"Ask ATI" dev thread

[bridgman]

It was discussed here a couple of months ago after someone under NDA talked about it.

I don't think we will have an official name for the new acceleration architecture (AAA and AAAA were too obvious ) but there will be an option to go back to XAA if desired.

[hotnikkelz]

Hello everyone, new guy here so please be patient and as clear as possible

I have installed Lucid, 64 bit
CPU is AMD x3 720 black
My video card is the ATI radeon hd 4870 1gb ddr5

First issue
Whe i first install ubuntu, my splash screen is 1920x1200, but on loading the OS, they ask me to install hardware drivers some fglrx or something like that iirc, and the splash screen is like a centred low res quare.

2nd issue
When i enable compiz effects, maximising and minimising is slow, i also get choppiness when i'm moving windows around.

I've downloaded the 10.5 x86_64 bi driver, and ran the command sudo sh (blablabla.run) to install, problem not solved. I ended up getting 2 pairs of catalyst control centres. I started from fresh, ignoring the initial fglrx hardware driver prompt and went straight into installing the 10.5 drivers. Still doesn't work.

What do i do? why is this so complicated to set up? :/ any help will be appreciated

[mitch074]

Hello everyone, new guy here so please be patient and as clear as possible

I have installed Lucid, 64 bit
CPU is AMD x3 720 black
My video card is the ATI radeon hd 4870 1gb ddr5

First issue
Whe i first install ubuntu, my splash screen is 1920x1200, but on loading the OS, they ask me to install hardware drivers some fglrx or something like that iirc, and the splash screen is like a centred low res quare.

2nd issue
When i enable compiz effects, maximising and minimising is slow, i also get choppiness when i'm moving windows around.

I've downloaded the 10.5 x86_64 bi driver, and ran the command sudo sh (blablabla.run) to install, problem not solved. I ended up getting 2 pairs of catalyst control centres. I started from fresh, ignoring the initial fglrx hardware driver prompt and went straight into installing the 10.5 drivers. Still doesn't work.

What do i do? why is this so complicated to set up? :/ any help will be appreciated

Well, your card falls into the 'supported, but not completely' category of the free software driver: it can handle Kernel Mode Setting (KMS here), so you get a 1920x1200 splash screen, but it doesn't handle 3D acceleration, and almost no 2D acceleration.

I'd recommend that, for the moment, you don't try to install the Catalyst version available from AMD's website, and simply don't look at the boot screen once you've installed the driver when prompted by the hardware center; it is a known bug (the proprietary driver doesn't handle KMS), but not a problem in everyday use.

[LinuxID10T]

Well, your card falls into the 'supported, but not completely' category of the free software driver: it can handle Kernel Mode Setting (KMS here), so you get a 1920x1200 splash screen, but it doesn't handle 3D acceleration, and almost no 2D acceleration.

I'd recommend that, for the moment, you don't try to install the Catalyst version available from AMD's website, and simply don't look at the boot screen once you've installed the driver when prompted by the hardware center; it is a known bug (the proprietary driver doesn't handle KMS), but not a problem in everyday use.

Actually, it does handle 2D and 3D acceleration just fine. Runs many 3D games and composites great. I don't know what you are talking about. As for Catalyst, see Kano's script. It should install the driver properly.

[mitch074]

Actually, it does handle 2D and 3D acceleration just fine. Runs many 3D games and composites great. I don't know what you are talking about. As for Catalyst, see Kano's script. It should install the driver properly.

The Free driver shipped with Ubuntu doesn't support 2D acceleration (including compositing), and certainly not 3D. At least not when I tested it on my 4850.

[d2kx]

The Free driver shipped with Ubuntu doesn't support 2D acceleration (including compositing), and certainly not 3D. At least not when I tested it on my 4850.

The free driver shipped with Ubuntu does support 2D and basic 3D acceleration. At least when I tested it on my 4850.

[mitch074]

Argh - currently, I mean:
- R800/Evergreen: barely any 2D support (I'm not even sure that has been ported to Lucid
- R600/R700: 3D support is still very experimental. 'Far as I know, 3D ships disabled in Lucid. Not all hardware accelerations work for R700, I think compositing falls into that category.
- R500: 2D+3D.

I'll have to install Lucid on bare metal again and test more deeply.

[LinuxID10T]

You are using Ubuntu 10.04 right? If you are using 9.10, it won't work. If you are, there might be other problems afoot.

[hotnikkelz]

Actually, it does handle 2D and 3D acceleration just fine. Runs many 3D games and composites great. I don't know what you are talking about. As for Catalyst, see Kano's script. It should install the driver properly.

Can you be clearer please? I'm very newb at this.
Script? i don't know what and how that works in ubuntu.
I am still not sure why, when i install the drivers ubuntu recommends i get WORSE performance.
Should i not install them, just ignore the hardware driver msg? should i use the downloaded 10.5 drivers?
What should i do exactly, assume i have a freshly installed copy of Lucid

[mitch074]

Can you be clearer please? I'm very newb at this.
Script? i don't know what and how that works in ubuntu.
I am still not sure why, when i install the drivers ubuntu recommends i get WORSE performance.
Should i not install them, just ignore the hardware driver msg? should i use the downloaded 10.5 drivers?
What should i do exactly, assume i have a freshly installed copy of Lucid

If you don't play high performance games: let it be like it's set up out of the box.
If you play high performance games: follow the hardware manager's suggestion.