M13 Mate 64-bit ATI additional drivers and HD4670

[SteveIDusa]

The Beginning of the Saga is here http://busnet-serveradministration.blogspot.com/2013/01/mint-13-mate-additional-drives-ati-hd.html

I followed it up with a Post here http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=122168

As requested, this is the New Topic with the information that was requested in response to the previous Post.

After really messing up the previous attempt, and not having any Idea how I got there, even after all of the documentation, I am making a 2nd attempt to recreate the results of the 1st attempt so we can find some resolution to the problem.

I have wiped the HD and done a clean install of Mint 13 Mate 64-bit. Before I did anything else this time, I allowed it to Download and install all updates first thing.

I then opened jocky, and started the first attempt to get the ATI Drivers for my HD 4670 Video card. The last time, I went right to the Drivers listed as "Post Release Updates" as I figured that they are the most up to date. This ran the install process and provided Icons in the Mint Menu and Control Center, however near the end of the driver install the system then threw an error that the driver installation failed.

This time rather than go for those drivers, I chose to go with the ATI Drivers that are NOT marked as "Post Release Updates" to see if there was any difference to the experiences that I had before.

Happy to Report that this did Install the Driver and placed the Icons in the Mint Menu and Control Center without any errors and asked me to reboot the system for full functionality as I expected it to. However after the reboot, just as the previous Post mentions, the AMD CCC admin Icons in either location do nothing. I must launch the AMD CCC admin program via Terminal with "sudo amdcccle". The non admin icons in either location work as normal.

I have been able to configure my Dual monitors as I would like, took some haggling with them, as when I first went into the AMD CCC admin program, it would not save my requested configuration. After a restart, it would revert back to Mirrored Screens. I then went into the Monitor Program provided by Mint 13, and discovered it was on Mirrored, Turned that off, and then saved. I then was able to relaunch from terminal the AMD CCC admin program and set up Orientation & Resolution for the 2 Monitors which it then seems to have saved. (Confirmed after Restart)

I have now opened the package manager and have searched for fglrx just to see what is reporting as installed, which it report as:

fglrx
fglrx-amdccle
jocky-common
jocky-gtk
xserver-xorg-video-radeon

Could that last one cause the need to use the Monitor Application before configuring in AMD CCC admin?

as requested

Output of inxi -Gx is:

Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV730XT [Radeon HD 4670] bus-ID: 01:00.0
X.Org: 1.11.3 driver: fglrx Resolution: 1680x1050@60.0hz, 1440x900@59.9hz
GLX Renderer: ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series GLX Version: 3.3.11627 - CPC Direct Rendering: Yes

Output of fglrxinfo is:

display: :0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series
OpenGL version string: 3.3.11627 Compatibility Profile Context

After entering these commands I then downloaded Minecraft, and set it up just as in the Blog post, it runs just as it did, however the same error log is being created when Minecraft is closed, just as before.

[wayne128]

May be you can test your fglrx with two commands on terminal as follows:

1. glxinfo | grep direct

this is example from my desktop

wayne@wayne ~ $ glxinfo | grep direct
direct rendering: Yes
GL_AMD_multi_draw_indirect, GL_AMD_name_gen_delete,
GL_ARB_draw_indirect, GL_ARB_draw_instanced,
GL_EXT_copy_buffer, GL_EXT_copy_texture, GL_EXT_direct_state_access,

2. fgl_glxgears

this should let you view a rotating 3D tube with spinning gears.
and you can watch terminal showing fps as below, until you stop the gears by clicking.

wayne@wayne ~ $ fgl_glxgears
Using GLX_SGIX_pbuffer
6012 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1202.400 FPS
6572 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1314.400 FPS
6590 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1318.000 FPS
6626 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1325.200 FPS
6656 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1331.200 FPS

[SteveIDusa]

Thank you for the assistance, happy to post the results:

The Output of glxinfo | grep direct is:

~ $ glxinfo | grep direct
direct rendering: Yes
GL_EXT_copy_buffer, GL_EXT_copy_texture, GL_EXT_direct_state_access,

The Output of fgl_glxgears in the termianl, Displays a Window with a Rotating Box with Rotating Internal Gears with an Output in the Terminal of:


~ $ fgl_glxgears
Using GLX_SGIX_pbuffer
1314 frames in 5.0 seconds = 262.800 FPS
1538 frames in 5.0 seconds = 307.600 FPS
1539 frames in 5.0 seconds = 307.800 FPS
1538 frames in 5.0 seconds = 307.600 FPS
1544 frames in 5.0 seconds = 308.800 FPS
1538 frames in 5.0 seconds = 307.600 FPS
1540 frames in 5.0 seconds = 308.000 FPS
1540 frames in 5.0 seconds = 308.000 FPS
1538 frames in 5.0 seconds = 307.600 FPS
1538 frames in 5.0 seconds = 307.600 FPS

[wayne128]

so , your fglrx seems to work.

[SteveIDusa]

It does seem to work, with the exceptions of the few anomalies?

1.) AMD CCC Admin can only be invoked by command line with "sudo amdcccle"
2.) Some settings in the Monitors Application provided by Mint seem to over-ride what AMD CCC admin can change?
3.) Minecraft Client Throws an Error each time it closes, does not seem to have any problems actually running or playing.

Does anyone know if the AMD FGLRX Post Release Updates are compatible with this card? If you read my Blog Post, This all started with Clean Install Mint 13 Mate 64-bit and the Post Release Updates. I would like to try Steam for Linux on this Machine as well, but weeks ago I tried with the FGLRX no PRU driver and it was very choppy.

I even tried Mint 14 and downgrading the xserver, but that was not a good experience, so that is what has brought me back to Mint 13. As well, now that I had my most bizarre experience yesterday with trying to get One of the AMD Driver to install, I am a little nervous to try the Post Release Updates again.

***Update***

I do want to note: For the sake of solving this I will be happy to attempt the Post Release Updates Install and Document what happens if I need to. Also, yesterday, I did attempt to install the AMD Website provided 13.1 Legacy Drivers, which did install just fine, however that was after no less than 4 different attempts via Jocky and Command line to get the Mint Provided Drivers, however I was still getting the same Minecraft error on all of the Drivers.