13.37 ATI RV516 driver

tuubaaku · 09-19-2011, 07:06 PM

I've got a 03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV516 [Radeon X1300/X1550 Series] card on Slackware 13.37, and I'm trying to get it set up with the right driver. I'm currently getting about 60 FPS, and I'm assuming/hoping I can get it a lot higher (I apologize for my ignorance in this area).

I got the following error in my Xorg.0.log:

Quote:

[ 31.706] (II) LoadModule: "radeon"
[ 31.706] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so
[ 31.762] (II) Module radeon: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 31.762] compiled for 1.9.5, module version = 6.14.1
[ 31.762] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 31.762] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 8.0
[ 31.772] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
[ 31.772] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
[ 31.794] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 31.794] compiled for 1.9.2, module version = 2.3.0
[ 31.794] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 31.794] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 8.0
[ 31.794] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[ 31.796] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module fbdev
[ 31.796] (II) UnloadModule: "fbdev"
[ 31.796] (EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)

I tried installing the latest ATI driver, and got the following:

Quote:

./ati-driver-installer-11-8-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Slackware/Slackware
me@me:/mnt/data/slackware$ aticonfig --initial
aticonfig: No supported adapters detected

Then I tried an older ATI driver:

Quote:

./ati-driver-installer-9-3-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Slackware/Slackware
Generating package: Slackware/Slackware
./packages/Slackware/ati-packager.sh: line 36: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `]'
./packages/Slackware/ati-packager.sh: line 387: syntax error: unexpected end of file
./packages/Slackware/ati-packager.sh: line 36: unexpected EOF while looking for matching `]'
./packages/Slackware/ati-packager.sh: line 387: syntax error: unexpected end of file
Error: Distro Version entered incorrectly or not supported, use --listpkg to identify valid distro versions
Removing temporary directory: fglrx-install.1NBLNp

Any pointers on what I can do differently, or a good tutorial to look at?

adamk75 · 09-19-2011, 07:19 PM

You're getting 60fps because the OpenGL drivers sync-to-vblank. On nearly all LCD monitors, that's 60 Hz. Check this thread for more information:

http://phoronix.com/forums/showthrea...a-simple-trick

You can not use fglrx on that GPU on any distribution newer than, roughly, March 2009.

Darth Vader · 09-19-2011, 07:26 PM

@tuubaaku

Well, the current radeon X.org driver claim to have full support for NV516, and you need to stuck on it, because there is no FGLRX support for you.

Also, for my taste, getting just 60 FPS looks like an VSync use. Nothing bad there, because even your app claim to run into 65384 FPS, still will be displayed just 60 frames per sec. if you have 60Hz as vertical refresh rate ...

ReaperX7 · 09-19-2011, 08:24 PM

ATi is rather horrendous (if not 100% pathetic) about supporting legacy products through drivers. The X11 open source drivers should work. Only Nvidia supports the majority of their legacy products still with the current driver package. The only real difference between the open source driver and the fglrx driver is S3 Texture Compression support and the Configuration tools.

tuubaaku · 09-20-2011, 06:54 AM

OK, thanks for the replies - so it looks like I'm fine with the radeon driver I'm using, and the 60 fps. Is there a way to get rid of the fbdev error? I guess I could just ignore it...

adamk75 · 09-20-2011, 06:56 AM

It's a harmless message. If, for some reason, you are so worked about it that you feel the need to eliminate it, create an xorg.conf so that Xorg doesn't try to autoload the fbdev driver.