ATI Radeon X1600 PRO cards

[TwinShadows]

Hi all. I'm hoping somewhere here can help me around with Mint and ATI. ^_^
One of my friends has been wanting me to switch for a while now, and now that Mint finally works with my system (3.1 that is), I'm wondering if someone wouldn't mind to help me around with getting ATI drivers to actually work.

This is the first time I'm actually using a Linux Distro full time like this, last time was Ubuntu a long time ago (5.04), and decided to try Mint. Here are the specs for my PC:

• Intel P4 2.6 GHz (Hyper-thread enabled)
• ATI Radeon X1600 PRO (512 MB DDR2 RAM)
• 3GB RAM DDR

I have done a little bit of searching, but considering I'm like, completely new to Linux, I know practically nothing at all. I've heard a lot about Linux and ATI not getting along together very well, but I'd really like for Compiz Fusion to work. (I know Mint 4.0 was suppose to have this, but I like to be ready XD)

If someone doesn't mind either typing up or finding a step-by-step guide on installing ATI Linux drivers, I'd really appreciate it.

[Lolo Uila]

Based on your hardware specs I'm guessing you have an AGP version of the X1600 card. If that is the case, and you want to run Beryl or Compiz you are better off using the older 8.34.8 driver from the Ubuntu repository and Xgl. The newer drivers have issues with the AGP versions of the X1k series card, and have problems with video overlay when running Beryl or Compiz.

See my posts in this thread for info on installing the driver:

http://linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6207

and this thread for info on getting Xgl & Beryl/Compiz working:

http://linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5909

Good luck (you're gonna need it)!

Aloha, Tim

There are also the guides in the unofficial ATI Wiki:
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu ... tion_Guide
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Troubleshooting

[TwinShadows]

Yeah, I do use AGP at the moment.

Anyway, I almost got to a point where I was ready to try following those wall of texts (so much to do for something so simple x.x) but it just so happens that I can't seem to do anything. I'm trying to install the 8.34.8 drivers but this is what I get:

Detected version of X does not have a matching 'x130' directory
You may override the detected version using the following syntax:
X_VERSION=<xdir> ./ati-driver-installer-<ver>-<arch>.run [--install]

I really don't know what to do though. I may try the nVidia card that I have still, but Vista apparently burnt that card out and so, there isn't much I can do with it. Still functional, but I don't know how well anymore. Who knows though, I'm still at a loss even now.

[Lolo Uila]

How are you installing the driver?

The easiest way for you is probably Synaptic. Click on the Mint menu button (Celena) and select Install Software. When it asks for a password enter your login password. Click Reload, then Search for fglrx. Make sure the following are already installed:

• Linux-Restricted-Modules-2.6.20.15-generic
  
  restricted-manager

(if not, select them for install also). Select the driver for install:

• xorg-driver-fglrx

Note that if you have updated the Linux kernel then the 1st item will be

• Linux-Restricted-Modules-2.6.20.16-generic

After it's all installed, close Synaptic and go back to the menu. Under Administration launch the Restricted Drivers Manager. In Restricted Drivers Manager you should see:

• ATI accelerated graphics driver

Click the Enable check box, and then Close.

Restart your computer now. When you are rebooted and logged back in, read my posts in the following thread to see if the driver is working, and to get Beryl or Compiz working:

http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5909

Aloha, Tim

[TwinShadows]

Well, I'm using 4.0 BETA at the moment. (I love messing around with beta's personally) I did try to enable the accelerated drivers in the manager, but by the time I restarted the computer to boot back to Mint, all I get is a black screen, it would not go any further. This is the exact same problem I had to deal with pretty much 3.0 Mint, Ubuntu (some of the earlier versions though, 7.10 works), Sabayon, and possibly some others out there.

I don't know if there is some piece of hardware that Linux is not liking or something, because getting a black screen after the initial boot process gets annoying fairly quickly. I had no choice but to reinstall Mint just to get it back up.

[Lolo Uila]

Look here:
http://www.linuxmint.com/forum/viewtopi ... piz&t=6317

I would stick with Celena or Cassandra, though. My initial testing of Daryna with Compiz-Fusion is leaving me less than impressed. Compiz-Fusion has a terrible user interface, and it's performance and stability seem less than Beryl as well.

Aloha, Tim

[TwinShadows]

Alright, either I goofed somewhere, or something was going so wrong...

I did what you said after I got Mint 3.1 installed. I enabled the use of those restricted drivers after installing a couple things and once I got it back up, the interface was extremely glitchy. I could barely read stuff sometimes and whenever I moved a window, it would leave like a trail or it would just disappear altogether. It's still there, but I can't read anything there.

I've got no idea what's going on, but I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm not meant to be even touching this stuff or I'm going to break something where it's non even repairable. (I break Windows all the time somehow, either that it breaks itself >.>)

[Lolo Uila]

Check out the troubleshooting article in the wiki:
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Troubleshooting

Which version of the driver are you using?

[TwinShadows]

Same exact card as I'm using. How interesting...

If I remember correctly, the driver was 8.38.4 that was already installed I think..

As for the article, I hardly mess around in the BIOS anymore, so I'm not too sure where that AGP Aperture setting might be at the moment..

[Lolo Uila]

Double-check that the driver version is 8.34.8, then try this:

Code: Select all

sudo mkdir -p /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri 
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/dri/fglrx_dri.so /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/dri/fglrx_dri.so /usr/X11R6/lib/fglrx

sudo rm /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/volatile/*
sudo ln -s /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/misc/fglrx.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/volatile/fglrx.ko 

Then restart, and if you are still having trouble see if you can get the output from fglrxinfo & lsmod | grep fglrx and post the output, as well as your xorg.conf file for me to look at.

[TwinShadows]

I've decided to take out my ATI card for now and use my on board video card. I've broken Mint so many times trying to do stuff with it while the card was in the system.