AMD 8.41 Display Driver Preview

[phoronix]

Phoronix: AMD 8.41 Display Driver Preview

While many thought this day would never come or that it was some form of propaganda, it's coming and it's coming this month. The AMD fglrx 8.41 driver features a brand new underlying code-base that has been under development for well over a year. At Phoronix we have literally spent hundreds of hours using and testing this new driver, and to say the least it is truly a new experience on the ATI Linux front. The new driver delivers massive performance improvements, Radeon HD 2000 (R600) support, and a whole lot more. This article is the first of five articles that will be published today at Phoronix as we examine the new AMD Linux driver extensively on all fronts from seeing how it can handle the flagship ATI Radeon HD 2900XT graphics card to going back to past graphics card families to show the dramatic performance improvements.

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=10955

[IanW]

I hereby declare this the "Too late, I bought an Nvidia card this week" version. :rolleyes:

[yoshi314]

you should add "shame on me then" to the version name in that case :D

[ioannis]

Congratulations to AMD. They delivered!

Even though announced, this was an unexpected pleasant surprise.

I think the name 'Holy cow!' is appropriate here :)

[uhoh]

Congratulations to AMD. They delivered!


What? No. They haven't delivered yet in the least.
First of all, they haven't actually RELEASED ANYTHING yet. And even then, there will be no AIGLX in the upcoming driver.

*EVEN* if they finally get around to add AIGLX to 8.42, it's too little, too late. That should have been available 2 years ago.

The ridiculous driver development model doesn't help, either. Three months to release stuff that compiles with the latest stable kernel? Drivers take bring down X when an external monitor is disconnected? Drivers that bring down the entine machine if trying to start X with primary display on external connector? I'll bet they haven't fixed the graphics corruption issues either.

Sorry ATI, but nvidia and intel are still kings of the Linux desktop.

[Xipeos]

What? No. They haven't delivered yet in the least.
First of all, they haven't actually RELEASED ANYTHING yet. And even then, there will be no AIGLX in the upcoming driver.

*EVEN* if they finally get around to add AIGLX to 8.42, it's too little, too late. That should have been available 2 years ago.

The ridiculous driver development model doesn't help, either. Three months to release stuff that compiles with the latest stable kernel? Drivers take bring down X when an external monitor is disconnected? Drivers that bring down the entine machine if trying to start X with primary display on external connector? I'll bet they haven't fixed the graphics corruption issues either.

Sorry ATI, but nvidia and intel are still kings of the Linux desktop.

What's wrong with you people?! Judging the new driver before it's even available...
There have been promises, and so far they've been fulfilled (ex. better performance).
Just wait 1 damn week and then judge all you want.

[uhoh]

What's wrong with you people?! Judging the new driver before it's even available...
There have been promises, and so far they've been fulfilled (ex. better performance).
Just wait 1 damn week and then judge all you want.

Who cares about performance when the driver DOESN'T WORK? Wow, I get to crash X even faster!

After hearing "just wait" for two years I really don't think they deserve to get the benefit of the doubt.

[Xipeos]

Who cares about performance when the driver DOESN'T WORK? Wow, I get to crash X even faster!

After hearing "just wait" for two years I really don't think they deserve to get the benefit of the doubt.

So far, you've only had promises.

Now you now for sure that something new (if nothing else) is coming.

[uhoh]

So far, you've only had promises.

Now you now for sure that something new (if nothing else) is coming.

That remains to be seen. They still haven't delivered, as that other guy so cheerfully proclaimed.

PS: If this driver is such a big deal, why didn't they set the version number to 9.0 ?

[Xipeos]

That remains to be seen. They still haven't delivered, as that other guy so cheerfully proclaimed.

PS: If this driver is such a big deal, why didn't they set the version number to 9.0 ?

http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5061

[uhoh]

http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5061

What? The only reason given in that thread is
"The 9.* will happen when there's a complete rewrite of the Windows/all driver, too.".

The only reasonable conclusion, then, is that ATI is lying, with the claims that 8.41 "features a brand-new underlying codebase that has been in development for over a year"? :eek:

[Xipeos]

What? The only reason given in that thread is
"The 9.* will happen when there's a complete rewrite of the Windows/all driver, too.".

The only reasonable conclusion, then, is that ATI is lying, with the claims that 8.41 "features a brand-new underlying codebase that has been in development for over a year"? :eek:

That was only the suggestion of a user, not an official stand point.

The driver hasn't even been released, maybe it'll be 9.0 or whatever. Besides, why judge a driver by its name/version?!

[ioannis]

What? The only reason given in that thread is
"The 9.* will happen when there's a complete rewrite of the Windows/all driver, too.".

The only reasonable conclusion, then, is that ATI is lying, with the claims that 8.41 "features a brand-new underlying codebase that has been in development for over a year"? :eek:

calm down, will you? :)

The Phoronix guys were kind enough to offer as a good review of the driver, in terms of performance gains. And there are more related articles coming soon. Since this is not the 1st of April, there is no reason not to believe those figures. The new driver, which will be released to the public shortly, is significantly faster and does come with R600 support.

Considering ATI's LINUX support until now, it's ok I guess to be a bit sceptical, but you are overreacting.

As the old saying goes, 'better late than never' ;)

[uhoh]

calm down, will you? :)

The Phoronix guys were kind enough to offer as a good review of the driver, in terms of performance gains. And there are more related articles coming soon. Since this is not the 1st of April, there is no reason not to believe those figures. The new driver, which will be released to the public shortly, is significantly faster and does come with R600 support.

Considering ATI's LINUX support until now, it's ok I guess to be a bit sceptical, but you are overreacting.

As the old saying goes, 'better late than never' ;)

I'll believe you when I'm running compiz on my laptop AND there are no garbage graphics in the corners AND the mouse cursor stays straight. That will be the day when I can wow my co-workers with "Look! I'm doing what you guys did 2 years ago!"

[rob2687]

8.42 "The Soaring Suidae/Swine"

[Xipeos]

I'll believe you when I'm running compiz on my laptop AND there are no garbage graphics in the corners AND the mouse cursor stays straight. That will be the day when I can wow my co-workers with "Look! I'm doing what you guys did 2 years ago!"

There was no aiglx, compiz or even xgl back then. Are your co-workers time travelers?
And what's this then, an ego hunt?

Maybe you can take some comfort knowing that after tonight, your co-workers will envy your for your ati card. And when than happens, will you eat your words or continue to bitch about it?

[Malikith]

I'll believe you when I'm running compiz on my laptop AND there are no garbage graphics in the corners AND the mouse cursor stays straight. That will be the day when I can wow my co-workers with "Look! I'm doing what you guys did 2 years ago!"

Its better now than never, I'd appreciate it that its happening at all.

[rob2687]

It's closer to about a year and a half ago. The first release of Compiz was pretty basic compared to now.

[uhoh]

There was no aiglx, compiz or even xgl back then. Are your co-workers time travelers?
And what's this then, an ego hunt?

Maybe you can take some comfort knowing that after tonight, your co-workers will envy your for your ati card. And when than happens, will you eat your words or continue to bitch about it?

OK, maybe it was 1.5 years ago. Whatever. It's not even about compiz.

All I want is a graphics card that is able to display a regular desktop without garbling the corners or the mouse cursor, and one that doesn't crash and burn when you switch consoles, unplug the external monitor, or start up with the external screen as the primary display. Is that too much to ask? Bonus points if the drivers are compatible with this year's release of X.org and Linux kernel.

If 8.41 delivers all this then I will shut up and be happy. Until then, the facts are that living with an ATI based laptop has lost me dozens of hours fiddling with old X.org releases, unofficial kernel module patches, and lost work due to X crashing.

[Xipeos]

OK, maybe it was 1.5 years ago. Whatever. It's not even about compiz.

All I want is a graphics card that is able to display a regular desktop without garbling the corners or the mouse cursor, and one that doesn't crash and burn when you switch consoles, unplug the external monitor, or start up with the external screen as the primary display. Is that too much to ask? Bonus points if the drivers are compatible with this year's release of X.org and Linux kernel.

If 8.41 delivers all this then I will shut up and be happy. Until then, the facts are that living with an ATI based laptop has lost me dozens of hours fiddling with old X.org releases, unofficial kernel module patches, and lost work due to X crashing.

Ok fine, you had your share of problems with ati. No one is denying that they exist, but it's really pointless (not to mention annoying as hell) to bitch about it on the verge of revolution.

Revolution comes, if it's still bad then bitch all you want. Or better yet, switch to nvidia/intel.

[lilricky]

What? No accidental leak of the driver for us? :p

EDIT: Whoops, looks like someone already thought about that... Thanks to whoever leaked it! Bittorrent is your friend! :)

[uhoh]

Bittorrent is your friend! :)

Care to drop another hint?

[Stormking]

Care to drop another hint?
Me too! :rolleyes:

[d2kx]

He better shuts his mouth.

[Alistair]

What? No accidental leak of the driver for us? :p

EDIT: Whoops, looks like someone already thought about that... Thanks to whoever leaked it! Bittorrent is your friend! :)

/me wonders if this is the next major linux worm ...... :D:D:D:eek:

[lilricky]

He better shuts his mouth.
And you better learn proper english. :D

[Xipeos]

And you better learn proper english. :D

Your second post on the forum, and you're already in the offense? :p

d2kx is right though. If you know anything about any leakage, then keep it to yourself. If more people talk about it, AMD may rethink its beta program (and we don't want that).

[TheOmegaMan]

This is for uhoh:

<bitch>

Now I amd trying to understand your complaint about the corners and the mouse with ATI card. I had a old laptop with a radeon 9600 and never had the problems your talking about. Actually about 5 months ago I bought a new laptop with nvida on it and seeing what I am seeing now I wish I would have bought the version of my laptop with ATI.

My experience in video quality on my old laptop with radeon 9600 (when watching videos especially) was clear and crisp. My current laptop with a geforce go 7600 seems to have more blotchy and faded video quality. I managed to get even WoW working on it no problem and of course WET going beautifully.

Now I've used the open-source driver and the fglrx and I got it all working with XGL on fglrx and got AIGLX working on open-source driver no problems. Your complaints are dumb and un-needed. AMD has not been running ATI for ever, ATI's choice prior to the buyout was their choice. AMD has had a pile load of crap happening over the last year and I think they have done an awesome job. AMD is making a great choice in showing it supports OpenSource. AMD is much more open than many in their position in the world so instead of bitching, shut up and know your role.

Everyone else doesn't seem to be announcing to the world just how stupid they are so why do you.


BTW I'm no uber linux geek and if I managed to get it working problem(including crashing) free I don't understand why you keep complaining about the corruption. Oh btw my first graphics card was an ATI Mach32 4MB card and guess what there was a mouse corruption problem on that driver for windows and it persisted with every ATI card I had until the Radeon 9800 came out years ago. This was a windows driver here not linux so guess what, the fact that they are saying they are working from a new code base is a good thing. Before ATI was bought out by AMD they would have stayed on that same codebase from here until the end of the earth so count your blessing that they were bought by AMD who understands a thing or two about doing things efficiently.

Anyway sorry to all others about the bitching but I hate hearing some local yocal biatch about something he has so very little understanding about.
</bitch>

[Malikith]

This is for uhoh:

<bitch>

Now I amd trying to understand your complaint about the corners and the mouse with ATI card. I had a old laptop with a radeon 9600 and never had the problems your talking about. Actually about 5 months ago I bought a new laptop with nvida on it and seeing what I am seeing now I wish I would have bought the version of my laptop with ATI.

My experience in video quality on my old laptop with radeon 9600 (when watching videos especially) was clear and crisp. My current laptop with a geforce go 7600 seems to have more blotchy and faded video quality. I managed to get even WoW working on it no problem and of course WET going beautifully.

Now I've used the open-source driver and the fglrx and I got it all working with XGL on fglrx and got AIGLX working on open-source driver no problems. Your complaints are dumb and un-needed. AMD has not been running ATI for ever, ATI's choice prior to the buyout was their choice. AMD has had a pile load of crap happening over the last year and I think they have done an awesome job. AMD is making a great choice in showing it supports OpenSource. AMD is much more open than many in their position in the world so instead of bitching, shut up and know your role.

Everyone else doesn't seem to be announcing to the world just how stupid they are so why do you.


BTW I'm no uber linux geek and if I managed to get it working problem(including crashing) free I don't understand why you keep complaining about the corruption. Oh btw my first graphics card was an ATI Mach32 4MB card and guess what there was a mouse corruption problem on that driver for windows and it persisted with every ATI card I had until the Radeon 9800 came out years ago. This was a windows driver here not linux so guess what, the fact that they are saying they are working from a new code base is a good thing. Before ATI was bought out by AMD they would have stayed on that same codebase from here until the end of the earth so count your blessing that they were bought by AMD who understands a thing or two about doing things efficiently.

Anyway sorry to all others about the bitching but I hate hearing some local yocal biatch about something he has so very little understanding about.
</bitch>

Look, other people with different cards and different configurations experence different issues, its as simple as that. I don't know what is with all the heated debate lately, but it really needs to end. I understand some people frusterate others, but this just isn't necessary.

I got a suggestion to anyone that has any beef with anyone, try to take it to private messages. Alot of people see these forums.

[TheOmegaMan]

I agree but since there was never any mention about what vid-card, motherboard, cpu, version of linux, driver revision being used I don't think I'm getting carried away by complaining about someone who seems to like to complain about something they don't even know how to reseached their hardware and bugs/config tweaks to get it going properly. I know that I did complain a little too and I am sorry but those "1337 h4x0rz" out there should stop trying to be so 1337s and maybe try actually to read and learn things instead of using a "Go-button" approach to everything then complaining that things don't work and the company involved sucks worst than antying else in the universe.

I like Nvidia and ATI, my new laptop I chose nvidia since at the time it was fully supported. So other than this, uhoh should search this forum for some tips on getting that "corruption" fixed. Every problem I have encountered to date I could resolve by simply using goolge and my two eyes. I don't come in a forum and start complaining about how a company that never gave a rats ass about linux all of the sudden does an about face and this guys is bitching???

Now WTH is up with that, and I'm being looked down at because I feel very strongly that AMD/ATI is making a great choice by doing what they are doing and having the opinion of people who just hate the world and everything in it and nothing is said about them. Ok then, I am sorry and will keep quiet, I guess getting praise from the consumers is something that AMD is NOT looking for, great now that means they will go full steam ahead in linux right???

[Kano]

Well speed is only one issue of the ATI drivers. Others are AIGLX, which would be really nice for Distributions without Xgl like Debian. Xgl is a really awful hack, you can use it with any card, like even on old GPUs to try things like water effect, but running 2 Xservers the same time usally leads into problems. One not yet mentioned problem that has not been solved for years (!) is the fact, that custom modelines are ignored or even lead to system crash. Thats a bit sad when you want to use a resolution that the monitor will never report with dcc like 1280x960. I would like to see a fixed driver for that issue too...

[d2kx]

Kano, many news only mentioned the performance part, but AMD is not going to improve the performance, but to improve their driver. That includes more. Don't forget that.

[HighHo]

Kano - AIGLX is to be expected in the 8.42 release in October, not really too far off just have to hope it makes it.

[Kano]

I hope some of the beta testers will try something like:

# 1280x960 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 85.68 kHz; pclk: 149.43 MHz
Modeline "1280x960" 149.43 1280 1376 1512 1744 960 961 964 1008 -HSync +Vsync

As nobody cared for years I would not expect it...

[rob2687]

Is the device support the same as the old one where it only supports the 9500 onwards?

[Michael]

Is the device support the same as the old one where it only supports the 9500 onwards?

The new driver architecture supports the R300, R400, R500, and R600. So yes, the same except for the added R600 support. However, temporarily in the 8.41 release there is no workstation FireGL support.

[Kano]

Did you try the ChipID override for FireGL GPUs?

[Thetargos]

Does ATI/AMD do the same to the FireGL GPUs as nVidia to their Quadros, in terms only enabling in the driver certain features on the FGLs but the regular GPUs also have them? I simply ask due to the chipID thing (I remember I had to change mine a couple of times as it was being erroneously recognized)

[Kano]

I guess so, but can not verify. I extracted all ATI driver infos (from log file) up to 8.33.6 and there have been the same chip codenames for FireGL and Radeon cards.

[spielc]

I agree but since there was never any mention about what vid-card, motherboard, cpu, version of linux, driver revision being used I don't think I'm getting carried away by complaining about someone who seems to like to complain about something they don't even know how to reseached their hardware and bugs/config tweaks to get it going properly. I know that I did complain a little too and I am sorry but those "1337 h4x0rz" out there should stop trying to be so 1337s and maybe try actually to read and learn things instead of using a "Go-button" approach to everything then complaining that things don't work and the company involved sucks worst than antying else in the universe.

I like Nvidia and ATI, my new laptop I chose nvidia since at the time it was fully supported. So other than this, uhoh should search this forum for some tips on getting that "corruption" fixed. Every problem I have encountered to date I could resolve by simply using goolge and my two eyes. I don't come in a forum and start complaining about how a company that never gave a rats ass about linux all of the sudden does an about face and this guys is bitching???

Now WTH is up with that, and I'm being looked down at because I feel very strongly that AMD/ATI is making a great choice by doing what they are doing and having the opinion of people who just hate the world and everything in it and nothing is said about them. Ok then, I am sorry and will keep quiet, I guess getting praise from the consumers is something that AMD is NOT looking for, great now that means they will go full steam ahead in linux right???

Well he has a point and this point is that ATI/AMD fucked it up themselves. They left us out in the dark for too long and that's why most of us long time ATI-linux-users still aren't convinced if somebody says "the new driver is so much better than the old one... speed improvement, aiglx-support will come soon..." (no offence Michael!!) Btw. i'm still not 100% convinced that the new driver will be so revolutionary i'll believe it when i see it PERIOD. The main problem is that there are some bugs that were reported MONTHS ago (i know the public bugzilla is not the official one but at least SOME devs or the dev could have a look at the reported problems once in a while) and ATI just ignored it. That's what most ppl have been so pissed about (including myself)...

If they finally managed to get their stuff together and created a product that is finally able to compete even in linux, i'll be one of the happiest guys on earth but i won't believe it till i actually get to see it myself

[uhoh]

This is for uhoh:

<bitch>
blah blah
</bitch>

I'm sorry I offended your ego trying to justify your poor choice of graphics card.

If you think complaining about mouse cursor corruption and desktop corruption in the corners is "dumb and unneeded", I guess I just have higher expectations than you about the 2D graphics quality from my graphics card. I've searched forums and even participated on the unofficial bugzilla where several others report the same problem (http://ati.cchtml.com/show_bug.cgi?id=683). Obviously all these people are having a mass hallucination since you don't get this problem.

I also had early ATI cards (mach64) which required disabling hardware mouse cursor support in windows to avoid corruption and lockups. This just goes to show that ATI's awful drivers have a long history. How is this an argument in favour of ATI? Look at the facts: 1. Today, it is not possible to get a corruption-free desktop experience on ATI 2. Today, it is possible to get a corruption-free desktop experience on NVIDIA. Conclusion: ATI has *not* done an awesome job; in any case, NVIDIA has done a better job.

I don't care who buys who (why would you even bring that up), all I care about is having a graphics card that is able to run Firefox and my IDE of choice with decent performance, no screen corruption and no crashes. To this date, this is not the reality of an ATI card owner's life.

I've tried running the open source driver several times, but it's so poor that any web page with opacity layers in Firefox brings the entire machine to a halt. Effectively, these drivers are unusable. Also, you of all persons should be aware that the reason that those open source drivers exist in the first place is not due to the generosity of AMD/ATI, rather, it is IN SPITE of that gfx card vendor.

Claiming that I haven't mentioned specs or versions just goes to show that you haven't done your homework at all before going into flame mode.

It's scary how all those ATI apologists come out of the woodwork whenever someone dare to criticize ATI's non-delivery, and then have to resort to personal attacks and calling names ("...how stupid [you] are")

[DarkFoss]

I'm sorry I offended your ego trying to justify your poor choice of graphics card.

If you think complaining about mouse cursor corruption and desktop corruption in the corners is "dumb and unneeded", I guess I just have higher expectations than you about the 2D graphics quality from my graphics card. I've searched forums and even participated on the unofficial bugzilla where several others report the same problem (http://ati.cchtml.com/show_bug.cgi?id=683). Obviously all these people are having a mass hallucination since you don't get this problem.

I also had early ATI cards (mach64) which required disabling hardware mouse cursor support in windows to avoid corruption and lockups. This just goes to show that ATI's awful drivers have a long history. How is this an argument in favour of ATI? Look at the facts: 1. Today, it is not possible to get a corruption-free desktop experience on ATI 2. Today, it is possible to get a corruption-free desktop experience on NVIDIA. Conclusion: ATI has *not* done an awesome job; in any case, NVIDIA has done a better job.

I don't care who buys who (why would you even bring that up), all I care about is having a graphics card that is able to run Firefox and my IDE of choice with decent performance, no screen corruption and no crashes. To this date, this is not the reality of an ATI card owner's life.

I've tried running the open source driver several times, but it's so poor that any web page with opacity layers in Firefox brings the entire machine to a halt. Effectively, these drivers are unusable. Also, you of all persons should be aware that the reason that those open source drivers exist in the first place is not due to the generosity of AMD/ATI, rather, it is IN SPITE of that gfx card vendor.

Claiming that I haven't mentioned specs or versions just goes to show that you haven't done your homework at all before going into flame mode.

It's scary how all those ATI apologists come out of the woodwork whenever someone dare to criticize ATI's non-delivery, and then have to resort to personal attacks and calling names ("...how stupid [you] are")

I can see why you blame ATI and deservedly so but things are changing since AMD took over. Their track record with Linux does deserve the benefit of the doubt. 11 months after the buyout and they are opening things up, rolling out a completely new driver. Your attacking that driver without any actual experience using it. lol It's your negativity bordering on hatred that is being attacked.

Your basing all this on a Mach 64 card?? whats that an r100 chipset? My x800pro (R420) actually works well with the open source driver. I can use Compiz/XGL fine if I choose to. I can wait 1 more month for AIGLX support with the 8.42 driver.

As for no corruption with nVidia I've read plenty of people having problems with Compiz fusion especially with their new 8000 line of cards ..

[uhoh]

I can see why you blame ATI and deservedly so but things are changing since AMD took over. Their track record with Linux does deserve the benefit of the doubt.


Actually, their track record with Linux does NOT deserve the benefit of the doubt. That's the whole point I'm arguing.


Your basing all this on a Mach 64 card?? whats that an r100 chipset?

No I'm not, I suggest you read what you are replying to. The ATI card I'm currently having issues with is an x600.

[DarkFoss]

Actually, their track record with Linux does NOT deserve the benefit of the doubt. That's the whole point I'm arguing.



No I'm not, I suggest you read what you are replying to. The ATI card I'm currently having issues with is an x600.

I'll just agree to disagree about AMD.It takes time to re-organize.

Hmm no where in the post I quoted did you mention an r600..and it's been well documented that neither the open source driver or the proprietary driver supports the r600 in Linux..the upcoming 8.41's are the first to do so.. I can understand why your ad it's taken soo long to support it.. but that is the penalty for buying new hardware out the door..Same can be said for nVidia's GeForce 8 series. Sure they got drivers out sooner but they also haven't fixed any issues in over 2 months.

[uhoh]

I'll just agree to disagree about AMD.It takes time to re-organize.

Hmm no where in the post I quoted did you mention an r600..and it's been well documented that neither the open source driver or the proprietary driver supports the r600 in Linux..the upcoming 8.41's are the first to do so.. I can understand why your ad it's taken soo long to support it.. but that is the penalty for buying new hardware out the door..Same can be said for nVidia's GeForce 8 series. Sure they got drivers out sooner but they also haven't fixed any issues in over 2 months.

Again I must ask you to please read before posting. It's an x600, not an r600 that I'm talking about.

[spielc]

I'll just agree to disagree about AMD.It takes time to re-organize.

Hmm no where in the post I quoted did you mention an r600..and it's been well documented that neither the open source driver or the proprietary driver supports the r600 in Linux..the upcoming 8.41's are the first to do so.. I can understand why your ad it's taken soo long to support it.. but that is the penalty for buying new hardware out the door..Same can be said for nVidia's GeForce 8 series. Sure they got drivers out sooner but they also haven't fixed any issues in over 2 months.

The ability to read can really be helpful from time to time: he said X600 not R600...

Well let me sum up what happened since ati was bought by amd:

1. no performance improvements
2. since the last 5-6 releases xv is broken again (i own a X1600Pro and it did work before FLAWLESSLY)
3. still not possible to upgrade X-Server or Kernel without any problems (when you want to compile a newer kernel you have to create a patch yourself or wait for the release that finally contains support for the new version of the kernel/X-Server) Strange thing this is no problem with nvidia-cards i have a geforce 3 in my machine at work and believe it or not it's quite an old version of the nvidia-legacy-driver but i'm able to use the latest version of the X-server and a current version of the kernel. Is that possible with fglrx?
4. the ridicilous last 4-5 releases
5. aiglx?!?
6. nvidia even has it's own implementation such that you don't aiglx or xgl to get all the cool desktop effects.

If you compare ati/amd-linux-achievements with the nvidia-linux-achievments there is still a great gap that ati/amd has to fill before one can say that they are on the same level as nvidia.

[pierluc]

Hello, I have a Radeon 9550, I think it's not a r300 series. Will it be possible for me to use the ne AMD Catalyst 8.41? Is this new driver will give to me better performance?

Sorry, my english are not very good, I'me Québécois.

[Kano]

From fglrx 8.33.6 logfile:

ATI RADEON 9550 (RV350 LX 4153)

Should basically work with oss ati driver too with 3d support.

[pierluc]

Yes but with this driver the performance are very bad... Is the new driver will be better?

[d2kx]

Yes but with this driver the performance are very bad... Is the new driver will be better?

fglrx 8.41 will support your card. It should give you better performance.

[Michael]

8.41 will be out this Wednesday now. The Catalyst 7.9 may be delivered tomorrow, but not the Linux version.

[HighHo]

Thanks for the update.

[d2kx]

I am sure the Windows Catalyst 7.9 is avaible on wednesday, too, because they're always avaible at the same time and otherwise, AMD wouldn't have released the final Catalyst 7.9 just without WHQL as a "ET: QW Performance Hotfix", that wouldn't be necessary then.

[sundown]

When was this going to support X.Org 7.3?

[Svartalf]

8.41 will be out this Wednesday now. The Catalyst 7.9 may be delivered tomorrow, but not the Linux version.

This works. Now I can obtain it and do some tests against a few ATI GPUs to see for myself.

What you're telling us almost makes me want to buy HP's latest and greatest top-of the line notebook machine as a desktop replacement/portable machine.

[glussier]

I am sure the Windows Catalyst 7.9 is avaible on wednesday, too, because they're always avaible at the same time and otherwise, AMD wouldn't have released the final Catalyst 7.9 just without WHQL as a "ET: QW Performance Hotfix", that wouldn't be necessary then.

The catalyst 7.9 are available today:http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

[Alistair]

8.41 will be out this Wednesday now. The Catalyst 7.9 may be delivered tomorrow, but not the Linux version.


Darn -- and I have a 25 man raid on wednesday night ... guess we'll be finding out how well the drivers improve performance the hard way

[pierluc]

I have try amd driver 8.41.7 but it do not work. When I start my computer it write "aucun signal" (no sigal).

The command
lspci | grep ATI

give me that:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 AS [Radeon 9550]
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 AS [Radeon 9550] (Secondary)

I have modify xorg.conf with
PCI :1:0:1
and
PCI :1:0:0 (default)

And it do not work

Finally a have run the command:
sudo envy -t

and reinstall the fglrx 8.40.4

at that time it work.

Is it possible to use the driver 8.41.4 with an redeon 9550 and an screen Benq FP93G X connecting on dvi port?

[glussier]

Is it possible to use the driver 8.41.4 with an redeon 9550 and an screen Benq FP93G X connecting on dvi port?


I don't see why it shouldn't work, it works for me with a 9600Pro. The 9550 is a lower clocked 9600 core, so there should be no problem with that kind of setup.

BTW I think I know you from another forum. ;)

[uhoh]

What a complete let-down the 8.41 release was.

Doesn't really support anything but the newest cards
OpenGL support is MIA
Still gives display and mouse cursor corruption. How is that possible if the driver is a "brand new codebase"?
No support for X 7.3 / X server 1.4 at ALL which leaves Debian Unstable users completely out in the cold
And yet again, we're told to "just wait"...

[Kano]

The packages does not install without tricks, but when you have the driver installed it works with -ignoreABI.