ATI, Slackware 10 and 2.6.7 INSTALL GUIDE

I have been seeing a lot of problems installing the new ATI drivers with the 2.6.7 kernel and Slackware 10 so heres the solution, it's how I did it.

First, download the new ATI drivers from www.ati.com as of right now they should be 3.9.

The 2.6.7 kernel requires a patch download it from here

http://linuxmind.de/~ssimon/fglrx-2.6.7.patch

Heres the very first thing I do

***NOTE: I rename my files for my sake replace the filename with the filename you have***

1. rpm2tgz fglrx.rpm

this will change the rpm file to a .tgz for all you noobs out there.

***installpkg and the following steps are done as root***

2. installpkg fglrx.tgz

this will install the fglrx drivers required for your card

3. cp fglrx-2.6.7.patch /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod

this will copy the patch to the appropriate directory

4. cd /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod

cd into the directory ***EDIT****

5. patch -p1 < fglrx-2.6.7.patch

this will patch the current drivers to work with the 2.6.7 kernel

6. chmod +x make.sh

makes make.sh executable

7. sh make.sh

runs make.sh, if you get any errors during this about agpgart then you need to recompile your kernel to use agpgart as a module refer to the Kernel Compiling stickies

8. cd ..

if you dont know what this does then you shouldn't even be using Linux

9. chmod +x make_install.sh

once again makes make_install.sh executable

10. sh make_install.sh

that should install the drivers no problem, now onto configuring your X server

I perfer to hand edit the xorg.conf file instead of using fglrxconfig because it usually screws my server up so.

11. joe /etc/X11/xorg.conf

you can use whatever editor you'd like here, open up the file and change the approriate lines

Under the section "Module Section" under load glx add

load  "dri"

Under the section "Graphics Device Section"

Section "Device"
                  Identifier  "fglrx"
                  Driver      "fglrx"

Under the section "Screen Sections"

Device      "fglrx"

At the very bottom of the file add this

Section "DRI"
        Group 0
        Mode 0666
EndSection

Bam save the file and you should have acceleration, if anyone wants me to I will post my xorg.conf file

*** EDIT ***

If you want to test your driver install goto a terminal and type glxgears

Also if you are running the 2.4.x kernel you don't need to apply the patch

***EDIT***

Have questions about this or anything related to the P4C800-E Deluxe Feel free to contact me on AIM at sovietpower13

or you can use 'fglrxconfig' after the 'sh make_install.sh' command to make a whole new XF86config in your /etc/X11 folder, then rename the XF86config to xorg.conf

Yes I know as I stated I don't use it because its unreliable with my system

Originally posted by sovietpower Yes I know as I stated I don't use it because its unreliable with my system

i'm sorry, i totally missed that :X

good guide btw

Nice outline, buddy.
This should help some people out.

Might I add -- if you've got a working xorg.conf or XF86Config file, it's generally not necessary to run the fglrxconfig script. Manually changing the driver to fglrx is usually enough, like sovietpower says. It's good to look over one of the config files created by fglrxconfig, though, as it outlines some driver specific options that you might want to use, or may need to use to get optimal performance.

--Shade

i am not running my drivers atm, seemed when i installed them that my xserver would lockup with vertical white and black lines, couldnt alt+control+F? anything, couldnt even ssh into the box from another, had to hard boot it.

recompiled kernel, drivers are gone, no problem anymore...

but i have the 2.4.26 kernel! what can i do

Originally posted by thing0 but i have the 2.4.26 kernel! what can i do

Upgrade to 2.6.7?

You can skip the patch instructions. Can someone verify?

sorry i don't know how to update the kernel, i have slackware 10.

Originally posted by carboncopy Upgrade to 2.6.7? You can skip the patch instructions. Can someone verify?

yeah, just skip the patch, rest of the instructions are the same.

Originally posted by thing0 sorry i don't know how to update the kernel, i have slackware 10.

there are many guides on how to do it. just look at the sticky threads.

Hello everyone,

I did everything which was mentioned in the first post, but I still have problems.
First I tried it with my 2.4 Kernel, of course without patching
Everything worked fine, I built the module and I did install it with a warning, I changed the xorg.conf, but as I tried to start X with startx I just got a black screen, and I could do nothing else.
Well, I upgraded to 2.6 Kernel, deletet the fglrx modul directory and started it all over again, with patch.
I could successfully build the module with make.sh, that's what it said:

ATI module generator V 2.0
==========================
initializing...
cleaning...
patching 'highmem.h'...
skipping patch for 'drmP.h', not needed
skipping patch for 'drm_os_linux.h', not needed
assuming new VMA API since we do have kernel 2.6.x...
doing Makefile based build for kernel 2.6.x and higher
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.7/build SUBDIRS=/lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.7'
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/agp3.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/nvidia-agp.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/agpgart_be.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/i7505-agp.o
  CC [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/firegl_public.o
  LD [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.o
  Building modules, stage 2.
  MODPOST
  CC      /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.mod.o
  LD [M]  /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.ko
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.7'
build succeeded with return value 0
duplicating results into driver repository...
done.
==============================
You must change your working directory to /lib/modules/fglrx
and then call ./make_install.sh in order to install the built module.
==============================

this time, as I tried to install it with make_install.sh, it gave me this error:

*** WARNING ***
Tailored kernel module for fglrx not present in your system.
You must go to /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod subdir
and execute './make.sh' to build a fully customed kernel module.
Afterwards go to /lib/modules/fglrx and run './make_install.sh'
in order to install the module into your kernel's module repository.
(see readme.txt for more details.)

As of now you can still run your XServer in 2D, but hardware acclerated
OpenGL will not work and 2D graphics will lack performance.

failed.

It would be nice if anyone might help me.
thanks in advance.
Bill

hi all,
I am also facing the same problem. When i tried this in my Acer aspire 1502 LMI. Can Any one help me.

Cheers
senthil kumar

well i dumped my perfectly working mandrake 9.1 today for something new on my dell inspiron 7500 with ati rage mobility p card that my support.dell.com tells me is compatitble with a ATI Rage Pro 128 setup as all they have is a rpm for redhat 6.1 but i went there because the ati.com said they did not carry any "3.9" for mobile stuff....

so i don't know what patch you were taking about, can you give me a better link to it or send it to me straight as i plan on using 2.6.7 soon (i'll settle for 2.4.x) for now, but the whole idea of going with slackware was to get at the beautful things i hear about 2.6....

thanks much

- perry

my email is andersonperry@yahoo.com

Thanks for the excellent guide. If my fingers weren't so fat I would have got it right the first time!
BTW we've got the same case and motherboard!