HOWTO: Install the ATI driver on ANY stable version of Ubuntu

[tseliot]

If you want to install ATI's proprietary driver you can follow this guide:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI


Please, remember that only the installation of the driver from Ubuntu's repositories is officially supported by Ubuntu.

Should you want an easier but not supported method to install the ATI driver you can try Envy (at your very own risk)

[gmanr26]

I just followed these simple instructions and yet my card is not working. When you drag windows around in Ubuntu the movement is shaky which tells me that the graphics card is not being used. My card is the ATI Radeon 9550 (x8 AGP) ... any help.

[tseliot]

I just followed these simple instructions and yet my card is not working. When you drag windows around in Ubuntu the movement is shaky which tells me that the graphics card is not being used. My card is the ATI Radeon 9550 (x8 AGP) ... any help.

which method did you try?

[gmanr26]

which method did you try?

I fixed it. Apparently it was installed and working it's just the ATI sucks in Linux because they are proprietary. Now running Compiz (sp)

[jameschapman]

I have the same card, which I use at 1280x1024 with a LCD monitor. I just tried the 7.10 live CD (actually DVD) today, and (somewhat to my surprise) it came up by default in the 1280x1024 setting. Performance seemed to be fine.

[ag65151]

I tried the instructions for Feisty, but whenever I start X I got "No Screen found." I must admit to being a noob when it comes to X. There is a Screen defined in xorg.info using the proper driver. I don't know how to continue.

[maxrisc]

No screens found could mean that the resolution or vertical refresh rate you have selected are out of range.

On my lappy if I select 1440x900@75 I get the error. When I set it to 1440x900@60 X starts.

[aouie]

There are some known issues and no ideas about the HD 2000 series. Also, this hasn't been tested. But, hopefully someone will test the method described in my other post and put it in a neater format and make it a sticky.

It should be as simple as

Starting with a *** CLEAN SYSTEM WITH DEFAULT VESA DRIVERS FOR THE ATI CARD *** (and the libstdC++ 5 and updated "mesa" packages)
Download ATI's drivers for Linux.

sudo sh ./ati-driver-installer-8.40.4-x86.x86_64.run

Follow the prompts for the automatic install.

sudo aticonfig --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=left --vrefresh=1,85

Restart X.
You should now have a *** WORKING DUAL HEAD SYSTEM WITH PROPRIETARY ATI DRIVERS ***,

Sincerely,
Aouie

[EXCRANIUM]

Thank you very very much.

[king2rook1]

Hello,

I recently installed 8.04 and wanted to get my dual monitor setup working, so I installed the restricted driver for my ATI Radeon X300 video card (in a Dell Optiplex GX280 with one Dell and one Gateway 17 in. LCD monitor, both connected as analog). Then I did this:

sudo aticonfig --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=left

(because my main monitor is to the right and the secondary monitor is to the left). That worked great, UNTIL...

I should say I could use the two monitors as if I were running two separate sessions of Ubuntu, could move the mouse pointer between them but not move open windows between them. I tried to set that up, but it just went back to mirroring the display of my primary monitor again. Not a problem. I can live with it.

However, eventually the primary monitor went into screen saver, and that was the end of it! Everything GUIish froze completely (I was in Gnome). I went into a text console and rebooted. (Btw, I understand Ubuntu is considering doing away with the text consoles. PLEASE DON'T. I would have had to pull the plug without that recourse!) Then I tried to turn off the screen saver to avert the problem happening again, but it won't let me. Screen saver preferences no longer work.

How do I get the screen saver turned off to prevent my system from crashing again? Do I have to start from scratch?

Btw, if you are installing the ATI drivers and aticonfig, turn off your screen saver first!

Thanks.