ATi Open drivers are coming of age... :)

So I've been having nightmares with 2.6.31 and tried 2.6.30 with the same problem, my wi-fi kept locking the system. 2.6.32 fixes that, but even better, it gives me open source ATI drivers and lovely 3D with no proprietary driver. Absolutely superb it is too, Compiz is flying around nicely, will test some games later but it feels very snappy. Btw it's not compatible with the proprietary ATI drivers which is why I tried the open ones. I'm glad I did now!

I've run the usual crash conditions and it coped fine so it looks good.

Procedure:
1. System -> Hardware Drivers -> Deactivate any ATI drivers and restart
2. Go to http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.32/
3. Download and execute the following (in this order, switch to 64 if need be)
- linux-headers...all.deb
- linux-headers..generic..i386.deb
- linux-image....i386.deb
4. Restart
5. Add the xorg-edgers PPA (https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa), update, upgrade.
6. Reboot.
7. Profit.

Yeh I think this might be what most ATI users have been waiting for.
Its about time we got some progress from ATI

An hour in, still no sign of a freeze or crash so people on Atheros Wi-Fi getting the lock-up will find 2.6.32 very useful. Rock solid performance on SuperTuxKart, an occasional black band flashing in and out caused by Gnome-Do Docky (resolved by a quick killall 'gnome-do') so it looks like it'll handle 3D games as well.

BTW my hardware is ASUS F81 laptop running a ATI HD4570 card.

Could you run what you get from glxgears, I have the same videocard with proprietary drivers installed atm.

ryan@ryan-laptop:~$ glxgears
IRQ's not enabled, falling back to busy waits: 2 0
8460 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1691.881 FPS
9108 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1821.436 FPS
9585 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1916.847 FPS
9597 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1919.266 FPS
8473 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1694.577 FPS
9387 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1877.321 FPS
7942 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1588.364 FPS
9333 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1866.436 FPS


Not sure how accurate a measure that is. Compiz was running at the time.

I'm eagerly awaiting 2.6.32 to hit [core] in Arch, so I can try it. I don't want to use [testing], that never turns out well :P I'm in no huge hurry though since Catalyst is working well for me right now. I've heard great things about the 3D support in 2.6.32 though :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by doorknob60

I'm eagerly awaiting 2.6.32 to hit [core] in Arch, so I can try it. I don't want to use [testing], that never turns out well :P I'm in no huge hurry though since Catalyst is working well for me right now. I've heard great things about the 3D support in 2.6.32 though :)

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I thought Arch was supposed to be cutting-edge ;) Only mucking about. Seriously though, you'll be very impressed with the new 3D support, and the obvious advantage of not having to wait for ATI to put out compatible versions of catalyst for every new version of X and the Kernel. Should make Archer's lives much easier.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nerd King

I thought Arch was supposed to be cutting-edge ;) Only mucking about. Seriously though, you'll be very impressed with the new 3D support, and the obvious advantage of not having to wait for ATI to put out compatible versions of catalyst for every new version of X and the Kernel. Should make Archer's lives much easier.

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Btw will test some games with Wine when I get home, to see how it copes.

Weird but I dont have glxgears, maybe its part of the ubuntu reps and not kubuntu... is there a place to download it?

Found it, its in mesa-utils.

:~$ glxgears
9848 frames in 5.0 seconds
10246 frames in 5.0 seconds
10213 frames in 5.0 seconds
10196 frames in 5.0 seconds
9816 frames in 5.0 seconds
10209 frames in 5.0 seconds
10074 frames in 5.0 seconds

The difference could be due to other factors. All in all the free drivers seem like a great alternative.