Radeon 9500 Drivers in MDK 9.2

kieren · February 25, 2004

I have an ATI Radeon 9500 pro, Linux Mandrake 9.2 with XFree86 4.3.0 and Kernel 2.4.22-10mdkenterprise. I am getting extremely slow framerates in "glxgears" (280 - 320fps) and was wondering if any other ATI Radeon users could point me in the direction of a driver which may help to rectify this. I already started a thread about this problem here , but I started this one with a different title in the hope of catching the eye of a current ATI/MDK user.

Any help is very much appreciated.

February 27, 2004

I installed ATI's drivers for my 9600Pro just the other night (on Mandrake 10.0 RC1). You can get 'em at www.ati.com

The installation should work exactly the same for 9.2.

Here's what you'll need:

1. ATI's driver and the install instructions (print out the instructions).

2. An installed kernel source (kernel-source-2.4.xxxx). You can find one here http://rpms.mandrakeclub.com/search.php?qu...=kernel-source*

Grab one that matches your current kernel version and install it.

Follow the instructions from ATI. Make sure you perform them from the command line with NO X server running. Before you start the install make sure you know where your mouse is hiding (should be /dev/input/mouse0) because the ATI install will ask you that.

Initially it'll look like the ATI driver won't compile correctly (you'll get a statement that 2D will work but not 3D). Don't worry just follow the on-screen advice (which is also in ATI's instructions). The advice will tell you where to go and what commands to execute.

At the end of the compilation/installation it'll tell you to run "fglrxconfig".

This is not too hard to follow (use the recommended default values if unsure) and this is where it'll ask you the path to your mouse.

Once finished you can "startx" and run some ATI tests. The ATI install instructions (which are pretty thorough) will give you the location of the tests and ATI's control panel.

Some notes: You may have some mouse wheel problems because the choices in "fglrxconfig" are limited. For my Logitech MX300 I just used the generic USB 3 button mouse. My wheel works fine.

You'll also want to know the refresh capabilities/resolution of your monitor since "fglrxconfig" offers choices dealing with differing ranges.

If something doesn't work quite right you can always run "fglrxconfig"

again and make changes.

Edited February 27, 2004 by Danomatic

kieren · February 28, 2004

Thanks for the info, very informative. I have at least made some more progress now. I ran the URPMI from the command promp without X running, and using the "force" command it worked. I must have FUBARed the set up though, because now I get under 100fps in "glxgears". I tried a whole variety of options, but just can't get any 3D hardware acceleration. Something I didn't do however, was to download and install the kernal-source as you suggested. I payed for a login for mandrakeclub to get the download, but can't actually get anything to download. If I follow your link, I then click on "kernel-source-2.4.22-10mdk.i586.html". From there if I click on " http://www.kernel.org/" all I get is some patches. If I click on "Source RPM: kernel-2.4.22.10mdk-1-1mdk.src.rpm" I get taken to a much more promising screen, but none of the links work. If I then click on one of the "UPRMI setup" links, I get taken to a page that instructs me to copy and paste a certain command into the console while logged in as "root", which I did, but it just downloaded some mirror names and then stopped with an error message:

[root@localhost root]# urpmi.addmedia -h mirrors.secsup.org_ ftp://mirrors.secsu

p.org/pub/linux/mandrake/Mandrake/9.2

unable to retrieve pathname for removable medium "Installation CD 1 (x86) (cdrom 1)"

unable to retrieve pathname for removable medium "Installation CD 2 (x86) (cdrom 2)"

unable to retrieve pathname for removable medium "International CD (x86) (cdrom3 )"

added medium mirrors.secsup.org_

examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Installation CD 1 (x86 ) (cdrom1).cz]

examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Installation CD 2 (x86 ) (cdrom2).cz]

examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.International CD (x86) (cdrom3).cz]

examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.update_source.cz]

retrieving source hdlist (or synthesis) of "mirrors.secsup.org_"...

ftp://mirrors.secsup.org/pub/linux/mandra...thesis.hdlist.c z