This release note provides information on the latest posting of AMD's Proprietary Linux driver. This particular driver updates the software version to 8.501.
The AMD Linux release notes provides information on the following:
- Web Content
- ATI Workstation Product Support
- ATI Mobility™ and Integrated Product Family Support
- ATI Desktop and Integrated Product Family Support
- Operating Systems Distributions Supported
- System Requirements
- New Features
- Resolved Issues
- Known Issues
- Installing the AMD Proprietary Linux Software Driver
- Driver Update Notification
- AMD Customer Care
- Linux Feedback Program
- ATI Workstation Product Support
Web Content
The ATI Catalyst™ Linux Graphics Driver software suite is available through an Installer executable.
Note:
Refer to the minimum system requirements listed below to ensure you have downloaded the correct driver package for your system.
ATI Workstation Product Support
The ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite is designed to support the following ATI Workstation products:
ATI Mobility™ and Integrated Product Family Support
The ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite is designed to support the following ATI Mobility™ products:
ATI Desktop and Integrated Product Family Support
The ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite is designed to support the following ATI desktop products:
Note:
AGP variants for the ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 and 2600 series of products is now supported with this release of the AMD Proprietary Linux driver.
Note:
The ATI Radeon™ HD 3870X2 series of product is currently not supported by the ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite
Note:
All-In-Wonder™ variants based on the above are also supported. Video capture however is not supported.
Note:
Software driver support for ATI FireGL™, Integrated, Mobility™ and Desktop products prior to the Radeon™ 9500 is available from ati.com
Operating Systems Distributions Supported
The latest version of the ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite is designed to support the following Linux distributions:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux suite
- Novell/SuSE product suite
Note: The ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite may install on a number of other Linux distributions. Refer to the Package Generation installation instructions for more information.
Note: AMD has accepted contributed packaging scripts to allows creation of other packages, but does not necessarily test, verify or warrant the reliability. Currently Red Hat Enterprise Linux suite and Novell/SuSE product suite are supported Linux distributions
System Requirements
Before attempting to install the ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite, the following software must be installed:
- XOrg 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 or 7.3
- Linux Kernel 2.6 and above
- glibc version 2.2 or 2.3
- POSIX Shared Memory (/dev/shm) support is required for 3D applications
The ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite no longer provides precompiled Kernel Modules; all installations require GCC compiler and kernel-headers or kernel-source in order to enable 2D and 3D acceleration.
For best performance and ease of use, AMD recommends the following:
- Kernel module build environment - should include the following:
- The rpm utility should be installed and configured correctly on your system, if you intend to install via RPM packages
The following packages must be installed in order for the ATI Catalyst™ Linux driver to install and work properly:
New Features
This release of the Catalyst™ Linux software driver introduces UYVY and YUY2 pixel format support. This support provides interleaved stream support for video playback applications such as TVTime and MythTV.
Resolved Issues
The following section provide a brief description of resolved issues with the latest version of the ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite. These include:
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars: Playing the demo on a system running X no longer results in corruption being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35208
- Maya 2008: An incorrect colormap is no longer displayed for texture selector on systems running X. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35207
- Quake 3 Arena (demo): Segmentation faults no longer occur when attempting to play the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35206
- Quake3: Corruption is no longer noticed when changing the display resolution when the game is running. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35209
- SECAM, NTSC or PAL signal changes when using aticonfig or Catalyst Control Center and now gets applied to the TV display output. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34297
- Running X server without a window manager no longer results in the X server flashing green for a moment, going black, and the computer becoming unresponsive. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34299
- Corruption is no longer noticed when connecting a DFP display device to a system running X after setting the TV mode to 1080i. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34301
- Clock Gating is now supported and enable under the Linux operating system. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35191
- The desktop background color is no longer displayed incorrectly when using xcommgr. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35192
- Using the wrong delimiter in aticonfig --set-dispattrib=<disp>,<attr>, <value> no longer results in a segmentation fault. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35194
- Audio out is now functioning after the installation of the ATI graphics drivers for Ubuntu 7.10. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35196
- Bandwidth corruption is no longer noticed when setting the desktop resolution to 2048x1536 on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 3200 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-33499
- Playing a video clip using mplayer with the Xv extension enabled no longer results in an error indicating that Xv could not find a free Xv port. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35198
- Corruption is no longer noticed when enabling Big Desktop on systems containing an ATI FireGL X1 series of product and running X. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35199
- Running the X server generations test no longer results in the operating system failing to respond or a Kernel panic to occur after first server generation on SuSE 10.3 64 bit. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35200
- Attempting to resize a 2D application window no longer results in poor performance being noticed when composing is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35201
- Screen flicker is no longer noticed after running amdcccle in X. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35202
- Corruption is no longer noticed when connecting a DFP display device to a system running X after setting the TV mode to 1080i. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35203
- Glxgears corruption is no longer noticed in big desktop mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35204
- Starting glxgears and/or fgl_glxgears no longer results in the gears failing to render on SuSE 10.2 x86_64. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35205
- FGL_GLXGEARS or GLXGEARS: X no longer fails to respond when launching either of the applications. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35210
Known Issues
The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the latest version of ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite. These issues include:
- DiscoveryStudio1.7: The print preview and save as functions may fail to work properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35219
- Desktop corruption may be noticed when dragging the overlay/video when using dual-display mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29578
- Bandwidth corruption may be noticed when setting the desktop resolution to 2048x1536 on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 3200 series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-33499
- Connecting a CRT display device to a system containing an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 product may result in the display device flashing multiple times or failing to display an image when attempting to launch the Catalyst Control Center. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34300
- DiscoveryStudio1.7: The print preview and save as functions may fail to work properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34278
- Setting the Overscan to an invalid value may result in segmentation faults. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35211
- An incorrect error message may be returned when applying an unsupported TV geometry in a console terminal. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35212
- Desktop corruption may be noticed when dragging the overlay/video when using dual-display mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35213
- An X segmentation fault may occur when launching SUZI/textured video. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35214
- Creating two successive connections may result in direct GL context to fail. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35215
- Moving the mouse or tapping a key may fail to close an OpenGL screen-saver and bring the user back to the x desktop. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35216
- The X Server may fail to reset clearly when AIGLX is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35217
- Opening a terminal and running semiautomated DPPT tests via lnxtest.sh may result in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35218
For further information and general help on driver or software installation, game issues, and more, visit the ATI FAQ website.
Installing the AMD Proprietary Linux Software Driver
Installation information can be found at: ati.amd.com/install
Driver Update Notification
To receive driver notifications, add the following RSS feed to your RSS reader: http://ati.amd.com/online/rss/atilinuxdriver.rss
Note:
In order to receive notifications you will need to have an RSS reader installed.
AMD Customer Care
The AMD Customer Care website provides a high level of technical support and easy of navigation. The AMD Customer Care website provides accurate and up-to-date product support for optimum usability and performance. Technical issues are categorized and personalized to enhance user experience. The AMD Customer Care Website can be found at: support.ati.com
To view a known or resolved issue, do the following:
- Go to: support.ati.com. The AMD Customer Care web page is displayed.
- In the top left hand pane, click Advanced Search. The Advanced Search pane is displayed.
- Under Search Type: Select the By: ID option.
- Enter the Topic number.
- Click Go.
Linux Feedback Program
The ATI Catalyst™ Linux software suite releases may incorporate suggestions received through the Linux feedback program.
Please refer to http://apps.ati.com/linuxDfeedback/ to provide us with feedback.