AMD Catalyst 7.11 Linux Driver

[Berniyh]

No in theory the 7.11 is compatible with kernel 2.6.23 that have default SLUB memory allocator...

I compiled a kernel with SLUB now to test this, but I can't really tell, because I've got another regression on 2.6.24 which is unrelated, but prevents me from resuming.

[djdoo]

djdoo di you installed the driver by --buildpkg so on, or did you use Yast?
I`m now getting installed 7.11 to mine 10.3 suse and try to work this so, that there don`t come pssible troubles.

Ps. sorry my little rusty english

I installed it via the ATi installer. Not with packages.
I did it a bit profesionally lets say...

First I switched to console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1, then logged in as root, and closed X by typing 'init 3'.
After these steps I typed '/usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh' in order to uninstall the previous driver.
Then 'cd /home/djdoo' where I had the new downloaded driver file and typed 'chmod a+x ati*' to make the file executable.
After all these finally I typed './ati*' to launch the installer. And there I chose the express installation without packages!
The installer after the procedure resets your xorg.conf to the basic settings and options, so I have my xorg.conf stored with the options needed to run Compiz-Fusion at my home folder and simply replace the file at /etc/X11 dir.

After all these I rebooted the PC and all where ready!

Hope I helped you a bit...

[Berniyh]

I compiled a kernel with SLUB now to test this, but I can't really tell, because I've got another regression on 2.6.24 which is unrelated, but prevents me from resuming.

Ok, suspend-to-ram does work with SLUB, so I guess the SLUB problem has gone away.

[korpenkraxar]

I have the same problem.
I use SLAB and it worked with 8.42.3 and kernel 2.6.22.x (x86-64).

I experience several annoying bugs:
- screen corruption in lower/right corner;
- corruption around mouse pointer;
- memory leak in 3D apps;
- crash when I close the lid;
- instability when I switch to text mode and back;
- flicker while viewing movies.

I at least had working suspend/resume.
Now I don't. This is a serious showstopper for a laptop.
I can't see a single improvement in the last version.

Has anyone managed to get suspend/resume with X1400?

I have exactly the same artifacts and limitations om my Z61m Thinkpad with an X1400, and no, suspend/resume does not work with the 2.6.23 stock-kernel that comes with Frugalware.

[klaus]

Well, I can sleep/hibernate With X1400 in Fedora 8, but guess how! With RadeonHD! Just simply move to it, and help it get mature. Stability comes with the OpenSource driver, Maybe now we can't use get eye-candy, but sure it's getting mature faster than fglrx. Give it a shot.

[lachild]

I normally do not post comments such as this, but I do have to call BS on this post by givemesugarr

...the users have asked for a lot of stuff in a driver that about an year ago was disastrous...

I don't think anyone here is asking for more then what rival Nvidia is already providing to their users. Unfortunately some of us made the mistake of purchasing laptops with ATI cards. At no fault of there own. If you look at ATI's website they do suggest that they support Linux, they also have made numbourus press releases stating that they support linux, they just don't tell you how crappy their drivers truly are.

..and that started to be rewrited from scratch (as i've heard on phoronix) and with a dev team that is really reduced in terms of numbers.

You act as though that's there customers fault. ATI has had YEARS to get this driver working. The problem is that ATI supports linux one minute, and then for years will go on thinking that the last crappy driver will work just fine into the future.

As a customer their staffing issues are not my concern. But if they say they support an OS, have multiple press releases stating that they now support an OS, then by god they should really support the OS. But they don't. If they don't want to support Linux, fine. Don't tell us that you do and for over 6+ years supply unstable and beta software. If for 5+ years the software is unstable or beta, you really don't support the OS now do you?

considering all this and considering that nvidia has had linux drivers for about 6 years or more while ati has had it "only" since one year

This is the heart of your post that I wanted to address. The NEW driver granted is less then a year old, but the ATI linux driver is almost as old as Nvidia's. Nvidia's driver is less then a year older then ATI's (see press releases below).

2002 ATI Press Release
2001 Nvidia Press Release

i don't think that all this hate from the users is justified. you're all frustated from ati's old linux support, but i think that they've done a quite decent job this last year.

I'll agree that the work they've put into the new driver is an incredible improvement. However, as stated before they've been saying that they support Linux for over 5 years and they still have yet to do so.

{emotional rant}This is a normal cycle for ATI. Next month this so called NEW SUPPORT from ATI will disappear again and only minor bug fixes will result until once again ATI sees the latest trends and thinks they can get some free press by once again stating "We've seen the light and we promise better Linux support and have hired X amount of developers to correct the issues in our current driver.{/emotional rant}

Although I do hope that I am wrong.

- ati has never told you that the driver is perfect.

If thats the case, Ati should stop telling everyone that thier cards will work in Linux when they really don't. Beta or unstable software should never be an official commercial release, even in the OSS Linux market that's use to Beta Software.

- ati still says that the official "stable" release is 8.40.4

Once again this driver does not work as it should and doesn't work at all for some.

- ati has never stated that the driver would be flawless and that will make your hw run out of the box (in figurate terms )

Incorrect. See previous press release. They HAVE stated that our hardware Should and WILL work out of the box (At least they've implide that it should.
), and that was with the old driver.

- ati has only stated that they'll be developing this driver as best as their manpower would allow and that they'll release specs as their manpower would allow.

Till that time comes may we all continue to recommend Nvidia cards to potential Linux users.

so, i wouldn't blame or continue to spit on amd/ati. if you just don't like it and you're not satisfied with the hw change it and go back to ati when you're sure that the drivers support your needs.
you want to make the oss driver better: use the oss drivers and reverse tools and provide the devs with dumps while they wait for the specs to be released.

If I could change the graphics card in my laptop I would have already done that. I can tell you that from here on out, none of my systems will ever run an ATI graphics card again, and will continue to tell everyone to buy an Nvidia card over the ATI card anyday of the week.


Sorry givemesugarr, I didn't know this post was going to be that emotional. Until just now I didn't realise that it bothered me as much as it does.

[butdie]

amd/ati is very successful in turning patient customers emotional

Sorry givemesugarr, I didn't know this post was going to be that emotional. Until just now I didn't realise that it bothered me as much as it does.

[Christian_L]

Well said, lachild.

[Svartalf]

I normally do not post comments such as this, but I do have to call BS on this post by givemesugarr

Heh... Couldn't have put that response to givemsugarr any better. But, I've got to be more diplomatic than you were...

Sorry givemesugarr, I didn't know this post was going to be that emotional. Until just now I didn't realise that it bothered me as much as it does.

Don't apologize for it. The reality is, bluntly, that if they did this to the Windows community at large, they'd be out of business. That's, to be truthful, rather unacceptable from a company of AMD's size that's claiming what they've been claiming about Linux support.

I'm greatly appreciative of the fact that AMD actually HAS an official representative actually interacting with us in the forums. It's the start of them, that's AMD, not ATI (Even if it's the same people from the original company that we're interacting with, the old Upper Management isn't much there anymore- it's AMD we're dealing with, which is why they're still getting the time of day from me, in spite of the current spate of rather bad product offerings from them right at the moment), and they seem to honestly want to do better- they just don't know how badly things are really going for them. The answer is to fix the problem, not walk away- and it seems that they're willing to do that very thing, fix it. They're just not moving as fast as we think they ought to- or as fast as they really should, no matter what we here think (which is quicker than the reality...).

[djdoo]

Oh by the way guys I can finally use Suspend2RAM...

I just made a text file under dir /etc/pm/config.d containing this option:

S2RAM_OPTS="-f"

And worked!!! Straight away with Compiz-Fusion loaded!! And resumed instantly!

I am damn happy! I could never use S2RAM with my old GeForce FX 5200... The PC never resumed well...