How bad is ati really?

**alexan** · June 24th, 2010

It is no longer fair say "bad", but you must consider that ATI tend quickly to drop support for older boards: in this way they can "concentrate" the economical effort to justify improvement for linux users.
If you plan ati, I do suggest you consider +HD5xxx or wait for the next generation of ATI

**Lucradia** · June 24th, 2010

I have a Mobility Radeon HD 58xx... and compiz causes the system to slow to unbearable levels.

gtk-recordmydesktop also does the same, only worse, because I can't click on anything to stop the issue for about 2-3 minutes. (it's slightly less if I run recordmydesktop from terminal.)

Windows though, CamStudio works wonders.

**doas777** · June 24th, 2010

Originally Posted by Paqman

For an HTPC, which is presumably outputting at 1360x768 or higher, you're going to want VDPAU. I have an HTPC with a 2.5GHz dual-core chip, and playback on 720p or greater video isn't quite smooth enough to be enjoyable without VDPAU switched on.

has VDPAU finially become a "switch" you can just toggle? last time i checked (a few versions back) it required a special version of the drivers and client apps from PPA's, only worked with the mplayer backend, required manual config, etc.

I just noticed the other day that SMplayer has a simple output driver dropdown that you can select VDPAU from. is it really as simple as selecting it in the client app now? or is smplayer giving me an option I can't use, and failing back to 'XV' under the hood?

**rajeev1204** · June 24th, 2010

Originally Posted by Lucradia

I have a Mobility Radeon HD 58xx... and compiz causes the system to slow to unbearable levels.

gtk-recordmydesktop also does the same, only worse, because I can't click on anything to stop the issue for about 2-3 minutes. (it's slightly less if I run recordmydesktop from terminal.)

Windows though, CamStudio works wonders.

Please try the new catalyst 10.6 . The difference with or without compiz is significant.

**KdotJ** · June 24th, 2010

I have an ATI Radeon HD 3200 in my laptop. It's not great for new games but in ubuntu in works fine.

Desktop effects and 3D acceleration works fine with no problems. Infact, as of 10.04 I have been using the open-source drivers and not needed to use the proprietary ones to use effects

**Paqman** · June 24th, 2010

Originally Posted by doas777

is it really as simple as selecting it in the client app now?

Yep. Latest Nvidia drivers are good-to-go for VDPAU. I think I might have had to install a supporting package from the repos if memory serves, but other than that it was just a matter of switching it on in the app (XBMC in my case).