SUSE/openSUSE

General Status

• Native Installer Support contributed by Stefan Dirsch
• Repackaged by Flavio Stanchina

Installation

OpenSuSE 11.0 & 11.1 The Easy Way

• There is a one click installer available [1] for both of these OS's, this will give you access to a working ATi driver however it may not be the latest one available.

EDIT: This is currently not working. ATi Repository is down for OpenSUSE.

OpenSuSE 11.0 & 11.1 With The Latest Driver

You can easily install the latest versions of the ATi driver on OpenSuSE 11.0+.

• Download The Latest ATi Driver.
• Log in as Root using su
• Install some dependencies with: zypper in kernel-source gcc make patch (I think, this needs more documentation & explanation in and of itself)
• Install the ATi Driver with: sh ./ati-driver-installer-VERSION.run
• Configure X to use the ATi Driver with: aticonfig --initial -f
• Configure sax2 to use the driver with sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx Test May Crash the computer, Press Save
• Exit the root account with exit
• Reboot the computer. You can restart X by pressing ctrl-alt-backspace twice however rebooting is more reliable

Method 1 (Building RPM Files)

• Install 'kernel-source' and C++ compiler ('gcc') and tools selection in yast.
• Get the rpm that matches the SUSE X server on your system (XFree86 4.3 or X.Org 6.8) instead of the ATI driver installer from [2] This step needs revision. ATI site doesn't have rpms for latest driver.
• init 3
• install the driver package (e.g. rpm -Uvh fglrx64_6_8_0-8.24.8-1.x86_64.rpm)
• configure your X server using ati-xconfig

note: this is not the way described in the READMEs, but it's the way that worked best for me and others. Especially if sax and/or your X server crash when using the ATI driver installer's package (due to missing symbols in fglrx_drv.o)

GUIDE: ATI Installer HOWTO for SUSE/Novell users

http://www.suse.de/~sndirsch/ati-installer-HOWTO.html

YET ANOTHER Installation Guide:

Generally following this guide should help most of you: http://linux.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/suse-101-ati-drivers-installation/

What follows is a slightly simplified version that I've used numerous times without fail.

1. BACKUP your current /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, preferably to your home directory. Now change to a command shell by hitting Ctrl-Alt-F1.

2. Remove any previous versions of the ATI driver by either

If you have installed a previous ATI driver version without using RPM packages (or if you don't know if you have or not), type the following:

cd /usr/share/ati 
sh ./fglrx-uninstall.sh

Otherwise, and even if you've done the above type the following,

rpm -e $(rpm -qa | grep fglrx)

3. Change the directory containing the downloaded ati-driver...run file.

4. Change the permissions of the driver file to executable by typing the following:

chmod +x ./ati-driver...

Use the tab button to complete the rest of the ati-driver... file name.

5. Create a SUSE RPM (info is for 32 bit version) from the file by typing

./ati-driver-installer-*.run --buildpkg SuSE/SUSE101-IA32

6. Install the created fglrx... file by typing

rpm -ivh fglrx_...(hit tab again to get full name)...

7. The following command will update your library cache, you're recommended to run it:

ldconfig

8. Now run the ati config commands:

aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf

9. Now run the Sax2 setup.

sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx

You may wish to alter the refresh rates and DPI info with this, otherwise just hit save. DO NOT hit the test button, it regually crashes my machine when i do...

10. Reboot you machine. Do not use the reboot command, again this messes my machine up on the next boot for whatever reason... try

shutdown -h now

11. Boot up again, and check the new /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, compare it to your old one, and make any changes if you know what you're doing.

Resources

• Novell HOWTO
• openSUSE ATI Driver HOWTO