On Sunday 10 Mar 2013 12:48:07 Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
> Am 10.03.2013 09:54, schrieb Chris Walters:
> > Hello Everyone,
> > 
> > I have a couple of questions concerning what graphic drivers you use.
> > Does anyone use the proprietary ATI drivers, or have used them?  Would
> > you recommend them?  I just recently started using the ati-drivers
> > package, but I don't really notice a difference - yes it does say the
> > frame rate is much higher, but I am not sure it is worth losing my
> > framebuffer over them.
> > 
> > Technically, I lost my frame buffer because I am using an initramfs
> > (initrd) because I have an encrypted root file system, and a separate
> > non-encrypted usr partition.  I still have not been able to figure out
> > how to get either uvesafb or vesafb working through the initramfs.
> > They will both load fine, before my initrd starts, then they seem to
> > disappear.
> > 
> > In case you're wondering, before I changed to the proprietary ati
> > drivers, I was using the kernel framebuffer for my video card(s).  Two
> > Radeon HD 5000 series cards.  I did have to insert the proper ucode
> > into my kernel, but it worked.
> > 
> > Chris
> > 
> > .
> 
> yes, it is worth using them. Because of proper power management alone.
> You might not care about framerates, but the open source drivers use a
> lot more energy - for nothing.

On the other hand the kernel has advanced enough now to offer power management 
for ATI cards.  I've set this up for my Mobility Radeon HD 4670:

cat /etc/local.d/set_radeon_power_profile.start
echo auto > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_profile

and it stopped the cooling fan from working all the time irrespective of the 
load.  This also makes the battery last longer.
-- 
Regards,
Mick