Hello there,
I'm running a pretty standard (fully-updated from their own repos) install of Ubuntu 8.04, on my new Q6600/4GB/Radeon 4850 system. I've installed the Catalyst 8.8 drivers (without any troubles - the last time I did this was back in 2004, when fglrx seemed to require kernel patches and other hoodoo) simply because neither radeon or radeonhd worked out of the box with the 4850.
My problem is simple - I get tearing on videos and on the edges of windows while moving them horizontally. This is most marked when Compiz is on; particularly with videos which flash uncontrollably and render everything unwatchable. But even with Compiz off, the window-edges still tear, and videos still exhibit vsync issues upon fast panning.
Now the thing is, I don't really care about fancy visual effects, I don't need Compiz, I don't need the closed source drivers or 3D acceleration. I just want a computer which has a display that I can write my thesis on without making me feel ill, and maybe watch a DVD or two upon. Ubuntu is so nearly there, everything else works flawlessly, and I really don't want to have to go back to Windows - crashes killing or corrupting my work is why I switched to Linux four years ago.
So the questions are:
1. Is there anything I can do with my current "fglrx" setup? I fear not - I've tried pretty much everything that two days of googling can turn up, and it looks as though ATI's current vblank interpretation is just fundamentally broken and I should give up, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
2. So if we accept that, would the latest open source "ati" drivers help? I've heard that through AtomBIOS this produces fairly decent 2D and Xvideo acceleration. If the answer to this is yes, then how would I go about getting and installing these on Ubuntu 8.04? (I know ideally I'd wait for 8.10 which includes these drivers, but I need to start writing in two weeks). I've seen the general tutorial stickied in this forum, but which steps (drivers, DRM modules etc.) would I need for my simple wishes - working 2D and Xvideo, but no compiz or accelerated 3D necessary.
3. Should I jack this all in, and ask to swap my 4850 for my (Windows-gamer) younger brother's 8800GT? Is the NVidia implementation of vsync actually as functional as I'm lead to believe?
Many thanks for your time,
Tom
I'm running a pretty standard (fully-updated from their own repos) install of Ubuntu 8.04, on my new Q6600/4GB/Radeon 4850 system. I've installed the Catalyst 8.8 drivers (without any troubles - the last time I did this was back in 2004, when fglrx seemed to require kernel patches and other hoodoo) simply because neither radeon or radeonhd worked out of the box with the 4850.
My problem is simple - I get tearing on videos and on the edges of windows while moving them horizontally. This is most marked when Compiz is on; particularly with videos which flash uncontrollably and render everything unwatchable. But even with Compiz off, the window-edges still tear, and videos still exhibit vsync issues upon fast panning.
Now the thing is, I don't really care about fancy visual effects, I don't need Compiz, I don't need the closed source drivers or 3D acceleration. I just want a computer which has a display that I can write my thesis on without making me feel ill, and maybe watch a DVD or two upon. Ubuntu is so nearly there, everything else works flawlessly, and I really don't want to have to go back to Windows - crashes killing or corrupting my work is why I switched to Linux four years ago.
So the questions are:
1. Is there anything I can do with my current "fglrx" setup? I fear not - I've tried pretty much everything that two days of googling can turn up, and it looks as though ATI's current vblank interpretation is just fundamentally broken and I should give up, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
2. So if we accept that, would the latest open source "ati" drivers help? I've heard that through AtomBIOS this produces fairly decent 2D and Xvideo acceleration. If the answer to this is yes, then how would I go about getting and installing these on Ubuntu 8.04? (I know ideally I'd wait for 8.10 which includes these drivers, but I need to start writing in two weeks). I've seen the general tutorial stickied in this forum, but which steps (drivers, DRM modules etc.) would I need for my simple wishes - working 2D and Xvideo, but no compiz or accelerated 3D necessary.
3. Should I jack this all in, and ask to swap my 4850 for my (Windows-gamer) younger brother's 8800GT? Is the NVidia implementation of vsync actually as functional as I'm lead to believe?
Many thanks for your time,
Tom
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