Does anyone know how, or had any success on installing the latest ATI proprietary drivers with this agp card on Debian etch? For a week I've been trying to get this card to have 3D acceleration but to no avail. So far nothing on Debian etch 4.0r2, Ubuntu gutsy, Slackware current, or Fedora 8, all of which were fresh installs/updates. So I'm back to a fresh install of Debian, which is the distro I like. Roughly the process I've followed for Debian are..

Download the installer, currently "ati-driver-installer-8-01-x86.x86_64.run"
cd to the download directory

# apt-get install module-assistant build-essential fakeroot dh-make debconf libstdc++5 gcc-3.3-base linux-headers-$(uname -r) gcc autoconf automake1.9 libtool flex bison cvs

# chmod +x ati-driver-installer-8-01-x86.x86_64.run

# ./ati-driver-installer-8-01-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Debian/etch

# dpkg -i *.deb

# cd /usr/src

# m-a build fglrx

# m-a install fglrx (also tried it in one command #m-a a-i fglrx)

#aticonfig --initial

I've tried a few variations of that list of commands which include adding symlinks and not using module assistant but compiling and moving the fglrx.ko manually. Some guides I've tried..

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=24557
http://technowizah.com/2006/10/debia...i-drivers.html
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Deb...allation_Guide
http://linuxized.blogspot.com/2007/0...gl-compiz.html

I gave Envy a go with the same results. That was the only method I tried that had errors, but those were md5 mismatch errors when downloading the ati installer. So far no matter what install method I try, when I type "fglrxinfo" I get..

display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.5.1)

This is an entry from the xorg.0.log

(II) fglrx(0): driver needs X.org 7.1.x.y with x.y >= 0.0
(II) fglrx(0): detected X.org 7.1.1.0
(EE) fglrx(0): atiddxDriScreenInit failed, GPS not been initialized.
(WW) fglrx(0): ***********************************************
(WW) fglrx(0): * DRI initialization failed! *
(WW) fglrx(0): * (maybe driver kernel module missing or bad) *
(WW) fglrx(0): * 2D acceleraton available (MMIO) *
(WW) fglrx(0): * no 3D acceleration available *
(WW) fglrx(0): ********************************************* *

My relevant entries in the xorg.conf are..

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]"
Device "aticonfig-Device[0]"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[0]"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "DynamicClocks" "true"
Option "VBERestore" "true"
Option "backingstore" "true"
Option "RenderAccel" "true"
# If X refuses to use the screen resolution you asked for,
# uncomment this; see "Bugs and Workarounds" for details.
#Option "NoDDC"
# === Video Overlay for the Xv extension ===
Option "VideoOverlay" "on"
# === OpenGL Overlay ===
# Note: When OpenGL Overlay is enabled, Video Overlay
# will be disabled automatically
Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
# === Use internal AGP GART support? ===
# If OpenGL acceleration doesn't work, try using "yes" here
# and disable the kernel agpgart driver.
Option "UseInternalAGPGART" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
HorizSync 30-97
VertRefresh 50-160
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
Load "GLcore"
# Load "extmod" but omit DGA extension
# (the DGA extension is broken in the fglrx driver)
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Some spec's on my system... ASUS p4c800e-deluxe, p4 3.2Ghz, 1024mb DDR, 8x AGP Sapphire x1950Pro 512mb GDDR3.

Any help on this is GREATLY appreciated. This past week I've read alot of into about the ati proprietary drivers, compiling kernel agp support (CONFIG_AGP), and native PCIe gpu's that use adapters for the AGP bus. But I've found nothing that can help me so far.

THANKS in advance!

The only help I can be to you is by saying ditch ATI and go with Nvidia. I've had two ATI cards and had an equal amount of problems with both. All in all, I probably spent close to $250 on ATI cards (Radeon 9250, Sapphire X1650). I wanted to achieve the same as you, 3D acceleration, and it just seemed impossible. I followed every how-to I could and nothing worked.

I decided to go with an Nvidia (8500GT) and after I installed the proprietary driver, it WORKED! No configuration was needed. You'll safe yourself a bunch of time and frustration. Just go with Nvidia.

It's been said by AMD's leader (can't remember his name, but AMD owns ATI) that they're going to try and be more friendly with the open source group, but I wouldn't expect any miracles.

Regards,

Brandon

Thanks for the reply, but unfortunately thats not an option. There are no good AGP bus cars that use an nVIDIA chipset on the market currently. When I have the extra $ I'll do an upgrade, but until then, this is what I have. Upon searching more I found a post here that boasts a solution..

http://linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6317

However that solution does not work with Ubuntu gutsy or Debian etch. With gutsy I got the hard locked black screen, for both drivers, and Debian just defaults to mesa. I think Lolo Uila is on the right track of bypassing the recognition of the R570 chip as a PCIe bus.

Anyone have any ideas of how blacklisting fools the Mint clone into recognizing the card correctly? Or how I can have the same effect on Debian, or Ubuntu if necessary?

Thanks again!

I really could use some Linux Brainiacs here.

I may have a similar problem. Try running dmesg | grep fglrx. My problem is enablig internal AGP support in the 2.6 kernel. Perhaps you have the same problem as well.

Well its been over a month now, and no help from LQ, Phoronix, Ubuntu, or Debian forums. Not 1 single bit of help, other than, use nVIDIA. But thats not a solution atm. I ripped out the ATI P.O.S. and put in a 6800GT AGP card and it worked fine, so it's not the kernel's handling of the AGP bus, but the fglrx driver, the adapter from DVI to VGA, or the fact that it's a native PCI-e graphics chip translated to an AGP bus card. I'm just guessing though. Thanks for posting.

The latest ATI driver, ati-driver-installer-8-02-x86.x86_64.run seems to work. I've tested it on Ubuntu-Gutsy, and Debian-Etch and Lenny. So far it seems to work as it should, I can get 3D acceleration on a native Linux version on Quake 3 Arena, and on Guild Wars running through Wine's latest version. I haven't tested anything Compiz yet, or any different distributions. For installing follow this guide,

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

Hope this helps someone that also has this pain of a video card.

Here's my config:

* Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB AGP
* Ubuntu Hardy [2.6.24-19-generic i686]

I have followed the instructions at the link you gave, but I got a blank screen on logon.
That is, after the Ubuntu splash screen w/ scrollbar disappears, the screen turns black and it won't let me do anything - no, not even open a tty.

Any help would be immensely appreciated.

Cheers,
Marco

Don't know if this will help, but I've got a similar setup that seems to work:

video: ASUS vw192T
card: Radeon X1650 (ATI)
distro: F8

I installed the livna repos to get the drivers and these 2 links for instructions.

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Main_Page
http://fedorasolved.org/video-solutions/ati-yum-livna

HTH

Thank you Chris, your senior membership together with the fact that your card is in the same list of "not really supported" cards as mine are quite reassuring.

Unfortunately though, the first link in your post (Linux Unofficial ATI Driver wiki) is the one I had already followed (literaly and full of hope) but led me to the black screen issue.

Would you advise to give the livna RPMs a go regardless of the indication on the other link in your post stating those are specifically designed for Fedora (I'm on Ubuntu 8.04)?

Cheers,
Marco

Ah well, I had to use a bit of imagination on at least one of those links, its a bit out of date. Afaik, Livna is just for Fedora, but it might work for other rpm based distros. You mentioned previously that you tried Fedora, that's why I mentioned my setup.
Have a read of the Livna site, there's a lot of docs, not just rpms.

I know it's against the Linux ethic but I have given up on the whole ATI tuning thing.
It's taken me a week of reboots, reinstalls, going through forums (which was enjoyable cause I've learned a lot, thanks everyone) but couldn't get it to work.

I got myself a cheap nVidia 6200 128MB, have installed it yesterday and it seems to work fine. So finally I can enjoy compiz/beryl.

My plan was to use my PC to dual boot Ubuntu/WinXP, the latter clearly being for games only.
Alas, I'm going to have to play games on my new cheaper and worse video card, while my Sapphire X1950Pro 512MB AGP buries under dust on my bookshelf (shame).
Maybe one day there will be drivers that do work.

Cheers,
Marco