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why is my ati9700 running slow

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TucUp:
ive got a radeon 9700 and running mandrake 9.01.
when i go to run any games that are with linux it is so slow.  what gives, im so lost with ho to install drivers and set it up.

and what is 4 (something) X....drivers and 3d etc.

any ideas

thick guy aasking

Calum:
you're not thick, you just don't know the answers yet!

i don't know, so maybe a gamer type will know more than me, but the 4 something X thing i can tell you about.

the X server is what enables programs to display graphical information onscreen. basically the X server is what allows a GUI to occur in *nix systems.

in linux for intel type machines, the free and open source X server is XFree86 and the current version is 4.2 (or maybe 4.3 now) however many linuces still come with XFree86 version 3.6 (i think, it's 3.something anyway) for in case the newest one won't work with your video card. my ATI Rage seems to work better with Xfree 3.x than Xfree 4.x, but when i turn off hardware acceleration (which is possibly something to do with the '3d' you mentioned, i am no expert but), it seems to work fine, but i really don't know if it would be good enough for games, and i only have a celeron 700 anyway, so i can't tell if it's the video card or the CPU that's slow.

that's all i can help you with, but i am sure somebody else will come along soon.

[ March 31, 2003: Message edited by: Calum: crusader for peace & freedom ]

Pantso:

quote:Originally posted by TucUp:
ive got a radeon 9700 and running mandrake 9.01.
when i go to run any games that are with linux it is so slow.  what gives, im so lost with ho to install drivers and set it up.

and what is 4 (something) X....drivers and 3d etc.

any ideas

thick guy aasking
--- End quote ---


From Gillingham hey? I lived there when I was studying in the UK. Anyway, enough ranting..

To your problem now. First of all, go to http://www.xfree86.org and have a look at their drivers support page, to see if your card is listed there.

It is very likely that you have selected the wrong driver for your card during setup, OR there is no hardware acceleration for your card in Xfree86.

However, I did not understand the version of Mandrake Linux you are now running. If it is version 9.0, then it comes with Xfree86 4.2.* but if it is version 9.1, it comes with Xfree86 4.3.*.

Anyway, go to the Xfree86 page and have a look for yourself. I'm sure you will find your answer there.    ;)

TucUp:
thx guys,

I had a look around and found there to be a LOT of prblems with setting up an ATI Radeon 9xxx graphics card in Mandrake version 9.1, with Xfree86 4.3.

there seems to be a lot of advice on editting files and reconfiguring this n that but as im a complette novice in linux...this is a new world to me

the graphics i get at the moment are fine for files and video but if i want to run a game (radeon 9700 pro is a pure game card) then im stuck. a lot of card for simple graphics.

do you think I would be beter running red hat or other platform, or is mandrake ok.

I downloaded ati drivers but i got error messages saying incorrect version.

im tired now so will sleep it off and explore tomorrow.
thx again for your help and advice

Ice-9:
If you only have problems when you try to run games it's more likely to be a driver problem than a problem with Xfree.

I use an nVidia-based card so I can't really help you with the installation of the drivers, and I think there might be an issue with them having no support for your version of Xfree yet.
But I also read somewhere that Mandrake 9.1 came with 3D capable drivers, although that might have been for nVidia-cards only ....

My suggestion would be to keep an eye on this page
ATI driver page and eventually run the "Check.sh" script to see if your version of Xfree is supported.
Otherwise I would contact their support and ask about it.

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