Introduction

The 50-day trial... No no, this is not a 50-day health plan or fast-food infatuate or even a trial of a Internet Service Provider but rather a reconnaissance that will last for a duration of 50 days, or 1200 hours, to investigate the current status of ATI's Linux display drivers first hand. While over a year ago the quality of the red's Linux display drivers could be refuted, they certainly have improved by near light-years when it comes to their installation strategy, performance, bug issues, and variety of cards supported -- among other areas. But how well does this ATI experience come first hand? Are gamers and computer enthusiasts alike now ready to accept ATI's current Linux display drivers for prime-time action?

For 50 days I, Michael Larabel, will exclusively use an ATI Radeon X1000 solution in my personal machine, which solely runs GNU/Linux. This machine encounters its fair share of tasks from gaming to programming to general desktop usage and anything in between. Prior to beginning this expedition, a NVIDIA GeForce 7800GTX 256MB product was used. Why the 7800GTX? Well, at that time last year the NVIDIA G70 was plain and simple the fastest solution available to Linux users. NVIDIA had provided same-day support to its users, although the 1.0-7667 drivers at the time were incredibly performance-limited to a clocking issue that was fixed two months later by version 1.0-7676. The NVIDIA drivers at that time also possessed features for which the ATI drivers could not compete with, but have the tides now turned? Prior to using the NVIDIA GeForce 7800GTX it was the GeForce 6600GT, and before that was an ATI Radeon 9250 using the open-source drivers. On the mobile front, I have used an ATI Radeon Mobility with PowerPlay, which has proved to be quite an asset when it comes to preserving the battery life and reducing the heat output.

Why test-drive an ATI product for 50 days, and this blogging endeavor? With ATI's fglrx Linux display driver now being released on a monthly basis with the ATI CATALYST suite, 50 days does allow time to directly comment on two driver releases and it should allow sufficient time to explore the various options bundled within the proprietary ATI drivers. It should also allow time to address any potential obstacles for ATI Linux users, and adequate time for covering most all notable items on the desktop front. It is not a preemptive vendetta or reconciliation for neither NVIDIA nor ATI. This blog is simply exploring the capabilities of ATI Linux, and you can accept the personal comments as you so desire. The best effort will be made to update this blog on a daily basis, or in some instances even multiple times per day. If the testing period and blog go beyond that, then so be it, it will run. This is a similar concept to those blogging about their OS-switching experience.

This exploration is not to say that I have been out of the loop with ATI's current Linux offerings as it is quite the opposite. We at Phoronix continually document the changes to ATI's proprietary display drivers in our dozens of Linux graphics pieces and related articles. Many testing systems also use ATI-powered solutions; this is simply a private test of using ATI Linux on my personal system, which is used for hours on a daily basis.

This site is intended as a source to share my own views for using ATI Linux on my primary system for 50-days (think of it as a 50-day ATI Radeon Linux review), and to get some additional facts and personal comments out there for Linux users running proprietary display drivers to digest. If you haven't yet read the preface it is available here.

All blog posts are Michael Larabel's own personal comments, and this site is not endorsed by ATI or NVIDIA.

Michael Larabel, a advocate of the Linux desktop movement, officially started this blog on June 1, 2006. Michael Larabel is the founder and editor-in-chief of Phoronix.com, the leading Linux-oriented hardware enthusiast resource, which is updated daily with the latest previews, product reviews, distribution screenshots, and other GNU/Linux news.

ATI and the ATI logo(s) are trademarks or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc.

With all of the facts out there, it is time to begin...