[ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

[Tertitten]

Hi, I've been running ubuntu 8.04 for a while and have had no problems getting my Ati x1950 card running with the Propriety driver, however in Kubuntu Jaunty I just can not seem to get it running, making me believing that there is actually no support for it at all in Jaunty ?

So my question is, can I make the driver run in kubuntu at all, or do I need to find a open source driver ?
Can anyone please guide me in the right direction ?

[Rog131]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

By the AMD > Radeon 1900 Series

ATI Catalyst™ Display Driver

Version 9.3
Operating System(s) Linux x86; Linux x86_64

AMD has moved a number of DX9 ATI Radeon™ graphics accelerators products to a legacy driver support structure. This change impacts Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Linux distributions. AMD has moved to a legacy software support structure for these graphics accelerator products in an effort to better focus development resources on future products.

The following products have been moved to the legacy software support structure (including Mobile and All-in-Wonder Variants):

...
ATI Radeon X1900 Series
...

AMD may periodically provide Windows XP and Windows Vista driver updates (for the products listed above) for critical fixes only. No new features will be provided in future driver updates. The Linux ATI Catalyst™ driver will only be supported in Linux distributions prior to February 2009 for the legacy products listed above....

More > Re: Jaunty Release Schedule, Plans, KDE 4.2 - Catalyst/fglrx

[Tertitten]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

Thanks for your reply..

Sorry, but I am a little confused though, is there a driver released ?
Incase there is, where do I find it and what do I need to do ?

[ssri]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

Your card is RV570 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...ocessing_Units). AMD/ATI dumped all R5xx cards to legacy support starting with Catalyst 9.4. The last Catalyst version that supported your card and mine (Mobility Radeon x2300) was 9.3. Unfortunately, Jaunty uses X server 1.6.0, which is compatible only with Catalyst 9.4 and above. So, if you want to use Jaunty, you have to use the Opensource RadeonHD drivers (for ATI cards R5xx and above). ATI will no longer issue proprietary drivers for our cards in default installs of Ubuntu Jaunty and above. Yeah, you can downgrade x server 1.6.0 (http://www.kdedevelopers.org/node/3942) to the version on Intrepid and install the proprietary drivers that way. But not many people reported their results with that method.

The sad thing is that the opensource drivers are not comparable to proprietary drivers when it comes to 3D acceleration and, in my case, smooth windows compositing. Yeah, the opensource drivers "work", but I always see artifacts (ie refresh lines) when using the latest ppa builds from tomvolden (up to the first week of 05/09), even after tweaking xorg.conf. Yeah, it sucks and there are a lot of mad ATI (l)users like myself who are SOL when it comes to Jaunty. Frankly, I am tired of venting on ubuntuforums and it is getting to the point where there is just a mass circle jerk of abandoned ATI users running around screaming at the hills while going nowhere. Yeah, the opensource drivers are always improving, but who knows when they'll be ready for our cards (although you may be lucky). If the opensource drivers are not ready by the time of Karmic, then I might have to find another distro that uses xserver 1.5.x. I am happy with KDE 4.2.2 on Intrepid (where's 4.2.3?!? >) running with Catalyst 9.3. Smooth, fast kwin compositing, tear-free videos and multi-screen support.

To put it short, your ATI experience on Jaunty will be pretty good if you either have a very old card or the latest and greatest card/chipset from ATI. The middle will experience a lot of teeth gnashing.

--ssri

[Tertitten]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

Hi, thanks for your advice
I tried the Open Source Driver, and I mediately experienced the graphics tare, and the screen is simply not as clear as before.
So I would like to revert to the original driver, how do I do that ?

[Princey]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

I just noticed this thread after posting my own, though it doesn't specifically deal with video issues alone. I agree with you on the fact that at this pace, I might just as well have to shop around for another distribution that supports my hardware. I can't just shell out $$ just because a company decides to support only the latest and greatest. Downgrading is one option, but support is another factor. Going back to Intrepid gives me not much time in terms of support and update. I might either have to migrate to archlinux or Linux Mint and be happy. Such a shame >

[ssri]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

Hi, thanks for your advice
I tried the Open Source Driver, and I mediately experienced the graphics tare, and the screen is simply not as clear as before.
So I would like to revert to the original driver, how do I do that ?

If you installed fglrx by mistake, make sure you have an internet connection, boot into the terminal and type:

sudo apt-get remove --purge fglrx*
sudo apt-get install --reinstall libgl1-mesa-dri libgl1-mesa-glx libglu1-mesa mesa-utils
sudo apt-get install --reinstall xorg xserver-xorg xserver-xorg-core

For Radeon (old ATI cards - R5xx):
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-radeon

For RadeonHD (R5xx - above):
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd

Bring back the default xorg.conf:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

I think radeon has some preliminary energy saver stuff that dynamically controls GPU temp(?). Radeonhd, last I heard, does not have something to that yet. I do know that there have been reports/complaints of GPUs running hot with opensource drivers. I do not know if that problem has been corrected.

Also, make sure your xorg.conf has radeon or radeonhd somewhere, although I think Jaunty should be able to automatically detect which driver you installed. I forgot where in xorg.conf to place it since I continue to use fglrx in my intrepid install. Search around here, phoronix or ubuntuforums.org. Good luck. Please let us know how it goes.

--ssri

[ssri]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

I might either have to migrate to archlinux or Linux Mint and be happy. Such a shame >

Archlinux is a rolling distribution (no jarring 6-month upgrade cycle). However, they are using xserver 1.6.x now, so you have to use the opensource drivers. Also, the maintainers dropped fglrx, complaining of ATI's continual shoddy work on the Catalyst drivers. Linux Mint? Well, I do not know which xserver they will be using. Going by recent history, the next version of Mint will simply be a rehash of Jaunty with custom Mint packages and themes spread on top of it. Most likely xserver 1.6.0 will be in place. Maybe the furor from ATI users has reached the ears of Mint maintainers. I do not know though. Maybe you should ask in their forums.

--ssri

[Tertitten]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

ssri- Thanks allot for your help, everything is now back as it was before

I have a question though, is there any decent dist that actually supports radeon x1950 ?
I want to transition from Windows all together, however I need to have Video out (S-Video) functions.
I had this in Ubuntu before, but after the new Ubuntu/Kubuntu dists these functions are gone, hence I guess I need another dist all together..

But then again, how long does it take before all the dists follow Ubuntu and release with the newest Xorg version ?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Princey]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

Archlinux is a rolling distribution (no jarring 6-month upgrade cycle). However, they are using xserver 1.6.x now, so you have to use the opensource drivers. Also, the maintainers dropped fglrx, complaining of ATI's continual shoddy work on the Catalyst drivers. Linux Mint? Well, I do not know which xserver they will be using. Going by recent history, the next version of Mint will simply be a rehash of Jaunty with custom Mint packages and themes spread on top of it. Most likely xserver 1.6.0 will be in place. Maybe the furor from ATI users has reached the ears of Mint maintainers. I do not know though. Maybe you should ask in their forums.

--ssri

I made that comment not so much as they're "better" but the weird thing is that I don't run into some of the show stoppers using either on this rig like I run into currently with Jaunty. For now, I'm going to downgrade soon to 8.10 (Incidentally, Mint has a more stable working of 8.10 and that's what I was talking about).

[ssri]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

I have a question though, is there any decent dist that actually supports radeon x1950 ?
I want to transition from Windows all together, however I need to have Video out (S-Video) functions.

Go to distrowatch.com and click on any of the distros underneath Ubuntu. Then you will see a table with most of the default packages for the specific distro. Look for xorg-server and you will see the version number. Anything below version 1.6.0, like 1.5.2, can install Catalyst 9.3, the last driver from ATI that works with our legacy cards. To enable video out that works with amdcccle (ATI's catalyst control center), just disable xrandr (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...85&postcount=2). Also, disabling xrandr brought back the dpms functionality (turning off my laptop's backlight) that went away when xrandr detected my TV signal through S-Video.

But then again, how long does it take before all the dists follow Ubuntu and release with the newest Xorg version ?

Several of the popular distros will be heading to xserver 1.6.x, like Fedora, Mandriva and OpenSUSE, so no ATI proprietary drivers for our cards there .

Hope this info helps...

Now, back to my working Intrepid install... Thinking about compiling KDE 4.2.3 myself since the kubuntu maintainers won't update Intrepid with new maintenance point releases of KDE 4.2.x anymore. A sarcastic thanks to them.

[ssri]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

I made that comment not so much as they're "better" but the weird thing is that I don't run into some of the show stoppers using either on this rig like I run into currently with Jaunty. For now, I'm going to downgrade soon to 8.10 (Incidentally, Mint has a more stable working of 8.10 and that's what I was talking about).

I never said arch was better than kubuntu, or vice versa. Just different philosophies, that's all. I myself prefer the rolling release idea. Then again, what happens when xserver 1.6.x is installed, rendering ATI Catalyst 9.3 useless? I guess one could roll back xserver and reinstall Catalyst 9.3. I never used Arch, but from reading their forums, I assume one may have absolute power over packages that are installed. I may be wrong though.

Regarding Mint. In terms of "stability", I believe one can obtain nearly the same packages from intrepid backports (up to KDE 4.2.2). Hey if Mint is more stable out of the box than Intrepid, then maybe it is a wise choice to go with it. Imagine the huge number of updates one has to endure after reinstalling a fresh copy of intrepid nowadays!

[Tertitten]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

I simply gave up, I'll stick to windows until I get a Nvidia card.
I will never buy another ati card, simply due to the fact that they scrap the support for cards barely over a year

[ssri]

Re: [ATI X1950] Can't get it to work in Jaunty

I simply gave up, I'll stick to windows until I get a Nvidia card.
I will never buy another ati card, simply due to the fact that they scrap the support for cards barely over a year

Sorry to hear that, but at least you gave it a go. With so many disgruntled ATI users, it seems that the opensource driver development is ramping up. I'm going to test the latest radeon rewrites when I have the time, and if it works, I'll upgrade. Even so, I am perfectly happy with Intrepid right now, with backport repos enabled. So much so that I'm willing to skip Jaunty and try out Karmic when it comes out. I hope you give it another shot then.