ATI/The Hard Way

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The Hard Way

The benefit of the hard way is that you get the latest version of the driver.

Disclaimer

Thank you to those who have emailed me letting me know they were able to get the drivers working by using this tutorial. --Nick

32-bit users

Before following this tutorial please make sure you have the following packages installed:

• kernel-source
• qt3
• compat
• compat-libstdc++
• libstdc++
• libstdc++-devel
• libgcc
• xorg-x11-libs
• xorg-x11-devel
• Mesa
• Mesa-devel
• fontconfig
• fontconfig-devel
• expat
• freetype
• freetype2
• freetype2-devel
• zlib
• zlib-devel
• gcc
• patch

Note: libdrm must be version 2.3 --StephaneZ 18:52, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Through YaST check the version number of your Kernel-default and Kernel-source packets. Both must be the same. If they aren't, get latest kernel upgrade with YaST.

64-bit users

Before following this tutorial please make sure you have the following 32-bit packages, as well as the 64-bit counterparts of the packages listed above in the 32-bit users section installed:

• kernel-source
• compat-32bit
• qt3-32bit
• libstdc++
• libgcc
• xorg-x11-libs-32bit
• xorg-x11-devel-32bit
• Mesa-32bit
• Mesa-devel-32bit
• fontconfig-32bit
• expat-32bit
• freetype2-32bit
• zlib-32bit
• gcc

Note: libdrm must be version 2.3 --StephaneZ 18:52, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

via YaST

In YaST just add this Repository to the Installation Sources.

   type: http (if this doesn't work change it to ftp)
   server: ftp.skynet.be
   directory: /pub/software.opensuse.org/xorg72/openSUSE_10.2/

Now open up Install Software and choose Install from Source and select the newly added source. Update everything in blue. Or just update the Xorg stuff.

via Zypper

Step 1 - Add Source

# zypper service-add http://ftp.skynet.be/pub/software.opensuse.org/xorg72/openSUSE_10.2/ Xorg72
Determining http://ftp.skynet.be/pub/software.opensuse.org/xorg72/openSUSE_10.2/ source type...
http://ftp.skynet.be/pub/software.opensuse.org/xorg72/openSUSE_10.2/ is type YUM
Added Installation Sources:
[x]* Xorg72 (http://ftp.skynet.be/pub/software.opensuse.org/xorg72/openSUSE_10.2/)

Step 2 - Refresh Sources

# zypper refresh
...
...
...
Refreshing Xorg72
URI: http://ftp.skynet.be/pub/software.opensuse.org/xorg72/openSUSE_10.2/
DONE
...
...
...

Step 3 - Update System

Note: This will update all system packages that have available updates

1. zypper update --type=package --no-confirm --skip-interactive

Good idea to put any latest OpenSuse DVD or CD into you disc drive for files that can be obtained off the disc! [walk to [1] and get a coffee and walk back ]

Note: As of 5/5/2007, the official ATI drivers do not support Xorg version 7.2 and up (driver version 8.36.5) (source?) Change log indicates support as of 8.33.6

Note: This will also provide easy access to the required libdrm version 2.3 mentioned above. --Ginnsu 01:39, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Recommended - Prepare the Kernel for the new drivers

This step is not necessary, but there is no harm in doing so. If you have tried installing ATI drivers before make sure you follow these steps before you follow steps 4.1-5.

Open up the console in X and execute the following commands:

   # su
   password
   # cd /usr/src/linux
   # make mrproper
   # make cloneconfig
   # make modules_prepare
   # make clean

If you have previously tried installing drivers before, follow the following command, if not, move on to steps 4.1-5.

Remove previous drivers properly by executing the command:

   # rpm -e $(rpm -qa '*fglrx*')

Now move on to Steps 4.1-5

Installation - Get and Install ATI Drivers

At this point, you can use the YUM repository at www2.ati.com like this:

 YaST -> Software -> Change installation Source -> Add

 Protocol: http
 Server Name: : www2.ati.com
 Directory on Server: suse/10.2

to add the ATI http server as additional installation source. Now use

 YaST -> Software -> Install and Delete Software

to install the ATI/fglrx driver. Select the following packages:

 x11-video-fglrxG01
 ati-fglrxG01-kmp-<kernel-flavor>

<kernel-flavor> depends on your installed kernel. Check with "uname -r" for installed default/smp/bigsmp kernel. Use "sax2 -r" for X.Org configuration.

OR

You can continue with the following instructions for manual driver package generation and installation...

Step 1 - Acquire the latest ATI driver

Go to ATI's website and download the installer -- Latest as of December 21st, 2008 -- Catalyst 8.12.

NOTE: Latest and all previous drivers for 32-bit Linux may be found at this ATI website page, and for 64-bit at this page.

Step 2 - Generate Distribution Specific Driver Package

You may want to use Sax2 to create default xorg.conf by executing the command:

   # sax2 -a

Run the installer using the console as root.

   # sh ati-driver-installer-8.7-x86.x86_64.run --listpkg

or you can do the lazy method

   # sh ati*.run --listpkg

This will list the following distributions from which you can build a driver:

       SuSE/SLED10-IA32
       SuSE/SLES10-IA32
       SuSE/SLED10-AMD64
       SuSE/SLES10-AMD64
       SuSE/SUSE102-IA32
       SuSE/SUSE103-IA32
       SuSE/SUSE110-IA32
       SuSE/SUSE102-AMD64
       SuSE/SUSE103-AMD64
       SuSE/SUSE110-AMD64

Now run the following command adding your distribution at the end:

   # sh ati*.run --buildpkg SuSE/SUSE110-IA32

And for 64-bit run:

   # sh ati*.run --buildpkg SuSE/SUSE110-AMD64

The ATI Driver Installer made a driver package for your system in the same directory as where the driver installer is located.

Step 3 - Install the driver package

If you are in runlevel 5, go to runlevel 3 by typing the following command as root in one of the consoles (which you can access by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F1 [F1 up to F6]) or you can run init 3 from the console in X.

Still in the console as root type in:

   # init 3

This will close X and bring you back to TTY 1

Login and go to the directory containing the drivers package we just made.

   # cd /directory_where_you_generated_the_rpm

Install the driver package

   # rpm -Uvh fgl*.rpm

After the install is finished, you need to launch the aticonfig utility

   # ldconfig
   # aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Note: if you have attempted before to install any ATI drivers the rpm remove command will not always remove the install files from the above directories. In which case you must manual remove them or enter the full filename otherwise you will encounter lib errors with conflicting files.. --davetharrison 10:44, 25 April 2007 (GMT)

Driver is installed, now to step 4.

Step 4 - Configuring the newly installed ATI driver

After the driver has been installed it now needs to be configured. Run this command after you have installed the driver.

   # sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx

This forces sax2 to use the fglrx driver. Setup your resolution and save and exit

Attention: If you have ati radeon x1650 then you may want to skip previous command because sax2 doesn't make correct settings. You should run sax -a before installing the driver and after installing driver just run following command:

   # aticonfig --initial input=/etc/x11/xorg.conf

And after that you should modify xorg.conf by yourself.

Attention: If sax2 goes to a blank screen then try the below method, if that doesn't work, follow the the steps from the Troubleshooting section.

Attention:

Latest ATI drivers have problems with some x1000 cards (x1400, x1600, x1600 pro):

If sax stops, when loading the driver, and you can find something like this in /var/log/SaX.log:

   (EE) fglrx(0): PreInitDAL failed
   (EE) fglrx(0): PreInit failed

then you should disable framebuffer in the console.

edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and remove the vga=xxx statement from the kernel line.

See https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=222993

sax2 will start it's configuration program in X. You can do more tweaking here, but this is your option.

Disable Composite Extensions

Enabling Composite extensions disables ATI’s driver support for DRI and 3D acceleration in some cases.

Attention: If you plan on using the Beryl write up later in this tutorial do not follow this step.

Resolution: To disable the Composite extension, edit/add the following lines to the end of /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:

   Section "Extensions"
        Option "Composite" "false"
   EndSection

Note: Apparently the default is Enabled, so removing the line to disable Composite will not work. The setting needs to be explicitly set to false.

Other important Settings in the xorg.conf

For best and most stable working fglrx driver set the following options to Section "Device" in the xorg.conf:

   Option      "BlockSignalsOnLock" "on"
   Option      "KernelModuleParm" "locked-userpages=0"
   Option      "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
   Option      "UseFastTLS" "2"
   Option      "UseInternalAGPGART" "no"
   Option      "VideoOverlay" "on" # setting this to be "off" may fix tty switch problems?
   Option      "mtrr" "off"
   Option      "no_accel" "no"
   Option      "no_dri" "no"
   Option      "EnablePrivateBackZ" "no"
   Option      "backingstore" "true"
   

The option UseFastTLS "2" is an important parameter. After installation of fglrx it is a good idea to run glxgears for about 5 minutes and switch to console 10 (Strg-Alt F10) after that. If you see any messages about fglrx and Error in kernel context 0 on console 10 the value of "2" should be of help. Initially this is adjusted to "0" - what is apparently risky. My experience stems from a Radeon 9600XT.

Note If you have ati radeon x1650 pro then you may want to use following option also:

   Option      "TexturedVideo" "off" 

Atleast on openSuse 10.3 that option fixed some video rendering problems and system freeze problems - at least my system is still alive and 3D works :)

Step 5 - Reboot / kill fglrx and restart X

If you want to see whether your work was successful so far you have to ensure that no instance of an old fglrx driver is still running. Therefore you should either reboot, or, even faster than that, simply unload any currently running instance of fglrx:

 # lsmod | grep fglrx

if this prints any output you should do a rmmod fglrx in order to remove the old module. Then you can start X11 again; the latest existing module will be loaded, the latest configuration from xorg.conf will be read in.

If you cannot unload the module for whatever reason, you can reboot

 # reboot

and after applying either of the two measures you ought to have 3D functional.