Well, my main goal is to be able to play some games on linux. I managed to install winex properly (after a few re installs) and even get the games loaded. But when teh games load, they are slow and choppy and i get like 4fps or less. I asked someone and they said this was probably because of bad graphics configuration. Ditto.

When i do a "glxgears" i get:

bash-2.05b$ glxgears
Xlib: extension "XFree86-DRI" missing on display ":0.0".
477 frames in 5.0 seconds = 95.400 FPS
644 frames in 5.0 seconds = 128.800 FPS
528 frames in 5.0 seconds = 105.600 FPS

so i know my video card is working properly. By the same token, in windows i was using the same video card and getting great fps and playability with the same games.

I am using an ATI Radeon 9000 (not pro).

I went to the ATI website and downloaded the workstation driver (as an rpm -_-) filename: fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5.i586.rpm

okay, the first time i did this i thought "shit, rpms cant run in slack" and forgot about it. then i found the rpm command (lol...) and tried it. i got a screen like:

/bin/sh is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
/bin/sh is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
/bin/sh is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
/bin/sh is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
ld-linux.so.2 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libc.so.6 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libdl.so.2 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libICE.so.6 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libm.so.6 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libpthread.so.0 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libSM.so.6 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libX11.so.6 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libXaw.so.7 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libXext.so.6 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libXmu.so.6 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libXpm.so.4 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libXt.so.6 is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
/bin/bash is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1.3) is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libdl.so.2(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libdl.so.2(GLIBC_2.1) is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libm.so.6(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5
libpthread.so.0(GLIBC_2.0) is needed by fglrx-glc22-4.3.0-3.2.5

:@. in the install file they had a --nodeps option i could use, so i tried that and it installed! then i ran the flgxconfig and everything went fine. then i closed xfree86, tried to do a startx again...and it wouldnt load. I tried editting config files.. but there were like 8 all over the place... i tried running flgxconfig with all the crap options and still no go. So finally i just did a clean install.. and here i am.

BTW i am using an Flatscreen LCD monitor; i dont know what that does to my horizontal and vertical refresh rates; i didnt think they existed for an LCD monitor. I had a hint that that was what was causing the problem.

Any clues? Sorry for the long post, and i hope someone can help


oh yeah.. running slackware 9.

I never test the winex, but I have the NVidia drivers for X and I get a problem like this.... with mandrake I only edit the XF86Config and rename the driver "nv" to "nvida" and the X starts well... try to get an not RPM version of the ATI driver for linux... maybe it works... the mesaGL driver come with linux is very slow compared to the manufacture's driver...

Alright, to install those drivers in Slack 9.0 is actually pretty darned easy.

Keep in mind you need to have your kernel sources at /usr/src/linux/
And ditch the rpm tool. instead, use the command:

rpm2tgz fglrx<whatever>.rpm

that will give you a nice .tgz package. run package tool as root to install it

pkgtool
install from the current directory.

it will put the drivers in /lib/modules/fglrx
go to that directory, and then to the subdir build_mod/
run ./make.sh
if that goes ok, then cd ..
./make_install.sh

that oughta do it.

Modify your XF86Config-4 to use fglrx for vidcard driver, and change the default to 24 bit color depth.

Badabing, badaboom.
Youv'e got 3d and your fps from glxgears will look more like 1000-2000.

Good luck
It's pretty easy -- you just need the kernel sources installed.

-Shade

Hi, thanks for your reply shade.

I dont think i have the kernel sources installed where its supposed to be, since when i try ./make.sh it gives me :


bash-2.05b# ./make.sh
ATI module generator V 2.0
==========================
kernel includes at /usr/src/linux/include not found or incomplete
file: /usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h
bash-2.05b#

so i guess my next question would be, how would i install my kernel to /usr/src/linux? would i be able to just copy it?

thanks again

EDIT:

I did a whereis linux, and went to that directory and copied all the .h files into a directory i made in /usr/src/linux/include and it still didnt work :/

bash-2.05b# whereis linux
linux: /usr/include/linux
bash-2.05b#

is that where its supposed to be?

You have to download the Slackware 2.4.20 kernel source package from the 'k' directory (which itself will be under slackware-9.0/slackware in the mirros main slackware directory) of your favourite slackware mirror and then install it using either pkgtool or installpkg:

installpkg kernel-source-2.4.20-noarch-5.tgz

That should install the source and create the /usr/src/linux symlink automatically at which point the ATi drivers should find the files it's looking for and compile without further trouble.

edit: Is it possible for a modrerator to sticky the existing ATi drivers topic here, possibly renaming it to reflect the fact the info in it covers virtually all ATi cards and not just the 9700 Pro? This is'nt (edit2: sorry!) meant as an attack on this poster but this seems like a fairly common question and it would help if a source of helpful information on this topic was easily available in the top of the thread list.

exuse me but
I have the same problems but solved those and still got some other problem

check my signature link