fglrx-8.12.10-1

Introduction to fglrx

  fglrx is a proprietary driver for ATI video cards starting with Radeon 8500 
  and FireGL 8700. For Radeon 9250 and below, open-source DRI drivers may be 
  actually faster (but they lock up the card sometimes).

Package information

Download (HTTP, for x86):
  http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/fglrx_6_8_0-8.12.10-1.i386.rpm
MD5 sum: 9c6397047331aadaa2c379ca78245810
Required patches (please mirror)
  (defines the __SMP__ macro when compiling for SMP kernel. Used because we 
  don't rely upon the official fglrx installer)
  http://www.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/media-video/ati-drivers/files/8.8.25-smp.patch
  (fixes compilation issue with linux-2.6.11):
  http://www.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/media-video/ati-drivers/files/fglrx-2.6-pagetable.patch
Optional patch:
  (new PCI IDs for VIA AGP)
  http://www.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/*checkout*/media-video/ati-drivers/files/8.8.25-via-amd64.patch
Additional download:
  http://www.rpm.org/tools/scripts/rpm2cpio.sh
Download size: 3.6 MB
Estimated disk space required: 18 MB
Estimated build time: 0.1 SBU

fglrx dependencies:
Required: cpio-2.5
Optional: qt-3.3.3

Known bug: the "uninstaller" program from "wine" package irreversibly blanks 
the screen until reboot.

Installation of fglrx

All commands below have to be executed from the root user.

Back up the original libGL.so.1.2 library that was installed with XOrg if you 
want to be able to revert to open-source drivers:

cp /usr/X11R6/lib/{,pre-fglrx-}libGL.so.1.2

Install fglrx by running the following command:

sh rpm2cpio.sh fglrx_6_8_0-8.12.10-1.i386.rpm | ( cd / ; cpio -u -d -i )

Make sure that your kernel meets the following requirements:

1) CONFIG_MTRR=y
2) CONFIG_AGP=y or m
   CONFIG_AGP_your-chipset=y or m
3) CONFIG_DRM_RADEON=m or not set; the module must not be loaded

Rebuild the kernel if necessary.

Compile the fglrx kernel module:

patch -d /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod -Np4 <fglrx-2.6-pagetable.patch
patch -d /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod -Np0 <8.8.25-smp.patch
patch -d /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod -Np0 <8.8.25-via-amd64.patch
make -C /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x

Install the kernel module:

mkdir -p /lib/modules/`uname -r`/fglrx
install -m 644 /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x/fglrx.ko \
 /lib/modules/`uname -r`/fglrx
depmod -ae

Clean up the kernel driver source directory:

make -C /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod/2.6.x clean
(ignore the error)

Optionally rebuild the fgl_glxgears demo:

cd /usr/src/ATI
mkdir sample
cd sample
tar zxf ../fglrx_sample_source.tgz
cd fgl_glxgears
make -f Makefile.linux
install fgl_glxgears /usr/X11R6/bin

<!-- I had no success rebuilding fglrx_gamma from source -->

If you have qt-3.3.3, compile and install the ATI control panel application:

cd /usr/src/ATI
mkdir panel
cd panel
tar zxf ../fglrx_panel_sources.tgz
# Makefile doesn't test for qt include files properly
sed -i s,qglobal.h,qt/qglobal.h,g Makefile
# Not all proper include directories are passed to gcc in Makefile
make MK_QTDIR=/usr CC="gcc -I/usr/include/qt -I/usr/X11R6/include"
install fireglcontrol* /usr/bin/fireglcontrol

Configuring fglrx

Change in /etc/X11/xorg.conf the line
 Driver "ati"
 or
 Driver "radeon"
to
 Driver "fglrx"

and restart X. Alternatively, you can fine-tune the driver by running the 
"fglrxconfig" program. The "fglrx.ko" kernel module will be loaded 
automatically by the X server upon restart.

Contents

Installed Programs:
 fgl_glxgears fglrx_xgamma fglrxconfig fglrxinfo fireglcontrol
Installed libraries:
 libGL

Short Descriptions
 fgl_glxgears: a classical "gears" benchmark program that uses pbuffers
 fglrx_xgamma: sets the gamma value of the display
 fglrxconfig: assists the user in writing the configuration file for XOrg
 fglrxinfo: gives various information about the video card and the driver
 fireglcontrol: allows interactive configuration of gamma value and dual-head 
 modes
 libGL: this is an OpenGL implementation for video cards manufactured by ATI

-- Alexander E. Patrakov 
