Re: [gentoo-user] State of ATi drivers in Linux -- IMO, it's horrific...

[Volker Armin Hemmann <volker.armin.hemmann@tu-clausthal.de>]

On Donnerstag 16 Oktober 2008, Hal Martin wrote:
> Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
> > On Sunday 28 September 2008, Hal Martin wrote:
> >> Hello all,
> >>
> >> I am contemplating building a new computer with an AMD/ATi graphics
> >> card. I've been following the subject of ATi driver quality in linux for
> >> a while, but I realize that the experiences I read on Google search
> >> results are, shall we say, biased, as many people who have perfectly
> >> working cards don't go out and comment on how great their drivers are.
> >>
> >> So, do any of you have newer (HD series) AMD/ATi graphics cards?
> >
> > HD3870
>
> I just picked up the HD3850, which is a nice card by all measures.
>
> >> What drivers (AMD closed source, or open source) are you using?
> >
> > fglrx - the closed source ones.
>
> I installed these drivers (from portage) and tried them.
>
> >> Are they stable?
> >
> > yes. Switching between vt and X works, and restarting X too - but the ati
> > scripts in /etc/acpi have to be removed.
> > With desktop effects turned off 2d is fast and snappy and video is ok.
> > With desktop effects turned on 2d is fast except manually resizing
> > windows and xv-video sucks. Luckily kde 4.1 makes it easy to switch ;) -
> > and I don't need xv ;)
>
> I had a horrid time with the fglrx drivers. I use two displays, and
> while it was a breeze to setup (even easier than on an NVidia card) the
> result was horrid. I can't drag windows from one display to another, the
> windows wrap within the display. The fglrx_gears program renders
> something that I don't believe heralds from this planet; while glx_gears
> renders the same thing I get on my NVidia card only 10% slower (which is
> expected given the performance difference between the 7900GTX and the
> HD3850.)
>
> Trying to exit X11 causes a complete system lockup, requiring a hard reset.
>
> >> How is the performance?
> >
> > very good. I play ut2004 and vegastrike 0.5. With a but. See above.
>
> I couldn't get any Wine apps that use 3D to work. Call of Duty 4 refused
> to start, citing that the video card didn't support alpha blending.
>
> >> Any noise issues with your card when it's idle? Under load?
> >
> > the fan is very quiet in KDE or playing games. Only in the menus of
> > ut2004 or on a vt it turns up - but is still very bearable.
> > aticonfig --odgt
> >
> > Default Adapter - ATI Radeon HD 3870
> >                   Sensor 0: Temperature - 51.00 C
>
> My card is incredibly, nay, unbelievably loud until you throttle the fan
> manually from aticonfig, which, I might add, is absent from the Catalyst
> control centre gui. After throttling the fan down to 3% the card settles
> around 45.00C and is quiet enough to bare.
>
> My attempt to uninstall the portage based ATI drivers (which are
> slightly dated,) and install the official drivers from ATI proved to
> wreck my system beyond comprehension. 'eselect opengl list' no longer
> includes ATI, only xorg-x11. I have no ability to start X11 anyone, and
> no fan control, meaning I now have a jet engine residing in my computer.

never ever install drivers without an ebuild. If you need the latest driver 
just copy&rename one. That eselect stopped to work is the logical conclusion.
Deinstall the driver, change an ebuild, try again.

>
> There must be something I'm doing wrong. I've heard that ATI drivers
> aren't supposed to lock up your system when you exit X11, is this still
> the case? Was this ever the case with two monitors?

for some people it locks up, for others it doesn't (like with nvidia). I 
solved the lockup issue for myself by removing the ati scripts from /etc/acpi.


> Is there any way to get the ATI driver to automatically set a reasonable
> fan speed, or must I do it manually?

It does for my card.