# X11 & ATi [SOLVED]

## CrEsPo

I finally got the ATi drivers to work today. I had to give my Radeon Xpress 200M an extra 128 MB of shared memory to make the ATi drivers to work. I have a new problem though, these drivers lag like crazy. When I run startx it opens up fine, but the menus stay on the screen after choosing an option, as if I'm still in a menu. Also, if I open up an application and close it, the application window will stay open, but when I run 'ps aux | grep <app>' it doesn't show the application running.

According to 'glxinfo | grep render' it says it's using DRI:

```

direct rendering: Yes

     GLX_ATI_render_texture

OpenGL renderer string: RADEON XPRESS 200M Series Generic

```

Does anyone know why everything is going so slowly with these ATi drivers?

<i>edit: I forgot to mention, running 'glxgears' produces a blank screw under the window title bar.</i>Last edited by CrEsPo on Wed Sep 27, 2006 3:02 am; edited 1 time in total

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## avieth

Open source 'radeon' driver or the 'fglrx' variety?

Either way you can't expect much of a graphics card with shared memory. I'm using a Radeon 8500 and I only get about 2000fps in glxgears and gnome really lags. On my other gentoo computer with an nvidia geforce 6600GT I get 7000+ fps and KDE runs very smooth.

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## CrEsPo

 *avieth wrote:*   

> Open source 'radeon' driver or the 'fglrx' variety?
> 
> Either way you can't expect much of a graphics card with shared memory. I'm using a Radeon 8500 and I only get about 2000fps in glxgears and gnome really lags. On my other gentoo computer with an nvidia geforce 6600GT I get 7000+ fps and KDE runs very smooth.

 

With the fglrx drivers, I'm pretty sure the laptop is cabable of running without lagging. If I run the radeon drivers I experience no lag what so ever in gnome or fluxbox. With the fglrx drivers both gnome and fluxbox will lag, this is what confuses me.

Thanks for the reply.

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## avieth

If the radeon drivers give you no lag then you should use them. Radeon is the name of the module for the open-source ati drivers, fglrx are the propietery(sp?) ATI drivers that you'd get off the ATI web site. The fglrx drivers are terribly buggy though, use the radeon driver.

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## CrEsPo

 *avieth wrote:*   

> If the radeon drivers give you no lag then you should use them. Radeon is the name of the module for the open-source ati drivers, fglrx are the propietery(sp?) ATI drivers that you'd get off the ATI web site. The fglrx drivers are terribly buggy though, use the radeon driver.

 

With the radeon I can't get OpenGL though, that's why I wanted to use the fglrx drivers. If I run with the fglrx drivers it states I'm using the ATi OpenGL component. With the radeon drivers it states I'm using the Mesa OpenGL component. If I can get OpenGL to work with the radeon drivers, that would be fine, but I have no clue on how to do this.

Thanks again for the reply.

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## avieth

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_DRI_with_ATi_Open-Source_Drivers

Follow that guide. I'll post my xorg.conf too.

```

Section "Module"

# This loads the DBE extension module.

    Load        "dbe"   # Double buffer extension

# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables

# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.

    SubSection  "extmod"

      Option    "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension

    EndSubSection

# This loads the font modules

#    Load        "type1"

#    Load        "speedo"

    Load        "freetype"

#    Load        "xtt"

# This loads the GLX module

    Load       "glx"

# This loads the DRI module

    Load       "dri"

EndSection

Section "Files"

#    RgbPath    "/usr/share/X11/rgb"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/misc"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"

#    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"

    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/corefonts"

    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"

#    FontPath   "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/local/"

EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Keyboard1"

    Driver      "kbd"

    Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"

    Option "XkbRules"   "xorg"

    Option "XkbModel"   "pc104"

    Option "XkbLayout"  "us"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Mouse1"

    Driver      "mouse"

    Option "Protocol"    "IMPS/2"       # PS/2 Mouse

    Option "Device"      "/dev/input/mice"

    Option "ZAxisMapping"   "4 5"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    Identifier  "My Monitor"

    HorizSyn

    VertRefresh 50-70

EndSection

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "Standard VGA"

    VendorName  "Unknown"

    BoardName   "Unknown"

    Driver     "vga"

EndSection

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "ATI Radeon"

    Driver      "radeon"

    Option      "MonitorLayout" "NONE, LVDS"

    Option      "AGPFastWrite" "1"

    #VideoRam    131072

    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate

EndSection

Section "Screen"

    Identifier  "Screen 1"

    Device      "ATI Radeon"

    Monitor     "My Monitor"

    DefaultDepth 24

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth       8

        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth       16

        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth       24

        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

    Identifier  "Simple Layout"

    Screen "Screen 1"    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"

    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

Section "dri"

   Mode 0666

EndSection

```

The "dri" section is very important.

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## CrEsPo

Thanks for the reply, I just tried everything and all the modules load properly with no errors. However when I start X I still get no direct rendering, and when I check my Xorg log it states 'AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI capable', how ever it obviously is capable since it was workly with the ATi drivers. I have everything set like the example you posted and the example from the Wiki, but nothing works.

Any ideas, I tried some searchines, but that error is to generic for anything useful to pop up  :Sad: .

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## boniek

[rant]

To put it bluntly with ati and anything above r200 you are screwed. Their drivers are crap, they are resolving issues and implementing new features slowly. As for r300 foss driver it still has a long way to go to be usable. For GNU/Linux it is either nvidia if you are looking for latest/greatest/fastest or something on ati r200 if you want good quality foss driver. As for laptops Intel is the way to go. Buy laptops that have everything on Intel inside of them - everything has foss drivers and it just works.

[/rant]

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## kevman

Well, they may be closed source, but they do work well. Please don't troll, you might end up with a flamewar in some forums.

I'm pretty sure that the dri drivers won't work with your card; boniek is right in that the dris don't work above R280 (Radeon 9200) or so.

CrEsPo, you should post your xorg.conf when using the fglrx drivers. I had to change a setting involving PCIe RAM to get my x1600 (the name of which escapes me) to work with 3d accel properly.

I have used my Ati video cards (moblitiy x1600, radeon 7500 and 9200) in Linux for GLX, UT2004, America's Army, ePSXe and Zsnes with complete, stable success, though some of those cards aren't really fast enough for all of that. Its completely possible; you just need to set it up right (though it isn't easy).

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## CrEsPo

Thanks for the reply, I actually had the ATi fglrx drivers working fine on my Radeon 9800 Pro and AIW Radeon x800 XL cards for my PC when I ran Linux on them. With this Radeon Xpress 200M I can't seem to get them to work properly  :Sad: .

Here's my xorg.conf as request:

```

Section "dri"

   Mode 0666

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

   Identifier     "X.org Configured"

   Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]" 0 0

   InputDevice    "USB" "CorePointer"

   InputDevice    "TouchPad" "AlwaysCore"

   InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

Section "Files"

   #FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"

   RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"

   ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/misc"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"

   FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"

EndSection

Section "Module"

   Load  "extmod"

   Load  "dbe"

   Load  "record"

   Load  "xtrap"

   Load  "dri"

   Load  "glx"

   Load  "freetype"

   Load  "type1"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier  "Keyboard0"

   Driver      "kbd"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier  "USB"

   Driver      "mouse"

   Option       "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

   Option       "Protocol" "auto"

   Option       "Buttons" "9"

   Option       "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier  "TouchPad"

   Driver      "synaptics"

   Option       "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

   Option       "Protocol" "auto-dev"

   Option       "LeftEdge" "1700"

   Option       "RightEdge" "5300"

   Option       "TopEdge" "1700"

   Option       "ButtomEdge" "4200"

   Option       "FingerLow" "25"

   Option       "FingerHigh" "30"

   Option       "MaxTapTime" "180"

   Option       "MaxTapMove" "220"

   Option       "VertScrollDelta" "100"

   Option       "MinSpeed" "0.09"

   Option       "MaxSpeed" "0.18"

   Option       "AccelFactor" "0.0015"

   Option       "SHMConfig" "on"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "Monitor0"

   VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"

   ModelName    "Monitor Model"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"

   Option       "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"

   Option       "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"

   Option       "DPMS" "true"

EndSection

Section "Device"

        ### Available Driver options are:-

        ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",

        ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"

        ### [arg]: arg optional

        #Option     "ShadowFB"              # [<bool>]

        #Option     "DefaultRefresh"        # [<bool>]

        #Option     "ModeSetClearScreen"    # [<bool>]

   Identifier  "ATI Radeon"

   Driver      "radeon"

   VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"

   BoardName   "ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)"

   Option       "AGPFastWrite" "1"

   BusID       "PCI:1:5:0"

EndSection

Section "Device"

   Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]"

   Driver      "fglrx"

EndSection

Section "Screen"

   Identifier "Screen0"

   Device     "ATI Radeon"

   Monitor    "Monitor0"

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     24

      Modes    "1440x900" "1280x800"

   EndSubSection

EndSection

Section "Screen"

   Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]"

   Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]"

   Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]"

   DefaultDepth     24

   SubSection "Display"

      Viewport   0 0

      Depth     24

   EndSubSection

EndSection

#Section "DRI"

#   Mode         0666

#EndSection

```

edit: Just screwed something up, will post the config in a minute, have to re-emerge the drivers . . . There, posted the config. The config works fine, but when I enable dri it makes everything mess up. I actually just noticed this morning that it will actually make my system hardlock if leave it open for a minute or two without closing X quickly.

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## fuzzythebear

yo  :Smile:   just saw another thread .. seems

like you need a particular version of the ati-drivers : 

Check this thread : 

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-493489.html

hope it helps 

Fuzzy

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## CrEsPo

Thanks for the link, though I have a problem. I can't emerge the 8.24.8's with Xorg 7.1  :Sad: . Does anyone know how I can downgrade X properly? I did some searching and didn't find any proper FAQ  :Sad: . I tried doing it myself, but I had to revert back to Xorg 7.1 because X would not start when I tried to downgrade myself.

Thanks for all the replies so far, appreciated.

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## CrEsPo

Well, I can't thank you enough  :Smile: . I downgraded X.org successfully, and installed the 8.24.8 ATi drivers and they work perfectly  :Smile: . The gears actually move now. Thanks again, I appreciate everything  :Very Happy: .

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## CoffeeBuzz

 *kevman wrote:*   

> Well, they may be closed source, but they do work well. Please don't troll, you might end up with a flamewar in some forums.
> 
> I'm pretty sure that the dri drivers won't work with your card; boniek is right in that the dris don't work above R280 (Radeon 9200) or so.
> 
> CrEsPo, you should post your xorg.conf when using the fglrx drivers. I had to change a setting involving PCIe RAM to get my x1600 (the name of which escapes me) to work with 3d accel properly.
> ...

 

I have a mobility x1600 as well. You remember what you had to change? (I use up to date fglrx on 7.1 and get direct rendering, havent played a 3d game yet however... can't play full screen video and the xv module crashes X, have to force gl on video playback and I can only figure out how to do that with mplayer. gxine and mplayer both cause X restarts upon load).

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## kevman

On this highly active board, this might be a massive bump, but...

I believe I commented out the setting "VideoRam    524288" in Device. It was incorrect; my system only has 128Mbyte onboard with another 128 open with hypermem. Dunno if this helps you.

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