AMD Catalyst 8.3 Linux Driver

Written by Michael Larabel in Display Drivers on 5 March 2008 at 04:09 PM EST. Page 1 of 1. 202 Comments.

Last month with the Catalyst 8.02 Linux driver we mentioned just how low on the end-user changes the fglrx driver has been in recent months, and today the Catalyst 8.3 Linux driver has been released with the release train slowly chugging along. The only new feature in this month's proprietary Linux driver is X-Video support for the Xpress 1200 hardware, but there are a few bug fixes that may satisfy some Linux users.

The bug-fixes in this release include fixing FireGL 3D application corruption when running at some resolutions, display flickering when gnome-screen-saver starts, image brightness and gamma correction issues, diagonal tearing when using X-Video, and video playback is no longer "blocky" when using X-Video. The bug fixes in this release aren't particularly exciting, but the TexturedVideo/X-Video fixes should be well received by many users that have experienced video playback issues.

Last month with Catalyst 8.02, the fglrx driver remained in the fglrx 8.45 release stream, which was the same as Catalyst 8.01. This month, the release stream has jumped ahead to fglrx 8.47. On AMD's website for the Linux driver, in some places the Catalyst version was formatted as Y.M (i.e. Catalyst 8.2) and others Y.MM (i.e. Catalyst 8.02). However, AMD's marketing department has clarified this with their Linux GPG team and its outside release identifier from now on will remain consistent as Y.M (well, Y.MM once we reach October).

That about wraps up everything to take note of with Catalyst 8.3. This release still lacks AGP support for R600 owners. This release is particularly good if you are looking for X-Video support with the Xpress 1200 IGPs or have been plagued by X-Video playback problems in earlier releases, but aside from that it just brings forth a few bug fixes. While it may be a slow time right now for new features, as we shared last month we have reason to believe AMD does have some Linux work under development that could make 2007 look boring compared to this year.

For the latest ATI/AMD Linux discussions and technical support, stop by the Phoronix Forums.

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Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.