Mandriva 2007, ATI Radeon Xpress 200, and Xgl
Well, wow, if I didn’t expect to get the “anti-Mandriva” coverage based on a previous post. So, as a result, I determined to get the ATI drivers working. The big difference here is that this time I’m using the 32bit Mandriva rather than 64bit; no idea if that’s making a big difference but I did find some help doing more googling (and no, there is no /usr/share/fglrx/fglrx.README with the latest ATI drivers so poo on the guy who said I didn’t read docs).
So here’s a quick HOWTO on getting this stuff up and running (or, at least, how I did):
1) Grab the ATI commercial drivers from the ATI driver downloads page
2) Follow the instructions on how to install it (essentially “sh ati-driver-install-8.29.6.run” and then follow the instructions)
3) Run “aticonfig –initial”
4) In my case, the aticonfig added a second monitor, I suppose that might be the TV out. Doesn’t really matter. The big thing I found was that I needed to set “Composite” to “Disable” in the “Extensions” section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf. As soon as I did this, glxinfo and fglrxinfo started telling me that direct rendering was enabled and that I was using the “RADEON XPRESS” OpenGL renderer rather than Mesa. Oh, and make sure that screen0 is set to use the fglrx driver instead of the ati driver (aticonfig setup screen1 to use fglrx, but was still using ati on screen0).
5) You need to install libstdc++5 in order for the fglrx module to load properly (unfortunatley, this package is in contribs); without this I couldn’t get the fglrx kernel module to load (perhaps the ATI dkms packages negate this requirement, but I used the downloaded drivers)
6) Once I had rebooted (to make sure the kernel fglrx driver was loaded), then I could run drak3d and enable Xgl and compiz and get the fancy cube and jiggly windows.
So anyways it works. With Xgl and Compiz enabled, however, fluxbox isn’t very happy. Things look nice and slick in KDE, but fluxbox doesn’t handle it overly well (dragging a window around leaves a trail so your desktop looks pretty messed).
I haven’t tried yet with the dkms-ati package yet. I’ll do that later when I have more time. At any rate, it does work. I think it was that “Composite” extension that was causing me grief the first time around, and none of the sites I looked at before even mentioned it (finally found it in this discussion about FC6).
Jean Sagi
Thumbs up !!
J.
Oct 02, 2006 @ 17:00:47Shiyu Tang
No work. The system just gives me a black screen and then resets.
Oct 02, 2006 @ 22:17:15Shiyu Tang
Sorry, still no work.
Oct 03, 2006 @ 01:03:06I followed your step, and find that drak3D can set xgl to do the work (cannot choose AIGLX). But after I set it to xgl and then restart X, the system crashes and resets instantly.
Vincent Danen
I’m not sure why it’s not working for you, but here’s the xorg.conf file that I’m using:
http://linsec.ca/files/xorg.conf-radeon_200
Make sure that once you’ve installed the proprietary ATI drivers from their website that you reboot. And when you reboot, make sure that the fglrx module is loaded (/bin/lsmod|grep fglrx).
What you could try is tossing my xorg.conf file into /etc/X11/xorg.conf and then reboot. I’m assuming your starting runlevel is 5 so X should come up. If it does properly you should be good to go.
Oct 03, 2006 @ 08:53:12Lool
it seems that the line :
Option “XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps” “1″
is not needed.
I have an error also on the AIXGL stating that fglrx is not working properly.
Finally, the windows are “transparent” and it lock the computer. (I am using your xorg.conf file). I never succed in make it work properly anyway
Oct 03, 2006 @ 11:22:09Vincent Danen
I left that option there because I didn’t know what it was for.
Also note that I’m using Xgl and compix, not AIXGL… it says it’s unsupported for my hardware and I didn’t pursue it.
If you use drak3d to set Xgl and compiz, does it work?
Oct 03, 2006 @ 11:34:42Lool
The AIGLX is unsupported but I am still wondering why it appear in the Xorg.0.log
Regarding the thing, I managed to make the fglrxinfo return the right thing but the rendering is very very strange. I not sure of to explain it to you, basicly it looks like the windows are not refreshed after their first appear and I have other visual glitches that prevent to use the computer.
The strange thing is I am getting it only when I use fglrx and it doesn’t care about compiz or xgl…
I ‘ll try to take a snapshot and sent the link on the blog if you want. I think it is some kind of refresh problem but I have no clue and it is very irritating.
Oct 03, 2006 @ 11:51:20Lool
Still no success either using xgl or compis, but I think that the problem is fglrx and not other thing.
Please see the following screenshoot :
http://laurent.saintmichel.free.fr/screen2.jpg
http://laurent.saintmichel.free.fr/screen4.jpg
I have no option but to go back to ATI driver.
Laurent
Oct 03, 2006 @ 13:26:26Vincent Danen
You’re using, what, icewm? Have you tried with KDE? Over here, KDE works great. GNOME works although I did get some screen corruption but “re-painting” the screen with an open gnome-terminal corrected it.
Fluxbox looked similar to what your screenshots showed. Flux doesn’t seem to work very weil with the 3d desktop stuff at all. I’d wager right now that it will only work “properly” with KDE or GNOME.
Oct 03, 2006 @ 15:14:37Shiyu Tang
I find that if I set “Composite” to “Disable” in the “Extensions”, the system will instantly reset when starting X. If I enable “Composite”, there will be no problem starting X, but of course it cannot support 3D desktop for too slow.
So I think that xgl won’t work for me, but I cannot select aiglx in drak3d. Could you tell me how to force to aiglx other than xgl?
Oct 04, 2006 @ 01:35:17Vincent Danen
I’m sorry, I can’t tell you how to do that because I don’t know either. Drak3d won’t let me pick AIGLX either; all it will let me pick is Xgl. Now I don’t know what the criteria is that determines why drak3d will let you or not let you pick AIGLX (for Xgl it seems to have been if direct rendering is enabled).
I believe that AIGLX is supposed to be better as it’s hardware-based so there’s probably some extra capabilities it’s looking for, but I don’t know what those are.
Oct 04, 2006 @ 08:29:00Lool
No, i get tgis kind of problem both on gnome or kde, I made the screenshot on a third because it was easier for me. Note the 3d is not enable, anly the fglrx driver si enable. If i use 3d destosk, Iam getting the same but KDE is not working only gnome is “working”.
The strange thing is that it seems that I am the only one with this kind of problem.
Oct 04, 2006 @ 13:35:22Olivier Lauret
I followed the steps but after running the ati driver, running the “aticonfig –initial” command and setting the “Composite” to “Disable” or not, the direct rendering is still disable for me and that I’m still using the Mesa renderer.
The xorg.conf link mentioned by Vincent is not available anymore. Does someone have one that I can try? Does someone know who I can debug this issue?
For info, I’m using a Compaq with a Radeon Xpress 200M and Mandriva 2007 PowerPack (commercial).
Thx in advance.
Oct 16, 2006 @ 16:20:48navaladi
Hi all I have same ATI video card have same problem.
I have followed it still it does not work.
Also no fglrx module is loaded..
And drak3d still shows “No 3D Desktop Support in system”
Also here is my fglrxinfo result.
[root@localhost ~]# fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: http://www.mesa3d.org
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.5)
[root@localhost ~]#
pls help out.
[root@localhost ~]# lsmod | grep fglrx
Oct 28, 2006 @ 08:55:53[root@localhost ~]#
Vincent Danen
You won’t get fglrx if you don’t install the ATI proprietary drivers. Your best bet at this point is to hit the Mandriva Club forums. I’m not sure if they’re restricted to Club members only or not, but if not, that would be a good place to look for help (or sign up for the newbie@ or expert@ mailing lists).
Oct 28, 2006 @ 10:55:48navaladi
I have installed ATI Latest driver still fglrx driver loaded..
I have configured aticonfig & xorf.conf
also it seems fglrx modules is not created by ATI driver..
Oct 29, 2006 @ 09:24:00Vincent Danen
I don’t mean to be rude, but, like I said, you might want to try the support mailing lists or the Club forums. I know I’m not the only (or best) person to get this working and there are others who can probably help you faster than me.
Plus a blog isn’t really the best medium for doing support. =(
Oct 31, 2006 @ 00:02:43navaladi
Hi Good Time for me..!
Mandriva 2007.0 x86-64 really Rocks..!I finnaly managed to get XGL work in my system by my own effort.Thanks Guys..!
XGL Rocks.!
Oct 31, 2006 @ 10:08:11tremby
could you past your xorg.conf again please? it’s 404ing now. or email it to me. thanks a lot.
Nov 12, 2006 @ 13:56:44Vincent Danen
Sorry about that… rsync wiped it out. It’s back (permanently) now.
Nov 22, 2006 @ 23:58:41petr
Hi,
Jan 07, 2007 @ 23:39:37how did you make it work?
thx
petr
navaladi
hi,
It is simple, Because i made one weird mistake.That is I have installed *Kernel-Image-i586* for my x86-64 instead of *Kernel-Image-x86_64*.
After that I tried installing _ati_ Latest Video driver, so obviously it compiles the fglrx.ko kernel module, so it works
Good Luck,Let me know !
Jan 08, 2007 @ 08:30:52prajyot
i have installed mandriva 2007.1 spring edition on my panasonic cf-48 laptop i am not getting graphical display every time starting it goes in text mode i tried everything regarding running mcc and startx please help me to run in graphical mode
Jun 16, 2007 @ 08:39:07Vincent Danen
Your best bet would be to subscribe to the Mandriva expert list and ask your question there. For one, you could (and will need to) provide a lot more information, and more people would be able to help you.
Jun 17, 2007 @ 14:01:21Garvit
hey i got it working but login screeen goes balnk and say sync out of range 79.8/75 and when i type my login and password it logs into system….. what to do to get back my login screen
Aug 15, 2007 @ 01:26:54