Useless ATI drivers (fglrx)

[RaZoR1394]

Please don't do the same mistake as I did (I bought a high end ATI card) a year ago. The problems are huge for people with all kinds of Radeon cards ranging from 9200 to x1900. My 9800pro has worked fine in my htpc but my x850xt has mostly been problems (lockups, lagg, bad performance, low on features, etc). Now I'm struggling with a very annoying bug that keeps me from logging out (it hardlocks the computer and the workarounds don't work). The bug is confirmed and has been for over a half year. Now I'm studying at the university and I simply don't have time for this crap. I made a big thread at another forum (swedish) where most ATI users reported problems with fglrx. Drivers have gotten better but they're still crap. One release breaks r200 support, other one introduces lockups. If you look at the development they keep introducing new features while not fixing most of the current bugs. If you contact ATI support you get the classical "Fuck of, support for GNU/Linux is provided as is.". There is a guy aiding over at Rage3d but often he doesn't give a rats ass specially when you start criticising ATI. Nvidia have several peeps over at nVNews and I also believe that they offer GNU/Linux support via their support center. Performance with nVidia Forceware is also similar to Windows if not better, Cedega features works fully and there ain't many problems with native games.

So please buy an nVidia card if you wan't to use GNU/Linux and play games or Intel GMA if you just want eye candy like AIGLX. I will probably insert a nVidia
7900gtx this evening into my gaming rig. Sorry for the rant. I'm just so sick of this shit and I hope you stay away from ATI. If I have the time I'll remove my 9800pro and insert a 7800gs for the sake of nVidia's good drivers. Don't forget that ATI is sleeping with Microsoft.

[piratePenguin]

The free (as in freedom) ati driver isn't that bad, especially if you have a radeon <= 9600. There is no free driver for nvidia cards. Intel release their drivers under a free license, for some of the cards.

So if you wanna have decent free drivers available, ati isn't so bad. Plus fglrx and the nvidia driver are of questionable legality too

Plus, a lot of people reckon AMD will release the code of the ATi drivers, if they do we'll have a kick ass free DRI driver, stable with all ATi/AMD cards, after a few months.

my radeon 9600 is running well, with the free driver. I've never setup fglrx

[RaZoR1394]

The free (as in freedom) ati driver isn't that bad, especially if you have a radeon <= 9600. There is no free driver for nvidia cards. Intel release their drivers under a free license, for some of the cards.

So if you wanna have decent free drivers available, ati isn't so bad. Plus fglrx and the nvidia driver are of questionable legality too

Plus, a lot of people reckon AMD will release the code of the ATi drivers, if they do we'll have a kick ass free DRI driver, stable with all ATi/AMD cards, after a few months.

my radeon 9600 is running well, with the free driver. I've never setup fglrx

Yes if you're stuck in the stoneage with old cards but good luck getting a x1900xtx or a x1950xt running with the free radeon drivers. Pre x1800xt cards ain't worth shit for todays high end gaming and heavy 3d work. If you want to keep up with the game and 3d work development you have to upgrade frequently.

The rumour about ATI releasing free drivers is just BS. Either way it would just be a functional driver as they said; no 3d, xgl, aiglx, high performance etc. An ATI/AMD rep recently said openly that there are too many patented optimizations in the driver to make it open source. He also specifically said "It's never gonna happen".

And yes there is a free driver for nVidia (nv) however I don't think it provides accelerated 3d but who gives a rats ass when "nvidia" works perfectly. I got two computers with nVidia who never have problems except one crash because of high Xorg cpu usage.

And did I forget to say that my computer frequently randomly locks up when I'm GNU/Linux even with the "radeon" driver while Windows XP is rock stable.

ATI makes very good hardware (except the high power usage) but the software blows just like in Windows.

[piratePenguin]

Oops.. When I said "driver" I meant "3d driver"..

Yes for old cards but good luck getting a x1900xtx or a x1950xt running with the free radeon drivers. Pre x1800xt cards ain't worth shit for high end gaming.

The cheapest card in the results of a search for 'x1800xt' on newegg is nearly $190, by "high end gaming" maybe you mean "funding AMD".

The rumour about ATI releasing free drivers is just BS. Either way it would just be a functional driver as they said, no 3d, xgl, aiglx, high performance etc.

As I understand, it would be fglrx. We already have free 2d drivers for ATi cards.

An ATI/AMD rep recently said openly that there are too many patented optimizations in the driver to make it open source.

Licensed patented optimizations? I can see how that would fck things up..

Anyhow. Even if they just release decent specs it'd be fine (better, even).

And yes there is a free driver for nVidia (nv) however I don't think it provides accelerated 3d.

It doesn't.

[Lead Head]

. $190 for an x1800xt is dirt cheap! they originially retailed at about $500 wich was considered good at the time! but x1800s have ceased production a while ago, the x1900s have replaced it

[RaZoR1394]

Don't forget that ATI doesn't even have drivers for FreeBSD.

[RaZoR1394]

Oops.. When I said "driver" I meant "3d driver"..The cheapest card in the results of a search for 'x1800xt' on newegg is nearly $190, by "high end gaming" maybe you mean "funding AMD".
As I understand, it would be fglrx. We already have free 2d drivers for ATi cards.Licensed patented optimizations? I can see how that would fck things up..

Anyhow. Even if they just release decent specs it'd be fine (better, even).
It doesn't.

The current free 2d driver can't even bring up X with the latest ATI cards.

[WMD]

So if you wanna have decent free drivers available, ati isn't so bad. Plus fglrx and the nvidia driver are of questionable legality too

How exactly?

[hm_murdock]

Why doesn't somebody make a $200 computer out of the circuitry on a video board? Seriously, the things are SO DAMN RIDICULOUS that often times, a card is better than the computer it goes into.

[GenuineAdvantage]

No offense but legality and rumors into the future can go screw themselves. In the now, nvidia runs with less problems. I already knew all that about ATI. Seriously, even on winblows ATI drivers suck by comparison - in my experience. No doubt, I have to go with nvidia. Well if I ever dork out and spend money on a fancy 3d card that is, it will be nvidia. After I confirm that the linux driver supports it that is.

[mobrien_12]

How exactly?

I think the argument is this:

The kernel is GPL. You cannot distribute binaries linked to it that are non GPL.   You get in _lots_ of trouble if you distribute NVIDIA binary drivers with your distro that are precompiled for the kernel.  


However, there's a loophole, because nvidia actually distributes non binary stuff, source code that by licence you are not allowed to see or modify.   It gets compiled into a new kernel module on the fly.  As an end user, the GPL doesn't prevent you from tainting the kernel.  It does keep you from distributing a tainted kernel.

[Pathos]

/me looks down adoringly at my 6600GT ....

I upgraded my card because it was a very bad bottleneck and I wanted a dual monitor system with a single card. probably should have saved money and gone with just a 6600. I'm never going to buy a gaming computer again unless I'm rich now consoles have HD. Probably get a huge LCD monitor for my pc and a tv card and run the console through that...

[mobrien_12]

Why doesn't somebody make a $200 computer out of the circuitry on a video board? Seriously, the things are SO DAMN RIDICULOUS that often times, a card is better than the computer it goes into.

Come on, man.  You know better.  The GPU is really powerful because it's specialized.  It does one thing and one thing well.  It cannot do everything.  

That kind of statement is like saying "wow, my 18 inch crescent wrench is so much awesome at turning lug nuts, why doesn't someone throw away that $400 box of tools that it sits in and just use the crescent wrench to turn screws, hammer nails, apply heatsink grease to CPU's .... "

[hm_murdock]

Ten points for missing the point. Additional 3 for lack of sense of humor.

[piratePenguin]

The current free 2d driver can't even bring up X with the latest ATI cards.

Blame ATi.