10.4 + 5870 = "unsupported hardware"

[nbi1]

Here we go again. The watermark from ATI's corner of hell.

How many times does this issue have to come up before the relevant people at ATI pull their heads out of their behinds and remedy this once and for all?

One release it's there. Next one it isn't. Then it's back again. And so on and so on.

Other than aggravating people with cards based on genuine ATI technology what could possibly be the point of this nonsense? What does ATI gain by even attempting to display this? What could possibly be worth the ire generated in loyal customers?

Getting to my specifics, let's see what some pieces of software think about my video card and/or its drivers:

1. `lspci`
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Device 6898
03:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Cypress HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5800 Series]

2. `fglrxinfo`
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series
OpenGL version string: 3.2.9756 Compatibility Profile Context

3. `/var/log/Xorg.0.log`
(--) fglrx(0): Chipset: "ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series" (Chipset = 0x6898)
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: (C) 1988-2005, ATI Technologies Inc.
(II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: CYPRESS

Hmmm. Looks like a duck. Walks like a duck. Swims like a duck. Quacks like a duck. ATI says it's a chicken.

No really, this stopped being funny a long time ago.

Bridgman you told another poster who reported this that you'd look into it and bring it to someone's attention. So what happened?

Unless someone has a 5870 specific fix that is known to work please don't repeat some of the previous supposed solutions. Most of them just crashed X at boot time.

[Panix]

They just want to make sure you know it's UNSUPPORTED.

ATI/AMD can barely get Windoze drivers working... (Just check AMD forums).

You could set up musical chairs and place in the chairs, a cue card of the various Catalyst versions, Xorg versions and since Ubuntu seems to be the main distro 'supported', the Ubuntu versions, 9.10 and 10.04 and then mix and match (i.e. try the combinations) until you get a screen that only flickers when you pass through sunlight. Anyone could D.J.?

[Kano]

What distro do you use? Show me:

md5sum /etc/ati/control

[nbi1]

What distro do you use? Show me:

md5sum /etc/ati/control

Debian Squeeze

`md5sum /etc/ati/control`
391d76500b11c889bf8a6dc95e2abfeb control

[nbi1]

Solved by using the 10.3 /etc/ati/control. No idea why but it works. Good thing I still had the 10.3 debs in /var/cache/apt.

[Kano]

I don't know what Debian did, but the official 10-4 Debian package does NOT contain the control file from the current 10-4 installer. This would have been:

1da96a205de015c27a852f7b09285ca9 control

[Kano]

It seems in Debian the 10-4 "final" is just a retagged prerelease - dates are different too: Debian 15th april, ATI 29th april.

[the-me]

I don't know what Debian did, but the official 10-4 Debian package does NOT contain the control file from the current 10-4 installer. This would have been:

1da96a205de015c27a852f7b09285ca9 control

I only get the original release files from AMD/akamai. It is also automated in the packaging with a fixed URL.

It looks like AMD silently changed the tarball, but only three files, here they are:

me@exez:~/build/fglrx$ diff -Naur 1 2|diffstat
amdpcsdb.default | 16 +++++++++-------
control | 1 -
signature | 1 -
3 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

So please don't blame Debian/me :-)

I will fix it in the next time.

[Kano]

Well i checked it against the ati-installer i still had on my other partition where i tested (and fixed) the packageing for 10-4. The result: it is 100% ATI's fault! The installer dated 15th was released as final and 1-2 days later it was replaced it seems. No announcement or anything. When the Debian package was created the files are from the original package have been used. I really hate this way...

@bridgman

Do you think it is a good idea to update the installer silently and NOT notify the package maintainers when the control file was updated to "support" more cards? Now there are two "final" 10-4 drivers out and the experience is different the way you installed it or even better WHEN you fetched the installer.

[the-me]

Notifieng the package maintainers? I think they will never support Debian in any way And they should be happy, that I am maintaining fglrx, because sometimes (more often) it is realy a crap work..

And btw: This would not happen if we had got a VCS repository from AMD with the original source code!1