Open source Drivers for ATI card

[VidarPT]

I'd like to know if it's possible to install and use drivers from this PPA

https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/graphics-drivers/

If so how can I use them?

[passerby]

Should work. It only seems to be a little newer than the one in quantal's repos though.
To install the current version, open a terminal and run:

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sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati

then enter your root password when prompted. Afterwards, restart your X server (ctrl + alt + backspace) for the change to take place.

If you really want the version in that ppa, run:

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sudo <texteditor> /etc/apt/sources.list

where <texteditor> is gedit for cinnamon, pluma for mate.
Add the line

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deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/oibaf/graphics-drivers/ubuntu quantal main

to the file on a new line. Save and close the file, then run:

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sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati

and restart X (or just reboot) for the changes to take effect.

[VidarPT]

Thanks but I have 2 questions:

1 -

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OpenGL vendor string: X.Org
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV670
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 9.2-devel (git-07cdfdb quantal-oibaf-ppa)
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30

Glxinfo reports this. Shouldn't the renderer be Mesa instead of Gallium?
2 - Shouldn't there be a xorg.conf files on the system?

[eanfrid]

No to both

You only need an xorg.conf if X automagic configuration fails to handle your devices the way you want. And then you instead should create an /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d directory to store the *.conf files needed to setup your devices.

[Orbmiser]

No as the render is Gallium which is a part of Mesa? Just guessing as mine is just like yours.

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Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV710 [Radeon HD 4350] 
           X.Org: 1.13.0 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1680x1050@60.0hz, 1680x1050@59.9hz 
           [b]GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV710 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 9.0[/b]

Also System Open drivers I believe don't use an xorg file.
Someone else can chime in and correct me or give more info.
.

[VidarPT]

Mh.. i was asking because of the examples given here http://dri.freedesktop.org/wiki/glxinfo
Not to mention Team Fortress 2 is full of graphical glitches all over the screen and bad performance :\

Also: Isn't xserver-xorg-video-radeon needed?

[Orbmiser]

Well sounds like the Open drivers aren't going to cut for higher games.
And the Ati propriety drivers will be required then.
.

[eanfrid]

xserver-xorg-video-radeon is the open-source driver (therefore listed as "radeon").

[VidarPT]

xserver-xorg-video-radeon is the open-source driver (therefore listed as "radeon").

But i installed xserver-xorg-video-ati from that PPA, however there is an update to xserver-xorg-video-radeon too. I guess there's no harm in installing it then?

[eanfrid]

The "ati" driver calls and chainloads the right driver ("radeon" in your case) as there are many older ATI/AMD models which are managed by the generic ati driver. The enhanced radeon driver is probably included in the package you downloaded. Not worries.

[VidarPT]

After trying Steam Big Picture I saw that the system is only detecting 256MB vram instead of 512MB. Is this something i can fix or drivers issue?