ATI driver: which is the right procedure?

[O. Sinclair]

Larry Hartman wrote:
> 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.
> 
You seem to have had your fair share of problems. After installation I 
have had no problems so I wonder if I should not stick to "if it aint 
broken don't fix it" after all...

but I agree on the repo upgrade - after thourough testing

Sinclair