Ubuntu Dapper Installation Guide

Method 1: Installing Dapper's Included Driver (8.25.18)

The included fglrx driver supports Radeon 8500+ and the X-series cards up to X1900.

Unfortunately OpenGL seems to be broken for R200 cards (everything below Radeon 9500) in this driver version. This may be fixed by replacing /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2 with libGL.so.1.2 from the previous driver version (8.24.8).

Installing the driver

Make sure the restricted repository is enabled in /etc/apt/sources.list or this guide will not work!

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-$(uname -r) #Okay if it is already installed
sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
sudo depmod -a
sudo aticonfig --initial
sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv

Reboot.

An alternative to the aticonfig --initial command is to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and replace the string "ati" with "fglrx" in the "Device" section. This way you won't lose your old "Screen" and "Monitor" settings. Afterwards you can use aticonfig for setting overlay etc.

Confirm that it works

fglrxinfo
display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON 9600 Generic
OpenGL version string: 2.0.5814 (8.25.18)

Troubleshooting for Method 1

• The output of dmesg | grep fglrx and /var/log/Xorg.0.log are most useful when looking for errors. You should really include this when you are asking for help somewhere.

• It might be necessary to create a symlink to get accelerated OpenGL:

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/dri /usr/lib/xorg/modules/dri

• AMD64 users: It may also be necessary to update /etc/profile if using GDM. Update the $LIBGL_DRIVERS_PATH variable to point to the dri path above.

• To ensure you automatically get the current linux-restricted-modules package with kernel updates, you should install the linux-restricted-modules-??? package matching your kernel-type (without version numer), e.g. linux-restricted-modules-386, linux-restricted-modules-686 or linux-restricted-modules-k7.

• If you used Method 2 before, you have to unblacklist fglrx again by editing /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

• See Troubleshooting for both Methods

Method 2: Generating/Installing Ubuntu packages for the 8.26.18 drivers in Ubuntu Dapper Manually

Important Change: Installation of this driver no longer requires removing the linux-restricted-modules package in order to work. There is a new blacklist feature in Ubuntu Dapper that you can use to go around this.

blacklist old fglrx module from linux-restricted-modules

sudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

Edit DISABLED_MODULES to include fglrx

File: /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

DISABLED_MODULES="fglrx"

Installing the new driver

Download the ATI driver installer: 32bit Installer

This guide refers to the 32bit version of the driver. If you are using a x86_64 System you need the 64bit Installer. The installation procedure should be the same as for 32bit, except some filenames will differ slightly.

Change to the download directory. Make sure that you have the universe and multiverse repositories enabled in /etc/apt/sources.list before doing these steps.

Install necessary tools:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential 
sudo apt-get install fakeroot dh-make debconf libstdc++5 gcc-3.3-base

Create .deb packages:

chmod +x ati-driver-installer-8.26.18-x86.run
./ati-driver-installer-8.26.18-x86.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/dapper

Install .deb packages:

sudo dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_8.26.18-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i fglrx-kernel-source_8.26.18-1_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i fglrx-control_8.26.18-1_i386.deb

Remove any old fglrx deb's from /usr/src/:

sudo rm /usr/src/fglrx-kernel*.deb

Compile the kernel module:

sudo module-assistant prepare,update
sudo module-assistant build,install fglrx
sudo depmod -a

Note: You have to recompile the kernel module after each kernel update!

Update the xorg.conf file:

sudo aticonfig --initial
sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv

Reboot.

Confirm that it worked

$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON 9700 Generic
OpenGL version string: 2.0.5879 (8.26.18)

Troubleshooting for Method 2

Upgrade from Breezy

If method 2 doesn't work first time round, and you have upgraded from a Breezy installation, try this:

Remove previous versions of the fglrx driver:

sudo dpkg -r fglrx-control
sudo dpkg -r fglrx-kernel-source
sudo dpkg -r xorg-driver-fglrx

dpkg will list dependencies for xorg-driver-fglrx which will need up be removed, for example:

sudo dpkg -r fglrx-kernel
sudo dpkg -r fglrx-kernel-2.6.12-10-686-smp
sudo dpkg -r xorg-driver-fglrx

Proceed with method 2

Troubleshooting for both Methods

General

The output of dmesg | grep fglrx and /var/log/Xorg.0.log are most useful when looking for errors.

2D speed

If you suffer from slow 2D speed it might help to set

Option		"XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps"

in the fglrx section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf

HP Notebook dv5029us / zv6000

If you have an HP Notebook Computer (or Compaq) such as the HP dv5029us or zv6000 series, it is needed to modify the BIOS configuration. It seems for some reason using sideport memory (the card's onboard memory only) leads to an apparent system crash although the logs show successful initialization of DRI. It is needed to run the BIOS setup screen, go to memory options, and select UMA+Sideport memory and assign a value to it (I assigned an extra 128M from the system RAM). Boot the computer and the fglrx driver will work. FGLRX version is 8.24.8 on an i386 Ubuntu Dapper install.

• Ubuntu FGLRX drivers 8.25.18, do not work properly on the dv5029us (Radeon Xpress 200M) as of this writing (5/30/2006). It is needed to revert to 8.24.8 for this specific computer in order to get proper 3D acceleration, and 2D with no tearing off.

• • ATI Driver 8.26.18, does not work with the Radeon Express 200M. Some HP/Compaq laptops only have working 3D support with ONLY UMA video memory( Sideport+UMA won't work ). This is due to a 1 year old flaw in the ATI driver. If you want to use your onboard/Sideport memory, you can only get 2D support by adding [ Option "no_dri" "yes"] to the fglrx driver section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf

HP zt3000 / Compaq nx7000

Beginning with ATI driver version 8.19, the drivers fail to properly detect modelines that are compatible with the LCD screen of the HP zt3000 (and equivalent Compaq nx7000 model), and they must be inserted into xorg.conf manually. For the 1680x1050 LCD screen, inserting the following modelines into the "Monitor" section works:

       Modeline "640x350"  119.12  640 1728 1760 1840  350 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "640x400"  119.12  640 1728 1760 1840  400 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "720x400"  119.12  720 1728 1760 1840  400 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "640x480"  119.12  640 1728 1760 1840  480 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "800x600"  119.12  800 1728 1760 1840  600 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1024x768"  119.12  1024 1728 1760 1840  768 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1152x864"  119.12  1152 1728 1760 1840  864 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1280x960"  119.12  1280 1728 1760 1840  960 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1280x1024"  119.12  1280 1728 1760 1840  1024 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "832x624"  119.12  832 1728 1760 1840  624 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1280x768"  119.12  1280 1728 1760 1840  768 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1280x800"  119.12  1280 1728 1760 1840  800 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1152x768"  119.12  1152 1728 1760 1840  768 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1400x1050"  119.12  1400 1728 1760 1840  1050 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1440x900"  119.12  1440 1728 1760 1840  900 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1600x1024"  119.12  1600 1728 1760 1840  1024 1052 1058 1080
       Modeline "1680x1050"  119.12  1680 1728 1760 1840  1050 1052 1058 1080

If you have the "1920x1200" version of the HP zt3000 the Modeline is:

       Modeline "1920x1200" 150.75 1920 2016 2048 2185  1200 1202 1208 1235

Revert to Xorg driver

If (for any reason) the fglrx install fails, you can revert to the Xorg driver by executing

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

and selecting the "ati" driver, or simply restoring the previous /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, if you made a backup.

You also need to remove the xorg-driver-fglrx or your manually installed drivers to get the 3D acceleration back, since it is provided by file /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2 which belongs to libgl1-mesa package and which is moved to backup and replaced at the installation of xorg-driver-fglrx (or the manually built) package. In case the removal of the fglrx drivers fails to restore the file from libgl1-mesa, you have to reinstall the package by running:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall libgl1-mesa