newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

toxite · 2006-10-02 01:31:44

I just upgraded to the newest ati-fglrx package (ati-fglrx 8.29.6-1), and started getting a dreaded white-screen when I ran startx. Errors indicated my chipset (0x4c66, I believe) isn't recognized by the driver. I'm sorry, what?

So, after running aticonfig again and trying to wrestle with kernel modules and xorg extensions, I looked at the ATI drivers release notes (http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.29.6.html). Notice anything funny there? Mobility Radeon 9000 isn't listed in the supported products. Huh?

So, what's a guy to do? Am I correct in understanding that pacman won't let me revert and go back to the last ati-fglrx package that actually supported my video card? Do I have options, or am I stuck with software rendering from now on?

For reference, it's a Dell Latitude D600 laptop, with a completely up-to-date set of packages (newest non-beyond kernel, etc.).

Help?

Cerebral · 2006-10-02 05:52:15

check your /var/cache/pacman/pkg folder - there'll be a cached version of the old package there. You can install it with
pacman -U /path/to/package/name

And yes, with 8.29.6, ATI has officially dropped support for Radeon 9200 and lower.

You might want to try the OSS drivers that ship with xorg - xf86-video-ati and libgl-dri. They might work well for you.

toxite · 2006-10-02 06:42:11

Yeah, the xf86-video-ati and libgl-dri packages seem to work beautifully for what I'll be doing. Looks like no xgl for me, tho'. Meh.

It might be nice, though, since the upgraded package is actually LESS functional than its predecessor, to issue a WARNING before upgrading to the newer version, so people don't get caught like I did. Just a thought.

Cerebral · 2006-10-02 15:04:21

That would be great, except there's no way for pacman to say "Hey, this package removes support for XXX: do you really want to install? [Y/n]" - and besides that, a prompt of that sort would interrupt an automated upgrade, for example.

I've made a notice in the package advisories - I meant to do that before I updated but forgot until I saw your thread, sorry.

lumiwa · 2006-10-02 16:30:08

toxite wrote:

Yeah, the xf86-video-ati and libgl-dri packages seem to work beautifully for what I'll be doing. Looks like no xgl for me, tho'. Meh.
It might be nice, though, since the upgraded package is actually LESS functional than its predecessor, to issue a WARNING before upgrading to the newer version, so people don't get caught like I did. Just a thought.

xf86-video-ati and libgl-dri work very good for my Radeon 9000 and I woring with Blender.

cheer · 2006-10-04 07:38:57

May be make another package, e. g. ati-fglrx-utils-old and ati-fglrx-old? I think it will be good solution.

Cerebral · 2006-10-05 12:10:17

If you want the old version of the package, then add an IgnorePkg entry in /etc/pacman.conf for ati-fglrx and ati-fglrx-utils.

Note that you'll have to recompile the kernel module every time the kernel version goes up, say from 2.6.18 to 2.6.19. This is generally easy with makepkg, but if the kernel API changes, then the old version of fglrx might need to be patched.

It'd probably just be easier for all affected users to switch to the OSS radeon drivers.

_adam_ · 2006-10-05 17:19:47

toxite wrote:

Yeah, the xf86-video-ati and libgl-dri packages seem to work beautifully for what I'll be doing. Looks like no xgl for me, tho'. Meh.

Maybe no xgl, but aiglx+beryl is better anyways .

cheer · 2006-10-05 21:11:44

Cerebral wrote:

If you want the old version of the package, then add an IgnorePkg entry in /etc/pacman.conf for ati-fglrx and ati-fglrx-utils.
Note that you'll have to recompile the kernel module every time the kernel version goes up, say from 2.6.18 to 2.6.19. This is generally easy with makepkg, but if the kernel API changes, then the old version of fglrx might need to be patched.
It'd probably just be easier for all effected users to switch to the OSS radeon drivers.

I did this trick with pacman.conf as soon as 8.29.6 arrived. But I don't want to switch to OSS drivers, when new kernel comes out, as they're worse for me. Is it so difficult to make 2 packages every new kernel version?

Cerebral · 2006-10-06 02:11:53

cheer wrote:

But I don't want to switch to OSS drivers, when new kernel comes out, as they're worse for me.

When was the last time you tried them? I've heard they've improved quite alot in the last little while.

cheer wrote:

Is it so difficult to make 2 packages every new kernel version?

If I wanted to be snarky, I could respond with "Is it so difficult to make yourself 1 package every new kernel version?" but I'm in a good mood, so I'll just make a joke about it in this paragraph.

Keeping around the old version of the package would be, afaik, against the Arch 'bleeding edge' ethos, as well as slowly becoming a maintenance nightmare as it keeps drifting further and further out of date compared to the kernel (and possibly Xorg as well.)

If ATI decided to maintain a 'legacy' version of their drivers for older chipsets like Nvidia seems to be doing, then I'd pick that up in a heartbeat - but as it stands, we're stuck with what ATI's giving us.

cheer · 2006-10-06 14:04:30

I tried them today , simply I can't play Heroes V normally. That's the problem.
The difference between developer and me - simple user - is that these packages lie in extra. Of course, I would make mine as this is easy and put them into AUR.
Of course, if Arch is "bleeding edge", there is no place for deprecated packages, you are right.
Thank you for frank answer.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-10-02 01:31:44

newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#2 2006-10-02 05:52:15

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#3 2006-10-02 06:42:11

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#4 2006-10-02 15:04:21

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#5 2006-10-02 16:30:08

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#6 2006-10-04 07:38:57

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#7 2006-10-05 12:10:17

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#8 2006-10-05 17:19:47

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#9 2006-10-05 21:11:44

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#10 2006-10-06 02:11:53

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

#11 2006-10-06 14:04:30

Re: newest ati-fglrx doesn't support Radeon 9000?

Board footer