FGLRX driver for AMD/ATI RS690M on Semplice 6

mr_bigmouth_502 · 03-21-2014, 08:18 PM

I recently revived an old Toshiba Satellite A210 laptop I found, and so far it's running Semplice Linux 6 quite well, but I am unsatisfied with its graphics performance.

I am currently running the open source Xorg Radeon drivers, but I would like to switch to FGLRX for better performance. The problem is, I don't know which version of FGLRX was the latest to support my graphics card, or where I could find a copy.

If anyone knows where I could find the last version of FGLRX for my GPU, and how I could get it running on my distro, it would be greatly appreciated.

kaz2100 · 03-21-2014, 08:49 PM

You can check www.amd.com -> drivers+support.

You need to know kernel version also.

cheers

mr_bigmouth_502 · 03-21-2014, 08:58 PM

My current kernel Linux 3.13-6.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64 (x86_64). I'm downloading Catalyst 13.12 at the moment, but I'm unsure if it will actually work with my GPU.

mr_bigmouth_502 · 03-21-2014, 09:08 PM

I just attempted to run the installer, and it said "Your graphics adapter is not supported by this driver. Installation will not proceed." This does not surprise me, as when I run the graphics driver installer portion of smxi, it tells me that the latest Catalyst no longer supports any cards made before the HD2000 series.

Anyway, what was the last version of FGLRX/Catalyst to support the ATI/AMD RS690M?

rokytnji · 03-21-2014, 09:29 PM

Use the open source radeon driver instead on older ati chips. It is what I do.

Code:

$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: biker Kernel: 3.13.3-antix.1-amd64-smp x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: IceWM 1.3.7 Distro: antiX-13-rc1_x64-full Luddite 3 May 2013
Machine:   Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M2A-VM version: 1.XX Bios: Phoenix version: ASUS M2A-VM 1604 date: 12/19/2007
CPU:       Single core AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (-UP-) cache: 512 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips: 1999.73 clocked at 1000.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RS690 [Radeon X1200] bus-ID: 01:05.0
           X.Org: 1.14.3 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1024x768@85.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on ATI RS690 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 9.2.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.3-antix.1-amd64-smp
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: dc00 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: eth1 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8187B Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Adapter driver: rtl8187 usb-ID: 001-002
           IF: wlan1 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 80.0GB (39.5% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST380815AS size: 80.0GB
Partition: ID: / size: 41G used: 11G (27%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 3.27GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0C mobo: 36.0C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0 psu: 0 sys-1: 1008
Info:      Processes: 115 Uptime: 3 min Memory: 381.3/1878.6MB Runlevel: 5
           Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell (bash 4.2.45) inxi: 1.9.18

Notice I have mesa going with radeon with the glx info.

or

http://aptosid.com/index.php?name=PN...wtopic&p=17156
http://aptosid.com/index.php?name=PN...wtopic&p=17130
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=101801

rokytnji · 03-21-2014, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Installing Proprietary Drivers a.k.a. Catalyst/fglrx

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/9.4

Quote:

NOTE: If you enter your card information on AMD/ATI's driver page, it will offer you the Catalyst 9-3 driver to download. However, the Catalyst 9-3 driver doesn't support X servers past 1.5

mr_bigmouth_502 · 03-21-2014, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rokytnji

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/9.4

I managed to track down an installer (here: ftp://ftp.sumylug.osdn.org.ua/pub/Li...x86.x86_64.run ) for Catalyst 9.4, since AMD's site doesn't seem keen on providing legacy downloads or allowing external linking to their downloads, but when I tried running the installer, I got this:

Code:

Created directory fglrx-install.Sdx8bU
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing ATI Proprietary Linux Driver-8.602................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
==================================================
 ATI Technologies Linux Driver Installer/Packager 
==================================================
./ati-installer.sh: 869: [: Illegal number: 13-6

Error: ./default_policy.sh does not support version
default:v2:x86_64:lib::none:3.13-6.dmz.1-liquorix-amd64; make sure that the version is being
correctly set by --iscurrentdistro

Removing temporary directory: fglrx-install.Sdx8bU

Is there any way I could hack around this? I know I know, I should be using better hardware, but I just want to get Unreal Tournament GOTY running better under Wine, among other OpenGL apps. Even Kobo Deluxe struggles a bit in OpenGL mode with the open source drivers on here!

mr_bigmouth_502 · 03-21-2014, 11:15 PM

After doing some searching around, and finding out that I would have to downgrade my X server and probably run an older kernel to use a compatible version of fglrx, I decided it wasn't worth it. I'll stick with the open source drivers, they work well enough for most things. :P

mr_bigmouth_502 · 03-23-2014, 01:17 AM

I actually just thought of another idea, what if I install a really old distro that supports Catalyst 9.3, then I hold back whatever packages are required to make it work, while upgrading everything else? How well do you think this would work? I really would not like to have to resort to using Windoze in order to get decent 3D performance.

TobiSGD · 03-23-2014, 07:40 AM

The x1200 should get decent performance using a recent kernel and Mesa 10.1. Using older, unsupported distros (even only parts of them) is not recommended at all, due to security problems.