ati is not able to make its driver work...

[davide.corrado]

its amazing, now im able to run at least compizfusion on my ati x1300, but i have to choose if i prefer compiz-fusion or watching movies.
yes, I updated to the least driver, but i have to run fucking slox x11 video output for watching a movie. And of couse i cannot play quake 3 arena if i have compiz fusion enable.
Im wondering how hard is to fix this very significant issue. dont believe im the only one with this problem, am i?

[Melcar]

Well, as for the not being able to render games/movies and use Compiz at the same time, it's not the driver's fault:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RedirectedDirectRendering

http://hoegsberg.blogspot.com/2007/08/redirected-direct-rendering.html

I'm sure others can give you detailed explanations. The driver itself still has performance issues and some features seem to be "broken", but it performs adequately and keeps getting better.

[legume]

its amazing, now im able to run at least compizfusion on my ati x1300, but i have to choose if i prefer compiz-fusion or watching movies.
yes, I updated to the least driver, but i have to run fucking slox x11 video output for watching a movie. And of couse i cannot play quake 3 arena if i have compiz fusion enable.
Im wondering how hard is to fix this very significant issue. dont believe im the only one with this problem, am i?

What is the issue with quake 3?

I recently got fusion to work and while quake 3 demo fps is half what it is without compiz it still works 42fps vs 95fps on timedemos. I do have a X1600pro though, so it may be unplayable for you.

There is a setting you need to check in ccsm -

General options -> unredirect fullscreen windows

If it's the mouse that doesn't work I start the demo with the options -

+set r_fullscreen 1 +set in_mouse 1 +set _windowed_mouse 0 +set in_dgamouse 1

XV is a known issue but it works for me in fullscreen (mplayer rarely fails to open a fs window but restarting X fixes it)

I have seen utils/scripts that will easily turn on/off compiz, but haven't tried them.

[willytax]

I know that Xv problem with compiz is not fglrx related, but let me do just a consideration: I've an ati powered (mobility x700) laptop and after at least five releases and hundreds of attempts with xorg.conf I gave up with compiz (I prefer Xv to wobbly windows or cube).
Last week I assembled a cheap desktop with an integrated nvidia chip.
Just installed ubuntu and enabled nvidia-glx propertary drivers and ALL works! No Xv or opengl flicker with compiz. Maybe nvidia guys have made some extra work to make all things to work.
Next month I'll buy a new laptop and off course I'll choose a nvidia powered one.
I think that many other customers had my same experience.
I think that it doesn't matter if it is a xorg or fglrx fault...if ati guys want to continue to sell their cards they have to do something...NOW!

[Melcar]

I know that Xv problem with compiz is not fglrx related, but let me do just a consideration: I've an ati powered (mobility x700) laptop and after at least five releases and hundreds of attempts with xorg.conf I gave up with compiz (I prefer Xv to wobbly windows or cube).
Last week I assembled a cheap desktop with an integrated nvidia chip.
Just installed ubuntu and enabled nvidia-glx propertary drivers and ALL works! No Xv or opengl flicker with compiz. Maybe nvidia guys have made some extra work to make all things to work.
Next month I'll buy a new laptop and off course I'll choose a nvidia powered one.
I think that many other customers had my same experience.
I think that it doesn't matter if it is a xorg or fglrx fault...if ati guys want to continue to sell their cards they have to do something...NOW!

I don't know the specifics, but I think nvidia uses highly modified extensions on their driver, which from what I heard, can potentially cause other problems.

[Kano]

Well I think a 100% driver is not available. The best OSS driver so far has Intel, Nvidia has the best binary driver. ATI is still a a huge construction site - ok, for beryl/compiz on older cards the OSS driver is already good enough. Of cause everybody would like a highspeed graphic card with full featured OSS driver, maybe Intel could provide that first when they begin to produce dedicated gfx cards. Currently the OSS drivers lack major features for professional rendering apps, don't know how fast this changes.

[BlueKoala]

Wow Melcar, your links provided some excellent insight as to what the problem could be with the flicker when using compiz.

I don't know the specifics, but I think nvidia uses highly modified extensions on their driver, which from what I heard, can potentially cause other problems.

And that can probably explain the inconsistencies I've had with Wine full screen Open GL I've been experiencing with my gf6600.

Although I do agree with Willytax that the ATI guy need to do something. ie: Get involved in the community; which AMD seems to have been doing a lot lately.

As long as nvidia seems like a better choice, ATI will be losing valuable customers. Linux customers. The guys who many people go to and trust for counseling on computer hardware, problems and recommendations.

[surfer]

I don't know the specifics, but I think nvidia uses highly modified extensions on their driver, which from what I heard, can potentially cause other problems.

dude, who cares how or why they fixed the problem? the point is their driver works and FGLRX is a joke!

BTW not everybody wants to be forced to watch movies in full screen. ever consider that?

[Torren]

Well I think a 100% driver is not available. The best OSS driver so far has Intel, Nvidia has the best binary driver.

I always wonder at the statement that the intel driver is the best. After a pretty lame beginning with using the BIOS mode tables and having to patch/hack them to display any reasonable mode, it is now in a state where it can sort of do 3D. Or maybe I am being too harsh on the developers and it is merely incredebly broken hardware. We are doing a project with an OpenGL based tickertape/TV splitscreen application, and the bottleneck presented by the onboard Intel 945 chipset is amazing. Even using the newer "intel" driver it cannot autodetect a standard 32" TVs mode even though the nvidia, ati and nv drivers had no problem with it. Fillrate is laughable.

On my home Intel 865 based laptop compiz is completely useless, it is like a slideshow. Playing Q3 in 640x480 with everything turned runs at 25 fps. I cannot in all honesty recommend Intel graphics hardware to anybody who wants to do more than browse the web.

[Melcar]

dude, who cares how or why they fixed the problem? the point is their driver works and FGLRX is a joke!

BTW not everybody wants to be forced to watch movies in full screen. ever consider that?

Fglrx is not a joke. I use it in all my major machines (gaming and productivity) with no issues and with great performance (not excellent though).

I always wonder at the statement that the intel driver is the best. After a pretty lame beginning with using the BIOS mode tables and having to patch/hack them to display any reasonable mode, it is now in a state where it can sort of do 3D. Or maybe I am being too harsh on the developers and it is merely incredebly broken hardware. We are doing a project with an OpenGL based tickertape/TV splitscreen application, and the bottleneck presented by the onboard Intel 945 chipset is amazing. Even using the newer "intel" driver it cannot autodetect a standard 32" TVs mode even though the nvidia, ati and nv drivers had no problem with it. Fillrate is laughable.

On my home Intel 865 based laptop compiz is completely useless, it is like a slideshow. Playing Q3 in 640x480 with everything turned runs at 25 fps. I cannot in all honesty recommend Intel graphics hardware to anybody who wants to do more than browse the web.

If the hardware is crap, well, it's crap. I think what Kano means is that the driver itself (not the hardware) is the best right now when it comes to fully functional OSS drivers.