Dual monitors on Radeon 5770 with fc15

[T.C. Hollingsworth]

On 8/16/11, Alex <mysqlstudent at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>>> - Has AMD bought ATI? It seems there are several references to drivers
>>> available for download from AMD.
>>
>> Forgot to mention that the driver from RPMFusion is exactly the same
>> as the one available for download from AMD/ATI, just packaged such
>> that installation on Fedora is painless.  Trying to use the stock ATI
>> driver is much more difficult to get going.
>
> Yes, that's exactly why I was trying to get the RPMFusion stuff going.
>
> I've now got it going, and have a basic ATI driver running now, rather
> than the 640x480 I had previously.
>
> After experiencing GNOME3 for the last few minutes, I can definitely
> say it's "form over function" in this release. I'm already regretting
> upgrading. The lack of function, specifically the video support, is
> frustrating.
>
> Trying to run the livna config program fails:
>
> Aug 16 15:46:57 sage livnaConfigClient.py: abrt: detected unhandled
> Python exception in
> /usr/share/livna-config-display/livnaConfigClient.py
> Aug 16 15:46:57 sage abrtd: Unrecognized variable 'DumpLocation' in
> '/etc/abrt/abrt.conf'
> Aug 16 15:46:57 sage abrtd: New client connected
> Aug 16 15:46:57 sage abrt-server[4251]: Saved Python crash dump of pid
> 4246 to /var/spool/abrt/pyhook-2011-08-16-15:46:57-4246
> Aug 16 15:46:57 sage abrtd: Directory
> 'pyhook-2011-08-16-15:46:57-4246' creation detected
> Aug 16 15:46:57 sage abrt-server[4251]: Unrecognized variable
> 'DumpLocation' in '/etc/abrt/abrt.conf'
> Aug 16 15:46:57 sage abrtd: Corrupted or bad dump
> /var/spool/abrt/pyhook-2011-08-16-15:46:57-4246 (res:2), deleting
>
> Is there another way, besides hacking the xorg.conf like it's 1998
> again, to configure resolution and dual monitors?

Try the "Catalyst Control Center" that was installed along with the
driver.  FInd it in whatever GNOME 3 calls an application menu or run
"amdccle" from a terminal.

Theoretically the display settings in the GNOME Control Center should
also work.  The proprietary ATI driver didn't support the standard
interface for controlling the display (XRadR) for ages, but I
understand they've got their act together as of late.

> Also, what the hell happened to the minimize button on each window?

It was removed in GNOME 3.  I understand installing and using the
gnome-tweak-tool package permits you to restore some sane behaviors to
the desktop.

> Is there any way to fix the screen corruption without switching from
> GNOME to another DE?

Exactly what are you experiencing?

You could also try fallback mode:
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gnome-3-fallback.html

> I figured since it was released in May, and now it's August, they
> would have worked out the basic usability issues, but this is
> definitely the release to skip.

Most of what you're experiencing is either problems with the ATI
driver, which has and always will be a pain, or GNOME 3, in which all
your problems are "by design".  I'm afraid F16 won't be able to help
you with either of those.

> Ideas greatly appreciated.
> Thanks,
> Alex

-T.C.