This release note provides information on the latest posting of AMD's Proprietary Linux driver. This particular driver updates the software version to 8.522.
The AMD Linux release notes provides information on the following:
- Web Content
- ATI Workstation Product Support
- ATI Mobility™ and Integrated Mobility™ 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 Mobility™ 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:
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:
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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. |
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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 ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces product support for the following new operating systems:
- CrossFireX support
- Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support
- Support for new Linux operating systems
- ATI OverDrive™ Support for Linux
- ATI MultiView™
- Auto Detection and installation of distribution packaging
- Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support
CrossFireX support
This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces support for CrossFireX configurations using the ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series on systems running the Linux operating system.
Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support
This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon HD 4800, ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series, ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series, and ATI Radeon X1000 Series of products installed on systems running the Linux operating system. Adaptive Anti-Aliasing substantially improves image quality by anti-aliasing transparent textures. This option is available in the Catalyst Control Center Linux Edition.
Support for new Linux operating systems
This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces support for the following new operating systems:
ATI OverDrive™ Support for Linux
ATI OverDrive™ maximizes the performance of the graphic processing unit (GPU) on your graphics card. This provides the ability to improve the performance of your GPU, especially if you are using a custom cooling solution.
Caution:
Using ATI Overdrive™ to increase the graphics processor or memory clocks above normal limits may result in graphics corruption, data loss or system hangs. If ATI Overdrive™ detects unsafe conditions, it will automatically reduce the clocks. However, ATI cannot guarantee results, and will not be responsible for data loss or other problems that may occur as a result of using ATI Overdrive™.
ATI OverDrive™ on AMD Linux driver is a command line GPU overclocking tool for supported graphics adapters. It allows the users to:
- Enable or disable ATI OverDrive™
- Get GPU and memory clock range
- Manually set clocks within the available range. Note that there
- Test clocks with a stress utility
- Obtain GPU temperature
Graphics cards supported include:
- ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2
- ATI Radeon™ HD 4800
- ATI Radeon™ HD 4670
- ATI Radeon™ HD 4850
- ATI Radeon™ HD 4550
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3870
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3850
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3830
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3690
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3600
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3470
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3450
- ATI Radeon™ HD 3430
- ATI Radeon™ HD 2600
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Note: | The ATI Radeon™ HD 2900, ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 X2, and ATI Radeon™ HD 3850 X2 series of products, along with Workstation, and FireStream™ products are currently not supported. |
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Note: | Mobile GPU OverDrive™ support is individual for each vendor, i.e. the same mobile GPU may have or may have not Overdrive 5 support. Please contact your vendor for more information. |
More details on how to use ATI OverDrive™ can be found in the aticonfig help file.
ATI MultiView™
ATI MultiView™ provides the ability to utilize GPUs from multiple adapters on an independent multi-display desktop. It allows a user to configure, manage and use a Multiview configuration under Linux and allows OpenGL applications run on any displays driven by multiple GPUs. ATI MultiView™ provides:
- Multi-GPU configuration support
- Up to 4 displays support
- Enhanced display configuration and selection through the Catalyst Control Center Linux Edition
- Administrator shortcut which provides access to configuration options that require root privileges. Root privileges are required for multi-screen configurations, including enabling and disabling certain multi-screen configurations and screen placement.
- ATI MultiView™ only works on systems with two identical FireGL™ products which include:
- ATI MultiView™ does not operate with Compiz environments
- ATI MultiView™ (released in 8.52/8.53) does not operate with Xinerama enabled
Auto Detection and installation of distribution packaging
With version 2.0 of the AMD Graphics Driver distribution packaging Application Programming Interface (API), each Linux distribution will have the option of updating their packaging scripts to provide auto detection and installation of the AMD graphics driver.
Version 2.0 of the API installation option will automatically generate and install a distribution-specific package using the distribution's package management system, it automatically check for build and install dependencies when generating and installing distribution-specific packages.
Note:
This is achieved in supported distributions by using the following command: aticonfig --buildandinstallpkg
Version 2.0 enhancements include the following:
- Automatic OS detection. Users will be able to generate and install distribution-specific packages without having to provide system-specific information
- Dryrun option. Users will have the ability to request a test run of the installer to ensure that all dependencies are met
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Tip: | Dryrun can be added after either --buildpkg or --buildandinstallpkg to simulate those actions. |
Currently only RedHat, Slackware and Ubuntu support these enhanced options. As more distribution packaging scripts implement the AMD Graphics Driver distribution packaging API version 2.0 this list will grow.
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:
- Setting the Overscan to an invalid value no longer results in segmentation faults. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35211
- XServer no longer fails when playing media files with XVideo enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35968
- An incorrect error message is no longer returned when applying an unsupported TV geometry in a console terminal. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35212
- Connecting a CRT display device to a system containing an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 product no longer results 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
- Quake 3 Arena (demo): Segmentation faults no longer occur when attempting to play the game. Further details can be found in topic number 737-34302
- OpenGL PBOs no longer fail to work with GL_RGB texture format
- Ubuntu 7.04: aticonfig --enable-monitor no longer results in X restarting
- Launching the Catalyst Control Center (Linux Edition) and clicking on the hyperlink located on the Welcome screen no longer results in the browser taking an extra long time to load the web page
- The initial RPM installation no longer results in an libGL.so, no such file or directory error
- The Linux installer now automatically determines the package to build
- The Linux kernel module is no longer installed to wrong location if the Linux kernel is updated
- 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
- Creating two successive connections no longer results in direct GL context to fail. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35215
- Doom3: Connecting a secondary display device and configuring the game to launch on the secondary display device under x, no longer results the game failing to launch on the secondary display device
- A segmentation fault no longer occurs in kdesktop_lock application
- X no longer fails to start after installing the driver and configuring the driver using default values
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
- An X segmentation fault may occur when launching SUZI/textured video. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35214
- The X Server may fail to reset clearly when AIGLX is enabled. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35217
- Running Xtest may result in the operating system failing to respond. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35927
- Softimage XSI Ariane x64: A segmentation fault may occur when loading the application. Further details can be found in topic number 737-35963
- The entire X desktop including the mouse cursor is choppy during playback of video files or suzi test app
- Some display resolution mode may fail to be available when using component video
- Connecting an HDMI display device may result in the audio failing to be heard
- Entering a standby state while running a 3D application may result in desktop corruption being noticed when resuming the system
- Logging out one of multiple users may result in X failing to display an image
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: www.ati.com/install
Driver Update Notification
To receive driver notifications, add the following RSS feed to your RSS reader: http://www.ati.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.