Arch Linux

rotund

Member

Registered: 2009-08-19

Posts: 3

ATI Proprietary Driver (Legacy for X1300)

Hello all.  I hope this is the right forum for this problem, if not could a mod please move it to where it needs to be.

I'm having a hell of a time here trying to install this proprietary driver for my ATI Radeon X1300.

I downloaded the correct driver from the ATI webpage, which happened to be the legacy driver.

Filename: ati-driver-installer-9-3-x86.x86_64.run

I also downloaded the .pdf install guide from the ATI website

Filename: linux_cat92-inst.pdf

I went ahead and installed all of the prereqs which are listed below:

"The following packages must be installed in order for the Catalyst Linux driver to install and work properly:
XFree86-Mesa-libGL (I installed everything I could find on package search with libgl, xf86, xfree86 in the name)
libstdc++
libgcc
Xfree86-libs
fontconfig
freetype
zlib
gcc
"

The install guide then tells you to fire up a terminal as root and navigate to where you've downloaded the driver.

I did that, and then as instructed entered the command sh ./ati-driver-installer-9.2-x86.x86_64.run

This is where the problem starts, instead of the installer box popping up like it's supposed to I get an error in the terminal window.  The error is pasted below:

----- PASTE START -----

bash-4.0# sh ./ati-driver-installer-9-3-x86.x86_64.run
Created directory fglrx-install.GIZMLa
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing ATI Proprietary Linux Driver-8.593...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
==================================================
ATI Technologies Linux Driver Installer/Packager
==================================================
which: no XFree86 in (/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin/perlbin/site:/usr/bin/perlbin/vendor:/usr/bin/perlbin/core:/opt/qt/bin)

Error: ./default_policy.sh does not support version
default:v2:x86_64:lib::none:2.6.30-ARCH; make sure that the version is being
correctly set by --iscurrentdistro

Removing temporary directory: fglrx-install.GIZMLa
bash-4.0#

----- PASTE FINISHED -----

Does it mean I don't have some of the prerequisites installed?  I'm kind of a noob so I don't know how to fix this probably simple problem. 

Could someone please help me, I would be eternally grateful as the current driver I am using is very poor performance :-(

Thank you for your time.

musta ruhtinas

Member

Registered: 2009-08-01

Posts: 9

Re: ATI Proprietary Driver (Legacy for X1300)

From the Arch Wiki:

Since v. 9.4, the propriatery ATI driver supports only R600 and newer devices (that means, HD2xxx and newer). For older cards, especially laptop users, be aware that the ATI Catalyst 8-8 driver only supports Xorg <= 7.3. Xorg 7.4 support was not introduced until the 8-10 Catalyst driver release. This means that if you are using Xorg 7.4 with an older card, your only current option is the open-source drivers, especially xf86-video-ati. While Xorg 7.4 support is contained in the Catalyst 8-10 through 9-3 releases for older cards, those drivers are not presently packaged for Archlinux and numerous older cards have had trouble with those driver releases.

So you have two options: either downgrade xorg and kernel, which most likely will lead you into many dependency issues, or use the open source drivers.
I have an X1600 and use the xf86-video-ati-git from AUR , which works very well.

rotund

Member

Registered: 2009-08-19

Posts: 3

Re: ATI Proprietary Driver (Legacy for X1300)

From the Arch Wiki:

Since v. 9.4, the propriatery ATI driver supports only R600 and newer devices (that means, HD2xxx and newer). For older cards, especially laptop users, be aware that the ATI Catalyst 8-8 driver only supports Xorg <= 7.3. Xorg 7.4 support was not introduced until the 8-10 Catalyst driver release. This means that if you are using Xorg 7.4 with an older card, your only current option is the open-source drivers, especially xf86-video-ati. While Xorg 7.4 support is contained in the Catalyst 8-10 through 9-3 releases for older cards, those drivers are not presently packaged for Archlinux and numerous older cards have had trouble with those driver releases.

So you have two options: either downgrade xorg and kernel, which most likely will lead you into many dependency issues, or use the open source drivers.
I have an X1600 and use the xf86-video-ati-git from AUR , which works very well.

Yeah, but the driver I am trying to install is 9.3, so it's earlier than 9.4, so that shouldn't be an issue should it?  They still have a "legacy" driver available for people with older cards, and it's 9.3 so it's < 9.4.

I got this driver from the ATI website itself and see my card in the list of devices that it supports.  I think this issue you have pasted is nothing to do with my problem is it?

AdrenalineJunky

Member

Registered: 2009-05-03

Posts: 149

Re: ATI Proprietary Driver (Legacy for X1300)

the problem is your xorg/kernel are too new to work with the legacy driver.

rotund

Member

Registered: 2009-08-19

Posts: 3

Re: ATI Proprietary Driver (Legacy for X1300)

Ahh well that sucks.  Just getting the problem of really laggy widgets when I try to move them across the desktop screen etc, and super laggy performance in any games.

I guess it's time for different video card or distro, but I love arch too much so perhaps time for a different card :-)

Lux Perpetua

Member

From: The Local Group

Registered: 2009-02-22

Posts: 69

Re: ATI Proprietary Driver (Legacy for X1300)

Ahh well that sucks.  Just getting the problem of really laggy widgets when I try to move them across the desktop screen etc, and super laggy performance in any games.

I guess it's time for different video card or distro, but I love arch too much so perhaps time for a different card :-)

Sorry, but switching distros is not likely to help you at all. I don't see how it would.

Nielssonnich

Member

Registered: 2009-09-14

Posts: 4

Re: ATI Proprietary Driver (Legacy for X1300)

I got the same problem after upgrading from Slackware 12.2 to 13.0, and the exact same problem after switching to Arch Linux.

I can see that the Legacy Driver is from 3/26/2009, does anybody know if/when ATI is going to update it?

Well it sucks that I can't use my laptop for games or any fancy 3D effects anymore.. :-/ But as long as I am just running LXDE and only using it for school, programming and that kind of stuff, it's not really a problem for me.