ATI Radeon HD 5850/5870 On Linux? [Archive]

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phoronix

09-23-2009, 07:50 AM

Phoronix: ATI Radeon HD 5850/5870 On Linux?

In the early hours of this morning AMD officially launched the ATI Radeon HD 5800 graphics cards series, currently made up of the Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 5870. Both of these graphics cards are based upon their next-generation RV880 graphics core that brings significant improvements over the RV770 that was launched last July with the Radeon HD 4800 series...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=NzU0OQ

d2kx

09-23-2009, 08:09 AM

We would expect it to be at least a couple of months before there is any open-source 3D acceleration support for these new graphics cards.

Mmh I am not sure. It shouldn't be too much work to get it going with the new R6xx 3D code I think as it's still the same architecture.

nanonyme

09-23-2009, 08:17 AM

Mmh I am not sure. It shouldn't be too much work to get it going with the new R6xx 3D code I think as it's still the same architecture.Except that it's a new card generation...

Fixxer_Linux

09-23-2009, 08:36 AM

anbog

09-23-2009, 09:21 AM

Who cares having a linux support for HD5850 / 5870 ?
Find first a game that can already overload an HD4870 / 4890 AND that runs natively with linux !

That's not to say ATI shouldn't give that linux support on the same day as the windows support...

Dual-booters (and I guess also VM setup?) would probably like a good gaming card for windows, that also has at least basic support (video,2D, and some degree of 3D) in linux. That is why I care about the linux support, anyway..

nanonyme

09-23-2009, 09:26 AM

That's not to say ATI shouldn't give that linux support on the same day as the windows support...Yeah, well. I'd assume fglrx will get the support at the same time as Windows Catalyst. As to when opensource drivers pick up the support, we can hope for the best.

bugmenot

09-23-2009, 09:58 AM

how big is the difference between the generations? is the drm-hardware some extra part in hardware?

ObiWan

09-23-2009, 10:00 AM

The driver the 5870 ships with is a 9.10 beta (8.66)
So it's very likley that the 5870 works with the 9.10 beta driver for Ubuntu 9.10.

nanonyme

09-23-2009, 10:13 AM

how big is the difference between the generations? is the drm-hardware some extra part in hardware?I recall hearing more than between r600 and r700 but less than between r500 and r600 but probably not a good idea to take that for granted.

stikonas

09-23-2009, 11:13 AM

Is there any point to spend resources on userspace modesetting? Kernel modesetting for R700 now works well enough and KMS for R800 can probably be written fast enough.

nanonyme

09-23-2009, 11:27 AM

Is there any point to spend resources on userspace modesetting? Kernel modesetting for R700 now works well enough and KMS for R800 can probably be written fast enough.For now probably yes. Writing in new features for userspace modesetting, on the other paw, isn't possibly that smart. Simply keeping new cards running might not be stupid for now.

smitty3268

09-23-2009, 12:18 PM

For now probably yes. Writing in new features for userspace modesetting, on the other paw, isn't possibly that smart. Simply keeping new cards running might not be stupid for now.

It would be nice for Solaris and the BSDs which haven't implemented a KMS-like system in their kernels yet.

Xavier

09-23-2009, 01:27 PM

Phoronix: ATI Radeon HD 5850/5870 On Linux?
In regards to open-source support for the Radeon HD 5800 series, we would expect initial mode-setting support to appear within the xf86-video-ati driver within weeks and hopefully we will also see kernel mode-setting support shortly thereafter or around time of the Linux 2.6.33 kernel, We would expect it to be at least a couple of months before there is any open-source 3D acceleration support for these new graphics cards.

Sound like if I buy one now, it'll be running Compiz in one year ?

stikonas

09-23-2009, 01:29 PM

Should be much sooner. I think that in 1 year you should be able to run even gallium3d driver.

Xavier

09-23-2009, 01:32 PM

Thanks (but I'd prefer if it was told by God^W Bridgman himself.

bridgman

09-23-2009, 02:12 PM

Ex-Cyber

09-23-2009, 03:49 PM

Speaking of waiting, is it going to be another quarter or so before I can get an R8xx-family card that won't vaporize my power supply?

whizse

09-23-2009, 03:54 PM

Heh, one review listed "low power consumption" as a pro, I guess it depends on what you're comparing with :D

monraaf

09-23-2009, 04:10 PM

Apparently they cut 2d power consumption in half.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5870_7.html#sect0

The high power consumption of high-end graphics cards when idle or just doing 2d is one of the main reasons I don't have one. If this card is as good under Linux as in the xbitlabs review I might actually buy one.

Joe Sixpack

09-23-2009, 11:57 PM

rbmorse

09-24-2009, 12:13 AM

You mean there's something good?

Ex-Cyber

09-24-2009, 01:05 AM

Heh, one review listed "low power consumption" as a pro, I guess it depends on what you're comparing with :DI'm comparing with the rating of my power supply, the consumption of the rest of my system, and my expectations for fan noise. The idle efficiency improvements are impressive, but I just don't think that a "high-end" card is a reasonable choice for this box. Ideally I'd like to get a fanless card, but more realistically I'm hoping for "mid-range" or "mainstream performance" or whatever they're calling it, with power under load in the neighborhood of 100W and a single-slot form factor.

smitty3268

09-24-2009, 01:56 AM

The midrange part is due out in Q4, so maybe a couple months. I doubt it will be fanless, though. Low end cards based on r800 are scheduled for Q1 2010.

anbog

09-24-2009, 02:58 AM

Joe Sixpack

09-24-2009, 11:59 AM

Good thing you're here to show them how to set the standard, by highlighting both the good and the bad sides of phoronix.com.. :rolleyes:

That aside, I'm looking forward to seeing how fast the open source driver will be able to pick up the 5XXX-series. Also to seeing if AMD will be able to release documentation for it soon.

Nice try.

The topic was about AMD, and how they didn't provide phoronix with a sample. Not about Linux as a whole, not about phoronix as a whole. If you don't see it, no biggie - but that's an invalid comparison and a rather childish rolling of the eyes.

Pepazdepa

09-24-2009, 01:35 PM

It may not be popular, but I don't really care because it's the honest truth....

What a funny situation I was considering Phoronix to be site with conection to ATI.:D

whizse

09-24-2009, 02:10 PM

I'm comparing with the rating of my power supply, the consumption of the rest of my system, and my expectations for fan noise. The idle efficiency improvements are impressive, but I just don't think that a "high-end" card is a reasonable choice for this box. Ideally I'd like to get a fanless card, but more realistically I'm hoping for "mid-range" or "mainstream performance" or whatever they're calling it, with power under load in the neighborhood of 100W and a single-slot form factor.

Yeah, I'm actually looking for something similar.

The HD 4770 with passive cooling a couple of manufacturers showcased a while back would have been nice, but it doesn't seem like these ever went into production?

Qaridarium

09-25-2009, 01:45 AM

The driver the 5870 ships with is a 9.10 beta (8.66)
So it's very likley that the 5870 works with the 9.10 beta driver for Ubuntu 9.10.

8.660 in ubuntu 9.10 is to old 8.661 will be the first linux catalyst driver supports a 5870.

energyman

09-25-2009, 05:07 AM

Who cares having a linux support for HD5850 / 5870 ?
Find first a game that can already overload an HD4870 / 4890 AND that runs natively with linux !

That's not to say ATI shouldn't give that linux support on the same day as the windows support...

vegastrike is able to overload a 3870 and put some heavy load on 4870s. So there you are.

Qaridarium

09-25-2009, 12:06 PM

vegastrike is able to overload a 3870 and put some heavy load on 4870s. So there you are.

most of the mod's of TA-Spring can also kick all of the VGAs to the SUN...

only becouse of the 50000 trupps... and grafic effects!

curaga

09-26-2009, 04:23 PM

Otherwise seems nice, but what the heck is with the near-200W power draw for a single card? 27W idle? Damn, that's what my current card uses at max :D

BillBroadley

09-28-2009, 06:24 PM

It may not be popular, but I don't really care because it's the honest truth...

Have you even read the last few phoronix.com summaries for Linux Catalyst releases? They're less about actually news and reporting, and more about negative slanting ans fanning the flames. Absolutely no mention of what's added and what's fixed - just a bunch of complaining about Xvba when truthfully most non-experts don't even know what the hell it is. No balance whatsoever.

With the lack of journalistic integrity we've seen as of late in regards to AMD/ATI, I would suspect this would be the last website to get a tech preview. I mean seriously, in the end you'll only highlight the bad and gloss over everything that's good.

I've been on the nvidia side for quite awhile and I have to say I kinda agree with phoronix. As a nvidia user under linux I'm used to compiz, google earth working, full screen video playback. Even on fairly old hardware mid range from a few generations ago. In fact similar even works on the rather slow intel embedded chipsets. I bought a new quad core phenom, with the radeon 3300 (785g I believe) only to find that compiz, google earth, and full screen video playback do not work well. ATI seems to be trying hard, publishing tons of docs, some support for the opensource folks. But still seems lacking with a decent driver (binary or otherwise).

Anyone out there there with a ati 4770, how does it work with google earth (full screen), video playback (full screen) and compiz?

energyman

09-28-2009, 07:01 PM

well, patch X and see almost all problems go away...

EmbraceUnity

09-28-2009, 07:16 PM

Anyone out there there with a ati 4770, how does it work with google earth (full screen), video playback (full screen) and compiz?

From what I hear on IRC, using bleeding edge code, the 4xxx series cards are running Compiz and playing Nexuiz just fine, so I assume Google Earth would be fine too. Don't know about video playback.

Joe Sixpack

09-29-2009, 02:35 PM

I've been on the nvidia side for quite awhile and I have to say I kinda agree with phoronix. As a nvidia user under linux I'm used to compiz, google earth working, full screen video playback. Even on fairly old hardware mid range from a few generations ago. In fact similar even works on the rather slow intel embedded chipsets. I bought a new quad core phenom, with the radeon 3300 (785g I believe) only to find that compiz, google earth, and full screen video playback do not work well. ATI seems to be trying hard, publishing tons of docs, some support for the opensource folks. But still seems lacking with a decent driver (binary or otherwise).

Anyone out there there with a ati 4770, how does it work with google earth (full screen), video playback (full screen) and compiz?

I understand where you are coming from. It's a slippery slope though. There's a very fine line between reporting, telling it how it is, and ranting. If you're running some personal blog then fine - rant all day and night. But if you are considered to be the authority on linux hardware, then a little neutrality is expected.

I guess I dodged the bullet because I'm still using the old HD 3870. Compiz used to be abysmal, but it improved greatly with Catalyst 9.2 - 9.6. Catalyst 9.8 seems to have fixed whatever that was causing the random hard locks (someone else mentioned it in the forums), and I've been able to play Nexuiz since Catalyst 8.7.

DuSTman

09-30-2009, 07:49 PM

My guess was "a couple of weeks for modesetting and a couple of months for acceleration".

Alex is going to be out at XDC next week so I'm revising that to "a few weeks for modesetting..." :D

We haven't started the work though, so these really are guesses for now.

How much of a deviation is this generation in terms of hardware interface?

Anything we can help with? Docs available?

sc3252

10-01-2009, 11:22 PM

Nice try.

The topic was about AMD, and how they didn't provide phoronix with a sample. Not about Linux as a whole, not about phoronix as a whole. If you don't see it, no biggie - but that's an invalid comparison and a rather childish rolling of the eyes.

Why provide a sample if there are no drivers yet? I am getting my 5850 in a couple days so I can check if the 9.10 beta drivers work, but I have my doubts. If you have read anything from the forums and reviews the drivers on windows seem a bit rough right now, so its understandable that they don't have working drivers for Linux yet. Also I am not implying that the windows driver team also works on the Linux driver, but that it might require more work than the R700 series.

energyman

10-01-2009, 11:28 PM

if you try the ubuntu-pre-relase of the 9.10 drivers, they might work - but you also might get a 'hardware not supported' watermark in the right bottom corner ;)

imho worth a try ;)

grigi

10-02-2009, 04:42 AM

Yes, I agree.

On my desktop 4850, I have had some noticeable improvements in performance, and bugfixes since I got it a year ago.

Where are the benchmarks comparing the different ATI divers on each new release?

I used to look at the articles, and I'd get a good idea of what the new driver bring. Now, I have to read trough a hundred pages of forum posts to get an idea.

chaos386

10-02-2009, 03:52 PM

if you try the ubuntu-pre-relase of the 9.10 drivers, they might work - but you also might get a 'hardware not supported' watermark in the right bottom corner ;)

imho worth a try ;)

I'm really curious as to whether the 9.10 drivers support the 5800 series or not (I know *one* of you guys has to have bought one already, so speak up! :p). I want to buy an ATi card in the coming weeks, but I don't know if I should get a 4850, a 4870, or a 5850...

energyman

10-02-2009, 04:01 PM

have you read the test on anandtech? The 5850 is blazing fast. There is no reason to buy a 4870 - except the prize...

GotenXiao

10-02-2009, 07:03 PM

tuxdriver

10-02-2009, 07:11 PM

32xAF? Since when do ATI cards perform 32x anisotropic filtering?

mtippett

10-03-2009, 12:01 AM

I'm typing this from a Debian Lenny/Sid amd64 box (AMD X4 955BE, 8GB PC2-8500, MSI K9A2 Platinum) with a brand new Radeon 5870 in it. I've got the "Unsupported hardware" banner at the bottom right, but I've not run into any problems so far. I've been running Heroes of Newerth at 1680x1050, vsync off, with 8xAA and 32xAF on at >70FPS. X-Plane runs very nicely at 1680x1050 extreme res with 4xAA and 4xAF (not nudged it any higher yet), ETQW runs very nicely with 16xAF (>60FPS constant). This is with Catalyst 9.9.

The AIB vendor (which one BTW?) has the option of including a driver on the CD. Did you check?

The hardware became "supported" between the final packaging of Catalyst 9.9 and the next release. There may some bugs that you may still encounter that were resolved prior to the final release, but the 9.9 catalyst will be 95% "there". Beyond a few small corner cases, the driver should be representative of the performance of the card.

Regards,

Matthew

GotenXiao

10-03-2009, 04:56 AM

32xAF? Since when do ATI cards perform 32x anisotropic filtering?

Since the 5870, apparently :D

The AIB vendor (which one BTW?) has the option of including a driver on the CD. Did you check?

The hardware became "supported" between the final packaging of Catalyst 9.9 and the next release. There may some bugs that you may still encounter that were resolved prior to the final release, but the 9.9 catalyst will be 95% "there". Beyond a few small corner cases, the driver should be representative of the performance of the card.

Regards,

Matthew
XFX - I did check, but they've only got Windows 2k/XP and Vista/7 drivers on the CD.

I believe I encountered one of the bugs - this happened after I went to bed, and I've not been able to get an X server running this morning (without rebooting).

This is from kern.log:
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.680795] [fglrx:firegl_cail_init] *ERROR* CAIL: CAIL_ASICSetup failed, error 1
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.680799] [fglrx:hal_init_asic] *ERROR* Failed to initialize ASIC.
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.680967] BUG: unable to handle kernel paging request at ffffc200121898f0
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.680970] IP: [<ffffffffa04b5815>] halReadReg32+0x5/0x10 [fglrx]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681030] PGD 23fc6c067 PUD 23fc6d067 PMD 23cbcd067 PTE 0
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681033] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681035] last sysfs file: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.4/0000:04:00.0/resource
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681037] CPU 3
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681038] Modules linked in: fuse snd_seq_dummy usb_storage udf joydev fglrx(P) binfmt_misc rfcomm l2cap bluetooth battery ppdev parport_pc lp parport cpufreq_userspace cpufreq_stats cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_conservative nf_conntrack_ipv6 ip6table_filter ip6_tables xt_tcpudp xt_state iptable_filter ipt_MASQUERADE iptable_nat nf_nat nf_conntrack_ipv4 nf_conntrack nf_defrag_ipv4 ip_tables x_tables deflate zlib_deflate ctr twofish twofish_common camellia serpent blowfish des_generic cbc cryptd aes_x86_64 aes_generic xcbc rmd160 sha256_generic sha1_generic hmac crypto_null af_key nls_utf8 nls_cp437 vfat fat nls_base ext2 dm_crypt f71882fg firewire_sbp2 loop snd_hda_codec_atihdmi snd_hda_codec_realtek snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_pcm_oss snd_mixer_oss snd_hwdep snd_pcm snd_seq_midi snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq snd_timer snd_seq_device usbhid snd hid i2c_piix4 wmi i2c_core processor button soundcore serio_raw psmouse pcspkr snd_page_alloc evdev ext3 jbd mbcache dm_mir
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: or dm_region_hash dm_log dm_snapshot dm_mod ide_cd_mod cdrom ide_pci_generic sd_mod crc_t10dif atiixp ide_core ahci ata_generic libata firewire_ohci firewire_core crc_itu_t scsi_mod ohci_hcd floppy ehci_hcd r8169 mii thermal fan thermal_sys [last unloaded: fuse]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681093] Pid: 7907, comm: Xorg Tainted: P 2.6.30-1-amd64 #1 MS-7376
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681095] RIP: 0010:[<ffffffffa04b5815>] [<ffffffffa04b5815>] halReadReg32+0x5/0x10 [fglrx]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681136] RSP: 0018:ffff8801d3575d20 EFLAGS: 00010216
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681137] RAX: ffffffffa0614ac0 RBX: ffff88023a4882c0 RCX: 0000000000000006
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681139] RDX: 00000000000098f0 RSI: 00000000000098f0 RDI: ffffc20012180000
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681140] RBP: ffff88021f8f8000 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: ffffffffa057d640
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681142] R10: 0000000000000009 R11: 000000003e920000 R12: 00000000017c9720
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681143] R13: ffff8801d3575dc8 R14: 00000000c0406466 R15: ffff8801fc8f33c0
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681145] FS: 00007fe0b8c72790(0000) GS:ffff880028082000(0000) knlGS:00000000f7df26c0
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681146] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681148] CR2: ffffc200121898f0 CR3: 000000020b12c000 CR4: 00000000000006e0
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681149] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681151] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681152] Process Xorg (pid: 7907, threadinfo ffff8801d3574000, task ffff8801dbdc8b30)
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681154] Stack:
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681155] ffffffffa04b5f32 ffff88021f8f8000 ffffffffa04b4aaf ffff8801d3575d78
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681157] ffffffffa049b9f6 ffff8801d3575de8 ffff880231f2ad58 ffff88021c174c80
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681159] 0000000000000001 ffff8801d3575ed8 ffffffff802939a8 ffff88021f8f8000
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681162] Call Trace:
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681164] [<ffffffffa04b5f32>] ? __get_num_hzmem_pipes_r7xx+0x12/0x20 [fglrx]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681204] [<ffffffffa04b4aaf>] ? hal_get_num_hzmem_pipes+0x1f/0x80 [fglrx]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681244] [<ffffffffa049b9f6>] ? firegl_init_pcie+0xf6/0x3f0 [fglrx]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681282] [<ffffffff802939a8>] ? generic_file_aio_write+0x6f/0xc4
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681288] [<ffffffffa015f384>] ? ext3_file_write+0x16/0x96 [ext3]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681296] [<ffffffffa049b900>] ? firegl_init_pcie+0x0/0x3f0 [fglrx]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681334] [<ffffffffa049755a>] ? firegl_ioctl+0x1ea/0x250 [fglrx]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681372] [<ffffffff802cc04b>] ? vfs_ioctl+0x56/0x6c
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681375] [<ffffffff802cc48c>] ? do_vfs_ioctl+0x42b/0x464
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681377] [<ffffffff802c13c5>] ? vfs_write+0xcd/0x102
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681380] [<ffffffff802cc516>] ? sys_ioctl+0x51/0x70
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681382] [<ffffffff8020fa42>] ? system_call_fastpath+0x16/0x1b
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681385] Code: 00 00 48 89 8f f8 03 00 00 48 85 c0 74 0d 48 83 f8 ff 74 07 48 89 87 f8 03 00 00 b8 01 00 00 00 c3 66 66 90 66 90 c1 e6 02 89 f2 <8b> 04 3a c3 66 66 66 90 66 66 90 c1 e6 02 89 f0 89 14 38 c3 66
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681402] RIP [<ffffffffa04b5815>] halReadReg32+0x5/0x10 [fglrx]
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681441] RSP <ffff8801d3575d20>
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681442] CR2: ffffc200121898f0
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.681444] ---[ end trace bd5cd2ab2dcbaae5 ]---
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.682163] [fglrx:firegl_release] *ERROR* device busy: 1 0
Oct 3 02:45:06 nightstalker kernel: [14496.682165] [fglrx] release failed with code -EBUSY

This is from Xorg.0.log (this morning after trying to restart kdm):
(II) fglrx(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 16384 kB
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE OEM: ATI ATOMBIOS
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 12.11
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: (C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc.
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: CYPRESS
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 01.00
(EE) fglrx(0): CAIL: CAIL_ASICSetup failed, error 1
(EE) fglrx(0): GetBIOSParameter failed
(EE) fglrx(0): PreInitAdatper failed
(EE) fglrx(0): PreInit failed
(II) fglrx(0): === [atiddxPreInit] === end
(EE) fglrx(0): PPLIB: PPLIB is not initialized!.
(EE) fglrx(0): PPLIB: swlPPLibNotifyEventToPPLib() failed!
(EE) fglrx(0): ulEventType = 0000000c, ulEventData = 00000001

Backtrace:
0: /usr/bin/X(xorg_backtrace+0x26) [0x4ee256]
1: /usr/bin/X(xf86SigHandler+0x39) [0x4840b9]
2: /lib/libc.so.6 [0x7f3d824c0fc0]
3: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//fglrx_drv.so(swlDalHelperClose+0x87) [0x7f3d80a918a7]
4: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//fglrx_drv.so(atiddxFreeScreen+0x129) [0x7f3d80a6d589]
5: /usr/bin/X(xf86DeleteScreen+0x7e) [0x480e5e]
6: /usr/bin/X(InitOutput+0xdda) [0x46de3a]
7: /usr/bin/X(main+0x200) [0x4331d0]
8: /lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xfd) [0x7f3d824ada8d]
9: /usr/bin/X [0x432819]

Edit: came back up fine after a reboot. I also reset the amdpcsdb to the default file to make sure there were no lingering entries from my 3870 crossfire setup.

chaos386

10-03-2009, 03:24 PM

have you read the test on anandtech? The 5850 is blazing fast. There is no reason to buy a 4870 - except the prize...

Price *is* a big factor. The 5850 is around twice as fast as the 4850 in theory (a little less in practice, aside from in Far Cry 2), but 2.6x the price. I'm willing to pay a little extra for the performance, but if the 5800 series isn't well supported right away, I might as well get a 48X0 card and enjoy fast open-source 3D drivers sooner.

I'm typing this from a Debian Lenny/Sid amd64 box (AMD X4 955BE, 8GB PC2-8500, MSI K9A2 Platinum) with a brand new Radeon 5870 in it. I've got the "Unsupported hardware" banner at the bottom right, but I've not run into any problems so far. I've been running Heroes of Newerth at 1680x1050, vsync off, with 8xAA and 32xAF on at >70FPS. X-Plane runs very nicely at 1680x1050 extreme res with 4xAA and 4xAF (not nudged it any higher yet), ETQW runs very nicely with 16xAF (>60FPS constant). This is with Catalyst 9.9.

Thanks for braving ahead and getting a card you didn't even know would be functional under Linux! :D

The AIB vendor (which one BTW?) has the option of including a driver on the CD. Did you check?

The hardware became "supported" between the final packaging of Catalyst 9.9 and the next release. There may some bugs that you may still encounter that were resolved prior to the final release, but the 9.9 catalyst will be 95% "there". Beyond a few small corner cases, the driver should be representative of the performance of the card.

Regards,

Matthew

By "next release", I assume you mean Catalyst 9.10, right? I basically just want to know if the driver packaged with Ubuntu 9.10 will officially support the 5850.

mtippett

10-03-2009, 08:37 PM

Thanks for braving ahead and getting a card you didn't even know would be functional under Linux! :D

Since the 4800 launch, Linux has generally been either included in the release CDs (as mentioned before, AMD doesn't control this), or included in the follow-up catalyst release.

By "next release", I assume you mean Catalyst 9.10, right? I basically just want to know if the driver packaged with Ubuntu 9.10 will officially support the 5850.

Well, that's an extra variable.

Yes, Catalyst 9.10 should have the hardware enabled by default.

Now, for distributions, we typically do a 1-2 apprach. We look to ensure that at release there is a driver that _mostly_ works (in this case, the 8.660 driver pushed a month or so ago. There may be some quirks when the distro is released, but that is because the distribution may change in the intervening months or we may not have completed all development.

When the distro is formally released, within a month or two we have the "final" release, which contains our full development for that distribution _and_ should be matched to the final release of the distribution.

This does means things like projective transforms in RANDR1.3 get rolled in without much fanfare. (look at the --transform option in xrandr).

Regards,

Matthew

rbmorse

11-03-2009, 11:31 AM

I just installed an HD5850 onto Ubuntu 9.10 and loaded the FGLRX driver from repository. Works fine with my Apple 23 Inch Cinema display (1920 X 1200/60) so far. Any way to remove the "unsupported hardware" watermark?

bridgman

11-03-2009, 03:42 PM

The Catalyst 9.10 driver should include "official" support and remove the "unsupported HW" watermark.

Munchkin

11-16-2009, 07:25 AM

I'm on the fence of buying a 5870...

Can anyone please confirm current status with drivers?

I need to run:

- two monitors @ 23" @ 2048 x 1152
- compiz fusion

I can wait with 3D gaming until that is solved. But if I can't get my two monitors to work with compiz I can't work.

My alternative is to buy a 4890 and upgrade within a few months.

Kano

11-16-2009, 07:40 AM

Save your money and get a GT300 next year if you really use it mainly for Linux and not only part time.

energyman

11-16-2009, 07:59 AM

Save your money and get a GT300 next year if you really use it mainly for Linux and not only part time.

if it ever comes out, you mean?

rohcQaH

11-16-2009, 08:03 AM

I need to run:

- two monitors @ 23" @ 2048 x 1152
- compiz fusion
as bridgman said, the 5870 is officially supported by the 9.10 driver, which has been out for a while. Both multi-monitor and composition are supported. 3D gaming isn't a problem either, unless you're talking about wine.

While Kano is rightly hinting that nvidia's binary drivers are in some ways more mature than fglrx, waiting for an unreleased piece of hardware would be a waste of time. All public knowledge about the GT300 is based on nvidia's press releases, and those releases contain obvious lies. It seems that their promises are mostly a marketing move to stall buyers until nvidia's next generation cards are finally ready. Whether they can actually deliver (and if, when) must at this point be considered "unknown".

Munchkin

11-16-2009, 08:31 AM

as bridgman said, the 5870 is officially supported by the 9.10 driver, which has been out for a while. Both multi-monitor and composition are supported.

Well he said "should"... a lot of things should work. ;)

I don't want to waste lots of money on a card that *may* work.

Waiting for nvidia will take too long.

rohcQaH

11-16-2009, 10:40 AM

Well he said "should"... a lot of things should work. ;)
yeah, he's always careful with his wordings. Probably because he didn't verify it himself.

But the release docs say:

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/catalyst_910_linux.pdf :
ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series

and if that didn't work, you'd have seen a lot of complaints in here.