Ubuntu 8.10 – ATI/AMD fglrx Driver Updated
Oct.15, 2008 in
8.10 Intrepid Ibex, Hardware
The AMD/ATI fglrx driver that wasn’t working properly with the new xserver that Ubuntu 8.10 was using has been updated. A new upstream version was added to the repositories and is now available through the updates to those of us with ATI chipsets.
The ati and radeon drivers are fine, but the fglrx makes the compiz effects a lot smoother. I usually install compizconfig-settings-manager to tweak the effects like activating Desktop Cube and Rotate Cube. I’ve gotten a few colorful metaphors from friends after watching me switch to another desktop by rotating the cube around.
November 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Excellent, well done. How do I install this?
November 17th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
From the Main Menu, go to System > Administration > Hardware Drivers. This will show you which proprietary drivers are available for any hardware you may have. ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver should be listed. Highlight it and click on the Activate button.
Ubuntu is pretty good at probing for hardware. But if it isn’t listed in Hardware Drivers, issuing
sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrxat a command prompt will install it from Ubuntu’s repositories.November 17th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Did that. Got a message that said I already had that driver installed. Still no Advanced Desktop Effects!
November 18th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
If the driver is in installed, then there must be something else preventing the use of the desktop effects. But keep in mind that having the driver installed is only part of the process.
Hardware limitations may prevent it as not all AMD/ATI chipsets can perform the acceleration. I have a Thinkpad T41 where I have to reduce the screen resolution from 1400×1050 to 1024×768 in order for compiz to perform all the pretty effects. In this case, the chipset can’t handle textures larger than 1024×1024.
If this is a case of it having worked prior to Intrepid but not now, than there might be a bug that needs to be addressed. Launchpad’s fglrx section tracks bugs that need to be given to AMD.
If you have set metacity to perform compositing, then it might prevent compiz from taking control. Run gconf-editor from a command line (or using Alt-F2) and find /apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager in the Configuration Editor. If it is checkmarked, remove it and try activating compiz again.
Although it’s rare, maybe it needs to be reinstalled.
sudo apt-get install --reinstall xorg-driver-fglrxIt’s hard to nail down a reason without knowing all of the information. Hopefully these tips can help others troubleshoot their issue.
November 27th, 2008 at 3:26 am
HI would Just like to say everytime I use open driver or radeon driver is doesnt let me recordmydesktop with gtk it goes so slow here are my specs for pc
pentium4 3.2ghz
ram ddr2 2gb
gpu HD2600XT powercolor
any ideas?
November 30th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Brent Evans, I could only offer a guess as I don’t have access to your kind of setup. The only slowness I have encountered using recordMyDesktop on an AMD/ATI graphics driven system has been when it was under heavy strain due to other running applications.
My Thinkpad T41 uses an Intel Pentium M 1.7GHz CPU and an ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV250 [Mobility FireGL 9000] chipset which is controlled by the radeon driver. I had to close anything that wasn’t necessary to the recording to make it less slow and jerky. My Acer Extensa 4420 uses an AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core TK-57 1.9GHz CPU and an ATI Technologies Inc RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series] chipset which can use the fgrlx driver. The only slowness was when trying to use any of compiz’s desktop effects.
So slowness can be attributed to more than which driver is in use. See recordMyDesktop’s FAQ about steps to achieve better framerates and smoother videos.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Hi all,
I am using Kubuntu 8.10. Whenever I switch to the fglrx driver, restart, I am presented with a low res screen. (something like 800×640). This starts with the login screen. I then have to start the System Settings utility and select the Screen section. When I open the Screen settings my resolution switches back to the desired value.
Hardware: HP Compaq 6715b (AMD/ATI).
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:29 pm
when I downloaded it, I restarted my computer and after the blue bar got done loading kubuntu, my screen went black and blue box came up saying, please check pc monitor settings, I had to reinstall linux…
February 19th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
I am using dell studio 1537 with ati radeon 3450(3400 series)graphics card.I am using super ubuntu 2008.11.I dont know what is wrong but whenever I try to enable my desktop effects an error message appears”desktop effects could not be enabled”…My system is having 3gb ram,256mb graphics card,core 2 duo processor.
Can you help me with this????
February 24th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
The driver is listed, but every time I click to activate I receive the error “SystemError: Failed to lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock.”
April 16th, 2009 at 8:58 am
hi guys. well i think i have a problem, is like this: i have a ati/amd proprietary fglrx graphics driver that says that is not activated. i press “aactivate” but it doesnt aactivate, so any 1 could help me? sorry 4 my bad english
April 17th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Hello, I have trouble activating the ATI/AMD fgltx graphics driver. The problem: it doens’t download. The download bar stays at 0% (yes, is have internet connection). After a minute or 4, the window just dissapears. Can someone give me advice?
Cheers
April 30th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
It’s obvious, from the amount of attention that this post gets and the discussions on most other Linux oriented sites, that the level of support from AMD/ATi is well below the apparent need of their customer base. As an end-user myself with two AMD/ATi based video machines, I find it frustrating. Fortunately the open source community has done the best they can to offer comparable performance for users without having them resort to acquiring the proprietary fglrx drivers.
If there’s anything to be learned from this, it is that from now on, when I shop for new computers, I only look for those with Nvidia or Intel graphics hardware. I’ve never been a fan of ATi hardware but was hoping with the AMD leadership that support would improve. It apparently has not.
As much as I wish I could provide help to everyone suffering from this same dilemma, I can not. Since the comments are only more unanswered questions, I see no need to keep them open any further. Before I close them, I’ll try to point the last few in the right direction.
@Harald and Josue – Kubuntu does things slightly different with display settings. The few times I’ve tried using KDE, I’ve had issues that never manifested before when using Gnome. Both use the same X server, but they are different environments. I would suggest seeing what the KDE or Kubuntu forums have to say about that.
@mukesh – It’s probably that your ATi Radeon 3450 isn’t powerful enough to handle desktop effects at your desired resolution. Try reducing the resolution first. It has to do with a maximum allowable texture size. For instance, if your resolution is something like 1440×1050, and your maximum allowable texture size is 1024×1024, then you’re limited to using 1024×768 with desktop effects. My Thinkpad T41 is limited like that. However, when using the open source drivers, like the ati or radeon driver, I can have “normal” desktop effects at full resolution. It’s sluggish and not as pretty, but it’s better than nothing.
@dahve – Sounds like you had something else running that was locking the apt archive. You can’t have more than one package manager working at the same time (Synaptic, apt-get, aptitude, Restricted/Hardware Drivers). If any one of them has the archives locked, none of the others will be able to access them until the first one is closed.
@Paulo – Without knowing what kind of hardware you have, I would have to guess that it’s probably not supported by the fglrx driver, even though it may be listed.
@Robert – That’s a connection issue. Yes, you may “have internet connection”, but there may be an issue with the server. When you attempt to activate it, it should download the driver. You can try downloading the .deb file manually by visiting the xorg-driver-fglrx package page at Ubuntu.
To everyone else, head over to AMD/ATi’s support forums and inundate them with help questions. Tell them since they refuse to provide better support for Linux, you refuse to buy any more of their products. Maybe they’ll finally wake up.