ATI driver installation

[Vincent]

Hello,
I have an HP zv6000 with ATI mobility radeon xpress 200 series the
present driver is ati2mtag.sys Apr 01,2005. I installed F10 every things
went perfect and worked fine, but after the first update to
kernel-2.6.27.7.134 the screen gets fool of horizontal line just before
entering the PW. I was able to boot by selecting the previous kernel,
kernel-2.6.27.5.117, eventually the second update came which I was
hopping that it may correct the previous problem but it didn't happen.
I suspect that I may need an update driver, I checked ATI web side and
found a file "ati-driver-installer-8-12-x86.x86_64.run" and the
instruction file "linux_cat812-inst.pdf". I got stuck at the first
instruction "sh ./fglrx-uninstall.sh" not found
Any body there can help? I will appreciate very much.
Thank you

[Kevin Kofler]

Vincent Onelli wrote:
> I suspect that I may need an update driver, I checked ATI web side and
> found a file "ati-driver-installer-8-12-x86.x86_64.run" and the
> instruction file "linux_cat812-inst.pdf". I got stuck at the first
> instruction "sh ./fglrx-uninstall.sh" not found
> Any body there can help? I will appreciate very much.

GNU/Linux doesn't work that way, you don't use drivers from the
manufacturer, the correct driver is already included.

You're seeing a bug in the kernel package. That bug has to be fixed. As a
workaround, try booting with the "nomodeset" flag:
1. hold down a key while booting so GRUB shows up
2. press the e key to edit the boot commands
3. press the e key on the first command (the kernel command) to get to the
kernel's arguments
4. append a space and the word nomodeset
5. press Enter to confirm
6. press the b key to boot the modified sequence
if that fixes it, you can edit your /boot/grub/grub.conf file to append
nomodeset to the kernel's command line as a permanent workaround. If it
doesn't fix it, then the bug is not in kernel modesetting (KMS), but some
other area of the kernel (probably DRI/DRM, the Direct Rendering
Interface/Manager).

In any case, please also file a bug at https://bugzilla.redhat.com
against "kernel" with your findings, what you're seeeing is clearly a
kernel bug.

Kevin Kofler

[Kevin Kofler]

Vincent Onelli wrote:
> I suspect that I may need an update driver, I checked ATI web side and
> found a file "ati-driver-installer-8-12-x86.x86_64.run" and the
> instruction file "linux_cat812-inst.pdf". I got stuck at the first
> instruction "sh ./fglrx-uninstall.sh" not found
> Any body there can help? I will appreciate very much.

Oh, and I forgot: The driver you can get from ATI is a completely different
driver than the one in Fedora, not an update. It is binary-only and
proprietary, whereas the one in Fedora is Free Software / Open Source, i.e.
comes with source code and is freely modifiable. And the proprietary driver
is reported not to work on Fedora 10. In addition, if you really want to
use that driver, you should use the packages from RPM Fusion's nonfree
section, never the manufacturer's scripts which always make a mess of your
system. GNU/Linux does not work like Window$, you should always get your
software, and especially drivers, from a package repository for your
distribution where possible (preferably the official one, then well-known
addon repositories like RPM Fusion and only as a last resort a repository
provided by the developers themselves), avoid manufacturer-provided
installers like the plague!

Kevin Kofler

[Russell Miller]

Kevin Kofler wrote:
> Oh, and I forgot: The driver you can get from ATI is a completely different
> driver than the one in Fedora, not an update. It is binary-only and
> proprietary, whereas the one in Fedora is Free Software / Open Source, i.e.
> comes with source code and is freely modifiable. And the proprietary driver
> is reported not to work on Fedora 10. In addition, if you really want to
> use that driver, you should use the packages from RPM Fusion's nonfree
> section, never the manufacturer's scripts which always make a mess of your
> system. GNU/Linux does not work like Window$, you should always get your
> software, and especially drivers, from a package repository for your
> distribution where possible (preferably the official one, then well-known
> addon repositories like RPM Fusion and only as a last resort a repository
> provided by the developers themselves), avoid manufacturer-provided
> installers like the plague!

The properietary driver can be made to work with Fedora 10 - I did it 
(though it did STOP working after a while).  The open-source drivers 
don't support all of the cards out there (my 4650HD, for example).  ATI 
released the specs for that chip, though, so hopefully...

--Russell
>     Kevin Kofler

[Michael Cronenworth]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: ATI driver installation
From: Vincent Onelli 
To: [e-mail]
Date: 12/30/2008 09:53 AM
> Hello,
> I have an HP zv6000 with ATI mobility radeon xpress 200 series

Stop right there.

The Xpress 200 chip is one of the worst ATI has ever made in the last 
decade. It's very slow, unstable, and hardly works under Linux.

The only driver I recommend you use is what Kevin Kofler is describing 
to you. The Open Source driver, which will be used by default.

Good luck.

[Mark Haney]

Michael Cronenworth wrote:
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: ATI driver installation
> From: Vincent Onelli 
> To: [e-mail]
> Date: 12/30/2008 09:53 AM
> > Hello,
> > I have an HP zv6000 with ATI mobility radeon xpress 200 series
>
> Stop right there.
>
> The Xpress 200 chip is one of the worst ATI has ever made in the last 
> decade. It's very slow, unstable, and hardly works under Linux.
>
> The only driver I recommend you use is what Kevin Kofler is describing 
> to you. The Open Source driver, which will be used by default.
>
> Good luck.

I TOTALLY agree with that statement. I have one in my Compaq laptop and 
I never could get the ATI driver to work on it in either Fedora or 
Gentoo.  The open source driver is rock solid and does what I need it to 
do.