ATI driver: which is the right procedure?

[Larry Hartman]

On Wednesday 06 June 2007 04:17:46 am O. Sinclair wrote:
> > The first one listed  above:
> >
> > http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Feisty_Installation_Guide
> >
> > This one I just updated a week ago when the new driver came out.   Follow
> > method 2 on this website to the letter and you will be just fine, works
> > with both KDE and GNOME.
> >
> > If you have problems running the commands "sudo aticonfig --initial" and
> > the "sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv" in the Configure the Driver
> > section let me know--not a problem with the WIKI procedure, but the
> > driver package itself.   In that event I will post the /etc/xorg.conf
> > file on this email list that these commands automatically set up for you.
> >
> > The big thing to remember is that anytime a new Linux kernel is updated
> > on your machine you must--read must--reinstall the ATI driver, otherwise
> > the computer will run the open source driver at greatly reduced
> > performance. When you download the package save it somewhere safe so that
> > you can reload it as necessary.
> >
> > I have done this many times, and while it seems intimidating at first,
> > you will do this procedure blindfolded after a while.  ATI releases a new
> > driver about every month that I load manually.
>
> Larry,
> I am rather content with the drivers in the repos so I just wonder if
> there are any specific advantages with updating the package? Speed or
> whatever? I am not interested in 3D Beryl for now but composite KDM
> would be nice.
>
> Sinclair

Yes for me there definitely was.  The drivers in the repos caused X server to 
crash during log-out of KDE...GNOME was ok.  The only that I could return to 
the kdm login screen was via CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE or shutdown/restart--not the 
most desired way.  This was a known bug that the latest release of the driver 
fixed.  

Also the last two versions of the ATI driver has an operational ATI Catalyst 
Control Center which is much improved over the old ATI config gui.  In the 
very latest release, 8.37.6, this ATI Catalyst allows you to change some 3d 
related settings.

With all of the known bugs and fixes that ATI drivers encountered over pas 
year I wonder to myself why no one seems to be concerned about making the 
latest versions available in the repositories.  I think the demand would be 
pretty high.

Larry