/shm
Issue the following command to check that it mounted properly: mount | grep "shm"

If the mount was successful, then the following output (or similar) should appear:
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)
At this point, POSIX Shared Memory is enabled. Your 3D applications should run properly and the error message above should no longer occur.
If the output from this command is blank, then the mount failed.
If /dev/shm fails to mount, then this feature may not be turned on in your Linux kernel. In this case we recommend upgrading to a more recent Linux kernel, or contacting your Linux Distribution vendor for more information on enabling POSIX Shared Memory.

Discuss

UberLord · Mar 8, 2006, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Issues Resolved

This section provides information on issues that have been resolved with the latest release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver.

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

Well worth the wait.

Vastly more important than say X1xxx support or the known issues ATI have documented since . and have yet to fix like say running 2 or more X servers.

I applaud ATI and their vast Linux development team for working so many late nights to bring us this release.

UberLord · Mar 8, 2006, 03:53 PM

I take back parts of what I said as the big K linked and posted old release notes.

New notes here

Quote:

New Features

This section provides information on new features introduced in the latest release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver. This include:

New Product Support

This release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver introduces support for the following ATI AGP products:

ATI Radeon� X850 XT Platinum Edition
ATI Radeon� X850 XT
ATI Radeon� X850 SE
ATI Radeon� X850 PRO
ATI Radeon� X800 SE
ATI Radeon� X800 VE
ATI Radeon� X800 GT
ATI Radeon� X800 GTO
ATI Mobility� Radeon� X800

OpenGL 2.0 Enhancement

This release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver provides support for applications utilizing OpenGL Extension Wrangler (GLEW) Library. GLEW has a run-time mechanism that determines which OpenGL extensions are supported on a target platform.

Full Scene Anti-Aliasing Support

This release of the ATI Proprietary Linux driver now provides Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA) support on all ATI Radeon� 9500 and above. FSAA is enabled through aticonfig. Information on this feature can be found executing the command aticonfig --help.

I'll be testing the FSAA support in Eternal Lands (which needs it badly) as soon as this driver hits Gentoo portage.

Still missing X1xxx support though!

Kombatant · Mar 9, 2006, 01:56 AM

Heh, yeah I know; just noticed it a while ago; I goofed up on Rage3D as well

Edited.

As for X1k series support, meh, I guess I'll be happy when I finally see it.

UberLord · Mar 9, 2006, 04:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kombatant

As for X1k series support, meh, I guess I'll be happy when I finally see it.

Then we'll be bitching about lack of x2k and x3k support for hardware they've had out for months

big_D · Mar 9, 2006, 12:11 PM

support.ati.com is currently down

RIV@NVX · Mar 13, 2006, 02:01 PM

It works on my Mobility 9700 powered laptop, using SUSE 10.0. I must admit that I found it really easy to install the driver with SUSE, much easier than with let's say Fedora or Ubuntu, in case you want a custom driver, because sax2 helps a lot.

But, can anyone explain on that running two X servers issue? Is that the same as "awful display corruption" after Ctrl + Alt + Backspace or that's another issue? Because, if it is, then display corruption after C + A + Bk I'm experiencing could be a hardware issue, which is what worries me a bit...

big_D · Mar 14, 2006, 01:48 AM

I finally managed to download the new drivers, but still no 3D support...

Quote:

Originally Posted by RIV@NVX

It works on my Mobility 9700 powered laptop, using SUSE 10.0. I must admit that I found it really easy to install the driver with SUSE, much easier than with let's say Fedora or Ubuntu, in case you want a custom driver, because sax2 helps a lot.

Yes, 9000 series cards get 3D, but X1000 series don't get any support (2D or 3D) AFAIK, a few of the X100 series cards get 3D support, but the Mobility X700 isn't one of them. I will say text rendering with the new driver release is crytal clear, I saw within seconds that something was different, and it was the display, it is just crisper and more "in-focus" than the previous driver.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RIV@NVX

But, can anyone explain on that running two X servers issue? Is that the same as "awful display corruption" after Ctrl + Alt + Backspace or that's another issue? Because, if it is, then display corruption after C + A + Bk I'm experiencing could be a hardware issue, which is what worries me a bit...

Not sure what you are talking about, you can normally only run 1 X server at a time. To install and initially configure the ATi drivers you need to drop back to Run Level 3 (networking, no X), then once you have installed it and run aticonfig, you can go back into Run Level 5 (Networking and X).

UberLord · Mar 14, 2006, 05:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UberLord

I'll be testing the FSAA support in Eternal Lands (which needs it badly) as soon as this driver hits Gentoo portage.

+ Points
OK, FSAA works and looks nice

- Points
Has to be enabled or disabled - per application via drirc would be better
Combination of FSAA + modular X + replicates this bug
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5332

UberLord · Mar 14, 2006, 05:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by big_D

Not sure what you are talking about, you can normally only run 1 X server at a time.

No, you can run any ammount really.
Fex, if I had 2 graphics cards I should be able to run 2 X servers ...

big_D · Mar 14, 2006, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UberLord

No, you can run any ammount really.
Fex, if I had 2 graphics cards I should be able to run 2 X servers ...

Yes, sorry poor wording on my part. For a typical desktop with one card, you usually don't run multiple X servers on the same machine, unless you are accessing multiple X clients on other machines.

RIV@NVX · Mar 14, 2006, 09:34 AM

I understand. But, does any of you get display corruption after restarting X server with Ctrl + Alt + Backspace?

UberLord · Mar 15, 2006, 10:07 AM

Not personally, no

UberLord · Mar 15, 2006, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by big_D

Yes, sorry poor wording on my part. For a typical desktop with one card, you usually don't run multiple X servers on the same machine, unless you are accessing multiple X clients on other machines.

Or say you wanted to launch X within a new window via xnest

big_D · Mar 15, 2006, 10:37 AM

Only on my beta machine where I was hand-editing the xorg.conf and gave it some duff data...