AMD Catalyst 8.01 Linux Driver

[shamooki]

Hi brigdman,

thx for tuning in!

Are you using Compiz on the new drivers, or are you saying that 2d is slower on Cat 8.01 than on v8.40 with both drivers being used the same way ?

Yes.
I'm not using Compiz, but KDE/KWin 3.5.7. Specifically, I can observe the slowdown when moving a konsole window that has (pseudo-) transparency enabled (i.e., the screen background image under the konsole is copied with decreased luminance). When I hold my mouse cursor still for a short time, the konsole background is updated, and that's when the entire GUI freezes (with 100% CPU).

This was not happening with an older version of the driver. I think it was 8.40, but unfortunately I can't go back.
After doing rpm --erase for 8.452 and reinstalling 8.40 from the rpm all I get is a black screen .
So it seems I'm stuck with slow 2d

---Edit---
After rebooting twice, the behavior is back to normal - no slowdown anymore. Could this be related to the fact that I have an LCD hooked to my docking station's DVI port.

Are you using EXA or XAA acceleration ?

I don't know. There's no such option in my xorg.conf. How can I find out?

Cheers,

shamooki

[lowlands]

Using your trick of adding that to the file list I got the rpms generated.

That's good news Are you also using F8? Which command did you exactly use to build the packages? Did you use ati-installer.sh too?

[Uchikoma]

I've been running on the cutting edge drivers for the past few months now, and so far all is right with the world. (Xv, video playback) with the sticking point being standby/hibernation.

So, I'll give this a try later and see what happens.
On that note, some of the video issues that I've seen users complain about (namely lack of Xv support? and tearing and the like) is now mentioned under known issues.

I must say that even though some of you probably didn't get what you wanted, its nicer to see things being noticed more often now...(at least it seems like it to me). Yes, we know, it's been ages since it popped up, but hey...things seem to be picking up lately.

[Berniyh]

well, if ati-drivers-8.45 will be added today to portage, then gentoo users would get a lot of new packages since kde4.0.0 also has hit portage official today. as for the ebuild, you can modify it manually from the 8.443 one. but i'm sure that it will hit portage soon (today or tomorrow).

Compositing will still not work with it when using kwin. (or )

Ebuild changes are trivial, one only has to add amdpcsdb.default to the install routine.
Apart from that (and that the =virtual/libstdc++-3.3 dep seems to be unneeded now, which isn't a big deal) it is trivial.

Still this release has exactly the same bugs as the previous one, except maybe the widescreen bug which didn't bother me.

[bridgman]

I'm not using Compiz, but KDE/KWin 3.5.7. Specifically, I can observe the slowdown when moving a konsole window that has (pseudo-) transparency enabled (i.e., the screen background image under the konsole is copied with decreased luminance). When I hold my mouse cursor still for a short time, the konsole background is updated, and that's when the entire GUI freezes (with 100% CPU).

This was not happening with an older version of the driver. I think it was 8.40, but unfortunately I can't go back.

OK. I'm still learning this, but it looks like KWin supports compositing however it is not enabled by default before 4.0. I'm not sure if it is enabled by default in 4.0. Do you happen to know if you have compositing enabled ? If so, that would explain why you are seeing slower 2d on the newer driver ('cause the older driver didn't support compositing through AIGLX).

I don't know. There's no such option in my xorg.conf. How can I find out?

I think your log should indicate which acceleration option is being used. Pretty sure XAA is the default.

[lowlands]

I've been running on the cutting edge drivers for the past few months now, and so far all is right with the world. (Xv, video playback) with the sticking point being standby/hibernation.

So, I'll give this a try later and see what happens.
On that note, some of the video issues that I've seen users complain about (namely lack of Xv support? and tearing and the like) is now mentioned under known issues.

I must say that even though some of you probably didn't get what you wanted, its nicer to see things being noticed more often now...(at least it seems like it to me). Yes, we know, it's been ages since it popped up, but hey...things seem to be picking up lately.

I agree Uchikoma. It's nice to see the known issues list get "refreshed" and that all the issues in the previous release (1680x1050, corruption and suspend) should be fixed. It's just too bad it took another month to get the fixes out. I would love to see (bi-)weekly beta or closed user group releases so these issues can be picked sooner rather than later. Hopefully I'll be able to fix the package build issue so I can actually try the new goodness.

[chrisr]

Lucky for you. I have a T60p with a V5250 and 3D is corrupted...

So, no optimism for me. AGAIN!

But I am wondering: the graphics PCI ID is 0x71D4, correct? What happens if you "hack" the PCI ID to 0x71D5 instead, as was common practice before FireGL support became available anyway? Does 3D work then?

[shamooki]

Thanks for the reply! I just updated my post above; after rebooting twice 2D speed is back to normal. Which is very good!

The best problems are those which go away by themselves

Do you happen to know if you have compositing enabled ?

No, compositing is not enabled.

I think your log should indicate which acceleration option is being used. Pretty sure XAA is the default.

My Xorg.0.log indicates XAA.

Cheers,

Michael

[NeoBrain]

Well, just installed 8.45 and it can't init AGP. just as 8.44.
Seems like I'll have to wait another month

[janl]

I know there was a hotfix which was released for the Windows driver which resolved the AGP issue. Maybe there will be something similar for Linux.