System is Debian Squeeze with Kernel:2.6.32-5-686 and Knoppix (Used as a test 6.4.3 with the following details:
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.32.25-dsa-ia32 i686 Debian
Current Operating System: Linux Microknoppix 2.6.36.1 #10 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 26 10:33:59 CET 2010 i686

I am a beginner for some of the stuff in Linux : my excuses if some aspects of this post sems very trivial to you,
but it is not clear for me. Thanks,

Here is the lspci | grep -E ATI ran in Debian Squeeze

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 AP [Radeon 9600]
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 AP [Radeon 9600] (Secondary)

I am comparing the 2 Xorg.log I obtained from one OS the the other and it tells me the GPU of the video card doesn't run in Debian and I want to know if there is a fix for this or if I will have to wait for Debian to bring the Kernel up then solving this issue.
Here are the fragments of the 2 Xorg.0.log

Debian: *******************************************
(II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 connected
(II) RADEON(0): Output S-video disconnected
(II) RADEON(0): Using exact sizes for initial modes
(II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 using initial mode 1920x1080
(II) RADEON(0): Using default gamma of (1.0, 1.0, 1.0) unless otherwise stated.
(II) RADEON(0): mem size init: gart size :1feff000 vram size: s:8000000 visible:77d7000
(II) RADEON(0): EXA: Driver will allow EXA pixmaps in VRAM
(==) RADEON(0): DPI set to (96, 96)
(II) Loading sub module "fb"
(II) LoadModule: "fb"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
(II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.0.0
ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
(II) Loading sub module "ramdac"
(II) LoadModule: "ramdac"
(II) Module "ramdac" already built-in
(II) RADEON(0): GPU accel disabled or not working, using shadowfb for KMS
(II) Loading sub module "shadow"
(II) LoadModule: "shadow"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libshadow.so
(II) Module shadow: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.1.0
ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
(II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
(II) Unloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
(II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
(II) Unloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
(II) UnloadModule: "fbdevhw"

Knoppix: *************************
(II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 connected
(II) RADEON(0): Output DVI-0 disconnected
(II) RADEON(0): Output S-video disconnected
(II) RADEON(0): Using exact sizes for initial modes
(II) RADEON(0): Output VGA-0 using initial mode 1920x1080
(II) RADEON(0): Using default gamma of (1.0, 1.0, 1.0) unless otherwise stated.
(++) RADEON(0): DPI set to (96, 96)
(II) Loading sub module "fb"
(II) LoadModule: "fb"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfb.so
(II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.0.0
ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
(II) Loading sub module "ramdac"
(II) LoadModule: "ramdac"
(II) Module "ramdac" already built-in
(==) RADEON(0): Using XAA acceleration architecture
(II) Loading sub module "xaa"
(II) LoadModule: "xaa"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libxaa.so
(II) Module xaa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.2.1
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 6.0
(==) RADEON(0): Assuming overlay scaler buffer width is 1920
(II) RADEON(0): No MM_TABLE found - assuming CARD is not TV-in capable.
(!!) RADEON(0): MergedFB support has been removed and replaced with xrandr 1.2 support
(II) UnloadModule: "vesa"
(II) Unloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
(II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"

**********************************************************

Also here is the mesg | grep -E drm in Debian:

dmesg | grep -E drm
[ 8.240049] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[ 8.903368] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.
[ 8.908396] [drm] radeon: Initializing kernel modesetting.
[ 8.909393] [drm] register mmio base: 0xFE9E0000
[ 8.909397] [drm] register mmio size: 65536
[ 8.909668] [drm] GPU reset succeed (RBBM_STATUS=0x00000140)
[ 8.909695] [drm] Generation 2 PCI interface, using max accessible memory
[ 8.909784] [drm] radeon: VRAM 128M
[ 8.909786] [drm] radeon: VRAM from 0x00000000 to 0x07FFFFFF
[ 8.909788] [drm] radeon: GTT 128M
[ 8.909791] [drm] radeon: GTT from 0xE0000000 to 0xE7FFFFFF
[ 8.909813] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.
[ 8.909919] [drm] Detected VRAM RAM=128M, BAR=128M
[ 8.909924] [drm] RAM width 64bits DDR
[ 8.910959] [drm] radeon: 128M of VRAM memory ready
[ 8.910962] [drm] radeon: 128M of GTT memory ready.
[ 8.911197] [drm] radeon: 1 quad pipes, 1 Z pipes initialized.
[ 8.911208] [drm] radeon: cp idle (0x10000C03)
[ 8.911254] [drm] Loading R300 Microcode
[ 9.256163] [drm:r100_cp_init] *ERROR* Failed to load firmware!
[ 9.256299] [drm] radeon: cp finalized
[ 9.256513] [drm] GPU reset succeed (RBBM_STATUS=0x00000140)
[ 9.256517] [drm] radeon: cp finalized
[ 9.256920] [drm] radeon: ttm finalized
[ 9.256925] [drm] Forcing AGP to PCI mode
[ 9.257190] [drm] GPU reset succeed (RBBM_STATUS=0x00000140)
[ 9.257200] [drm] Generation 2 PCI interface, using max accessible memory
[ 9.257204] [drm] radeon: VRAM 128M
[ 9.257206] [drm] radeon: VRAM from 0x00000000 to 0x07FFFFFF
[ 9.257208] [drm] radeon: GTT 512M
[ 9.257211] [drm] radeon: GTT from 0x20000000 to 0x3FFFFFFF
[ 9.257228] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.
[ 9.257237] [drm] Detected VRAM RAM=128M, BAR=128M
[ 9.257240] [drm] RAM width 64bits DDR
[ 9.259051] [drm] radeon: 128M of VRAM memory ready
[ 9.259054] [drm] radeon: 512M of GTT memory ready.
[ 9.259059] [drm] GART: num cpu pages 131072, num gpu pages 131072
[ 9.261248] [drm] radeon: 1 quad pipes, 1 Z pipes initialized.
[ 9.261256] [drm] radeon: cp idle (0x10000C03)
[ 9.261421] [drm] Loading R300 Microcode
[ 9.268934] [drm:r100_cp_init] *ERROR* Failed to load firmware!
[ 9.269070] [drm] radeon: cp finalized
[ 9.269577] [drm] Default TV standard: NTSC
[ 9.269581] [drm] 27.000000000 MHz TV ref clk
[ 9.269584] [drm] DFP table revision: 4
[ 9.269636] [drm] Default TV standard: NTSC
[ 9.269638] [drm] 27.000000000 MHz TV ref clk
[ 9.269669] [drm] Radeon Display Connectors
[ 9.269672] [drm] Connector 0:
[ 9.269673] [drm] VGA
[ 9.269677] [drm] DDC: 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60
[ 9.269679] [drm] Encoders:
[ 9.269681] [drm] CRT1: INTERNAL_DAC1
[ 9.269683] [drm] Connector 1:
[ 9.269685] [drm] DVI-I
[ 9.269687] [drm] HPD1
[ 9.269690] [drm] DDC: 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64
[ 9.269691] [drm] Encoders:
[ 9.269693] [drm] CRT2: INTERNAL_DAC2
[ 9.269695] [drm] DFP1: INTERNAL_TMDS1
[ 9.269697] [drm] Connector 2:
[ 9.269699] [drm] S-video
[ 9.269701] [drm] Encoders:
[ 9.269702] [drm] TV1: INTERNAL_DAC2
[ 9.665977] [drm] fb mappable at 0xF0040000
[ 9.665981] [drm] vram apper at 0xF0000000
[ 9.665984] [drm] size 8294400
[ 9.665986] [drm] fb depth is 24
[ 9.665988] [drm] pitch is 7680
[ 9.804863] fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device
[ 9.805111] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.0.0 20080528 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0

Is there anything to be done to improve this video card performance in Debian Linux?

Thanks,

Hm, I am not quite sure but X.org radeon driver has no support for 3D acceleration. But there is a firmware diver provided by ATI.
I think that Debian should have this firmware dirver in its packages repositiories. And if I'm right it should easy to install this automagically with all the stuff for package management provided by Debian (debpkg?). POst on the Debian forum.

like someone else said there are some firmware things missing in debian because of their "militantly free" stance.
most likely some debian way to fix it if you google around.

im using the ATI proprietary driver here in slackware. my gpu is 6370. and i love it

you just download the ATI package from their website.
its called something like ati-driver-installer-xx-x-x86.x86_64.run
or something similar like that
there is most likely a way to make a debian package with it if you google but you can also just install it.
get out of the graphical environment to the command line shell without x running.
then as root just do ./ati-driver-installer-xx-x-x86.x86_64.run
then change your xorg config to use the fglrx driver
reboot

You seem to have a couple things confused here. First, the radeon driver does have 3D acceleration for nearly all radeon GPUs. It does, however, require firmware that Debian packages separately and does not install by default. I believe it's part of the firmware-linux-nonfree package. firmware != driver.

AMD provides a separate proprietary driver for all HD GPUs, and this may also be packaged separately by Debian (I know various distributions do this), but have no recent, direct experience with Debian on this matter.

Please be careful who you suggest the fglrx driver to. It is only usable on HD GPUs (and the new APUs from AMD). If the OP were to somehow install the driver on their system, they would just end up making X even more unusable than it is now.

Adam

yes, thank you, i was unaware of the issues with fglrx and the newer kernels.
such a shame -- it's worked so great for so long.

Thanks to all for your contribution.
Someone told me we don't need xorg.conf and we can deleted it in Debian Squeeze.
I renamed the file and restarted gdm and X with success.
I checked if there was another instance of the file ,and no Debian Squeeze does an auto config
for X but I don't know how.
So I will try to get the driver for the card from "non-free" and I will let you know.
Cheers,

I ran dmesg | grep -Ei Radeon :
Here are the last lines off the list:

[ 10.145969] platform radeon_cp.0: firmware: requesting radeon/R300_cp.bin
[ 10.153968] radeon_cp: Failed to load firmware "radeon/R300_cp.bin"
[ 10.154064] radeon 0000:01:00.0: failled initializing CP (-2).
[ 10.154108] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Disabling GPU acceleration
[ 10.154154] [drm] radeon: cp finalized
[ 10.154820] [drm] Radeon Display Connectors
[ 10.665310] fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device
[ 10.665507] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.0.0 20080528 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0

I found the driver in the Debian firmware-linux-nonfree on this site.
http://packages.debian.org/squeeze/a...nfree/download

All that is left to do after is run :dpkg -i path/name of the file.
Then reboot
Here is what I got from dmesg | grep -Ei Radeon after I have done it
[8.477624] [drm] Initialized drm 1.1.0 20060810
[ 8.874045] [drm] radeon kernel modesetting enabled.
[ 8.876916] [drm] radeon: Initializing kernel modesetting.
[ 8.877026] [drm] register mmio base: 0xFE9E0000
[ 8.877029] [drm] register mmio size: 65536
[ 8.877321] [drm] GPU reset succeed (RBBM_STATUS=0x00000140)
[ 8.877450] [drm] Generation 2 PCI interface, using max accessible memory
[ 8.877531] [drm] radeon: VRAM 128M
[ 8.877533] [drm] radeon: VRAM from 0x00000000 to 0x07FFFFFF
[ 8.877536] [drm] radeon: GTT 128M
[ 8.877538] [drm] radeon: GTT from 0xE0000000 to 0xE7FFFFFF
[ 8.877559] [drm] radeon: irq initialized.
[ 8.877660] [drm] Detected VRAM RAM=128M, BAR=128M
[ 8.877664] [drm] RAM width 64bits DDR
[ 8.877776] [drm] radeon: 128M of VRAM memory ready
[ 8.877779] [drm] radeon: 128M of GTT memory ready.
[ 8.878011] [drm] radeon: 1 quad pipes, 1 Z pipes initialized.
[ 8.878022] [drm] radeon: cp idle (0x10000C03)
[ 8.878070] [drm] Loading R300 Microcode
[ 9.514233] [drm] radeon: ring at 0x00000000E0000000
[ 9.514255] [drm] ring test succeeded in 1 usecs
[ 9.518511] [drm] radeon: ib pool ready.
[ 9.518590] [drm] ib test succeeded in 0 usecs
[ 9.519148] [drm] Default TV standard: NTSC
[ 9.519151] [drm] 27.000000000 MHz TV ref clk
[ 9.519155] [drm] DFP table revision: 4
[ 9.519552] [drm] Default TV standard: NTSC
[ 9.519555] [drm] 27.000000000 MHz TV ref clk
[ 9.519622] [drm] Radeon Display Connectors
[ 9.519625] [drm] Connector 0:
[ 9.519627] [drm] VGA
[ 9.519630] [drm] DDC: 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60 0x60
[ 9.519632] [drm] Encoders:
[ 9.519634] [drm] CRT1: INTERNAL_DAC1
[ 9.519636] [drm] Connector 1:
[ 9.519638] [drm] DVI-I
[ 9.519640] [drm] HPD1
[ 9.519643] [drm] DDC: 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64 0x64
[ 9.519645] [drm] Encoders:
[ 9.519647] [drm] CRT2: INTERNAL_DAC2
[ 9.519649] [drm] DFP1: INTERNAL_TMDS1
[ 9.519651] [drm] Connector 2:
[ 9.519653] [drm] S-video
[ 9.519654] [drm] Encoders:
[ 9.519656] [drm] TV1: INTERNAL_DAC2
[ 9.935101] [drm] fb mappable at 0xF0040000
[ 9.935105] [drm] vram apper at 0xF0000000
[ 9.935107] [drm] size 8294400
[ 9.935110] [drm] fb depth is 24
[ 9.935112] [drm] pitch is 7680
[ 10.079103] fb0: radeondrmfb frame buffer device
[ 10.079205] [drm] Initialized radeon 2.0.0 20080528 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 0


The bolded part of it shows that all seems to be Ok now.

Thanks and Cheers,