Slackware

Welcome. This bare-bones little faq details how to get fglrx working on slackware.

First, note that I don't like kernel 2.4, and don't use it. Therefore this FAQ will for the most part assume you've updated your kernels along with the rest of us. (By default, Slackware 10.2 ships with 2.4.30). My reasons for doing so are mainly stability related; having relatively modern hardware, the previous-gen kernel just doesn't like my computer very much. But now I digress...let's get to it.

First and foremost; check www.linuxpackages.net. In theory they have a man there who beta tests and packages flgrx for Slackware. In practice, fglrx hasn't been updated on that site, as of this writing (11/12/05) since Slackware 10.1 and fglrx 8.16. Still, there's always the off-chance that the slacker (pun not intended...okay, maybe it was intended just a little bit) has updated them; so check there first, and use them if they are up-to-date. They can be quite simply installed through

installpkg fglrx*.tgz

And then following the below procedure.

Please keep in mind, you'll need your kernel source installed. So if you're like me and update your kernel to a custom 2.6 kernel, then you're fine. If you get a pre-built one (anything from the Slackware site), then you're going to have to download the accompanying source code. Version numbers must match exactly; also, compiler versions (gcc) must also match (and unless you've upgraded to gcc-3.4, they will!).

rpm2targz fglrx*
tar -xvzf fglrx*.tar.gz -C /
cd /lib/modules/fglrx/build_mod
sh make.sh
sh ../make_install.sh
fglrxconfig
reboot

After that, you're golden.