LinuxQuestions.org
Visit Jeremy's Blog.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Hardware
User Name
Password
Linux - Hardware This forum is for Hardware issues.
Having trouble installing a piece of hardware? Want to know if that peripheral is compatible with Linux?

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 12-18-2005, 07:11 PM   #1
kahlil88
Member
 
Registered: May 2005
Location: Mendocino, CA
Distribution: Arch Linux
Posts: 173

Rep: Reputation: 30
Better driver for ATI Radeon 9250?


I have an ATI Radeon 9250 and I'm wondering if I need better drivers for it, because screensavers such as the Flurry are incredibly slow.
 
Old 12-18-2005, 10:14 PM   #2
43r05p4c3
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2005
Location: Ontario, Canada
Distribution: Mandrake 10.0/XP Dual Boot Desktop & Gentoo 2005.1 Laptop
Posts: 79

Rep: Reputation: 15
It certainly sounds like it. Good luck, the ATI drivers are notorious for being hard to get working.

Here's ATI's website

Not sure about SUSE, but I can tell you a few common problems right now:
-Need Kernel source to install
-Need gcc or other dependencies to install
-Need to know XFree86 version
If you have this problem, don't bother with ATI's executable. Instead run:
XFree86 -version
or
Xorg -version
-Need POSIX shared memory enabled (if so, search it, it's easier than you might think)

Those are all the problems that I can think of that are possible with the latest drivers.

Good luck, and don't be discouraged, the answers to all your ATI woes can be found on this site.

Steve

PS If you install and type glxinfo and see the word MESA anywhere, something went wrong
 
Old 12-29-2005, 09:00 PM   #3
kahlil88
Member
 
Registered: May 2005
Location: Mendocino, CA
Distribution: Arch Linux
Posts: 173

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 30
X Window System Version 6.8.2
Release Date: 9 February 2005
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.8.2
Build Operating System: SuSE Linux [ELF] SuSE
Current Operating System: Linux linux 2.6.13-15.7-smp #1 SMP Tue Nov 29 14:32:29 UTC 2005 i686
Build Date: 07 October 2005
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.X.Org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
 
Old 12-29-2005, 10:01 PM   #4
Nalorin
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2005
Location: C-eh?-N-eh?-D-eh?
Distribution: 2.6.11-1.14_FC3
Posts: 58

Rep: Reputation: 15
There's a helpful part in the support document from ATI on this part - it's the part that talks about "tmpfs" and "/dev/shm"

The steps I took to get it working:
- Installed fglrx drivers from .i386.rpm file downloaded from ATI (for the Xorg 6.8, not Xfree86)
- ]# fglrxconfig
|----> Go through the whole config - default settings are fine - and just use option 1 for keyboard. (standard 101 keyboard - U.S. English)
-
Quote:
Originally Posted by Official ATI Release Notes
To enable POSIX Shared Memory on your system, perform the following as root:

1. Add the following line to /etc/fstab (if it isn't there already): tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
2. Mount shared memory as follows: mount /dev/shm
3. Issue the following command to check that it mounted properly: mount | grep "shm"

If the mount was successful, then the following output (or similar) should appear:
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw)

At this point, POSIX Shared Memory is enabled. Your 3D applications should run properly and the error message above should no longer occur.
- ]# glxinfo | grep direct
|----> Output should be as follows:
Code:
direct rendering: Yes
 
Old 01-02-2006, 08:52 PM   #5
kahlil88
Member
 
Registered: May 2005
Location: Mendocino, CA
Distribution: Arch Linux
Posts: 173

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 30
I installed the drivers, but the screen savers still lag and direct rendering is still disabled.
Quote:
linux:~ # glxinfo | grep direct
Xlib: connection to ":0.0" refused by server
Xlib: No protocol specified

direct rendering: No
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
 
Old 01-02-2006, 10:46 PM   #6
RedShirt
Senior Member
 
Registered: Oct 2005
Location: Denver
Distribution: Sabayon 3.5Loop2
Posts: 1,150

Rep: Reputation: 45
getting the mesa drivers out is massively difficult in many cases, especially of late. The last time I had any good luck was with 2.6.14 and 2.6.14.1 with the drivers of the time. Since then with later drivers and later kernels, it is REALLY less than fun. In some cases it was flatout impossible to get the mesa drivers to go away and switch into the ATI with DRI. You can check many threads on the subject, or my website, but good luck, it is a long, hard battle at times depending on kernel driver version and other such things.

I feel you.

Once you do get the Mesas to go away, stick with it, and don't change a thing. the ATI drivers with DRI are fairly impressive and responsive once you get passed the grime of installing them properly.
 
Old 01-10-2006, 09:13 PM   #7
kahlil88
Member
 
Registered: May 2005
Location: Mendocino, CA
Distribution: Arch Linux
Posts: 173

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 30
I've been searching various forums and it sounds like I'm supposed to use the ati-driver-installer-8.20.8-i386.run to generate a distro-specific RPM installer. Unfortunately, the installer only generates RPMs for Debian, Mandriva and Ubuntu.

I found a guide that tells me to download a driver from SuSE.com, but I went there and couldn't find a driver.
 
Old 01-10-2006, 10:08 PM   #8
RedShirt
Senior Member
 
Registered: Oct 2005
Location: Denver
Distribution: Sabayon 3.5Loop2
Posts: 1,150

Rep: Reputation: 45
No, you can generate a SuSE 10 driver IA32-SUSE100, just look a bit more for details. However, you don't have to use an rpm, you can just run the script and it works every bit as well. just "./atietcetcetc" in command line as su.
 
Old 01-11-2006, 01:09 AM   #9
kahlil88
Member
 
Registered: May 2005
Location: Mendocino, CA
Distribution: Arch Linux
Posts: 173

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 30
Initially I just ran the script, and although the ATI Control Panel is installed, and it finds my video card, it still believs I have some Mesa thing installed. My screen saver still lags, and I get an error about not having a 3D graphics card when I run Tux Racer.

Quote:
Display Adapter
*Card Name: Radeon9200 PRO
*BIOS Version: 0.08
*Chip Type: ATI Radeon 9200 PRO (RV280 5960)
*Chip Revision: 2
*DAC Speed: 400 MHz
*Memory Type: DDR SDRAM
*Memory Size: 256 MByte
*Transfer Mode: PCI

Display Driver
*Driver Version: 8.20.8

OpenGL
*OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
*OpenGL renderor string: Mesa GLX Indirect
*OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.2.1)
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
ATI Radeon 9250 Driver gambleDT Debian 16 12-15-2008 08:31 AM
3d acceleration troube - ATI Radeon 9250 ericthehammer Ubuntu 15 08-31-2005 01:01 AM
Help, ati radeon 9250 rude_reality Slackware 9 06-22-2005 12:53 AM
ATI Radeon 9250 V280 Problems Hubmasterflex Linux - Hardware 1 06-03-2005 05:19 PM
How to install drivers (ATI RADEON 9250) Sfx Mandriva 2 05-04-2005 07:03 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Hardware

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:47 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration