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amyhughes
April 28th, 2008, 03:11 AM
I'm installing Ubuntu for the second time. The first time I got frustrated and installed Windows over it :)

Follwing advice I read here I followed the instruction on the following page to install ATI graphics drivers for the 780G integrated graphics:

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Gutsy_Installation_Guide

After I did this I had two problems.

1) I have connected an analog LCD monitor with resolution 1024x768. After installation of Ubuntu but before installation of the ATI drivers, Ubuntu only allowed a screen size of 800x600 (or smaller). After installing the drivers the screen was fritzed, like it was using a resolution the monitor couldn't handle. I had to take the machine to a monitor with a DVI input, and that worked fine and auto-detected the resolution.

Question 1: How do I prevent it from doing this? I want to use the 1024x768 monitor. After installation of the ATI drivers I'd like the screen resolution to be no more than 1024x768. It can be less, and I'll work on fixing it, but I need to be able to see it.

2) A 3D application (Second Life) told me I did not have the minimum spec to run and the display strobed (flashed quickly). I suspect I did not have 3D acceleration enabled.

Question 2: How do I enable 3D acceleration once I've installed the drivers? And is there a simple way to test it?

Thank you kindly,
Amy

Pumalite
April 28th, 2008, 03:17 AM
ATI has little support for Linux. I'd try Envy:
http://www.albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

amyhughes
April 28th, 2008, 03:44 AM
ATI has little support for Linux. I'd try Envy

Thank you for the suggestion. EnvyNG fails because it does not recognize my graphics hardware (780G is quite new). Manual selection only offers version 8.3 of the drivers, and this chipset requires 8.4.

Pumalite
April 28th, 2008, 03:49 AM
Too bad.

amyhughes
April 28th, 2008, 05:26 AM
Okay, I ignored all the precautions and extra steps in the instructions I linked and just ran ATI's installation program and it seems to have worked. In fact it probably worked last time, too. The application reports that I'm not supported, but it does run and I get a decent frame rate.

But I do still have that strobing problem. The 3D window "blinks" once per second. If you blink once per second as you look at your screen you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

vanadium101
April 28th, 2008, 05:44 AM
My suggestion would be to turn Compiz off until your card is supported (System> Preferences> Appearance> Visual Effects)

hardyn
April 28th, 2008, 06:06 AM
having a look at the ati release notes, it does not look like your graphics chip is yet supported; i did howeever only have a quick look.

amyhughes
April 28th, 2008, 06:57 AM
I solved the blinking by turning off visual effects on my desktop.

Edit: I see Vanadium made this same suggestion. Yep, it worked! Thanks.

mike farad
April 29th, 2008, 04:40 AM
Did you use the new ATI Catalyst™ 8.4 drivers? I have the same 780G chip set and I'm researching how to get the IGP to work under Ubuntu. AMD released version 8.4 on April 16.

amyhughes
May 11th, 2008, 10:44 PM
Did you use the new ATI Catalyst™ 8.4 drivers? I have the same 780G chip set and I'm researching how to get the IGP to work under Ubuntu. AMD released version 8.4 on April 16.

Yes, Cat 8.4. I just followed the instructions on AMD's website. Works fine for Ubuntu.