ATI proprietary driver and Linux Mint 18

[gsagostinho]

Hi all,

I am currently running Linux Mint 17.3 and I am considering to upgrade to Mint 18. I created a bootable USB stick to test it, and everything seems to work fine, except that I don't see the option of changing my video card driver in the Driver Manager any longer. On Mint 17.3, I see the options xserver-xorg-video-ati, fglrx-updates and fglrx (the latter is what I use often for some games), but on Mint 18 I see only an Unkown device with optionss "intel-microcode" or "do not use this device" but nothing to do with my video cards.

So my question is: is fglrx not installed any longer with Mint? Or is this being caused because I am booting from a USB stick? I just want to make sure everything runs smoothly before installing it. Any help or advice would be highly appreciated.

Cheers!
Gilberto

[rene]

AMD has dropped support for "fglrx" and indeed this means it is unavailable on Ubuntu 16.04 / Mint 18. Older hardware -- pre GCN, i.e., pre HD 7730 -- will have to content with the open source "radeon" driver, which has however seen significant input from AMD developers and performs well. Newest hardware -- GCN 1.2, i.e., post R9 285 -- can already use the newly AMD-developed open source AMDGPU kernel-level driver, either in combination with an also open source X11/Wayland part or with the closed source AMDGPU PRO one. The gap -- GCN 1.1 and 1.0 cards -- is being added to AMDGPU currently.

If you are on an older card be sure to test the "radeon" driver before denouncing it; it may well be all you need. If you're on the newest hardware, rejoice. If you're in the gap, grumble a bit, and for now use "radeon" while waiting for AMDGPU support.

[gsagostinho]

Hi Rene,

Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it. My notebook has a ATI Radeon HD 7730M as well as an Intel HD Graphics 4000. These hybrid cards gave me a lot of headache and are often breaking something when I update my system. When they were functioning, I could only make the ATI card work using the proprietary driver, else all programs would load using the Intel card.

Would you know any test I can make to see if the card is being used? I am familiar with glxgears, though it seems to use the Intel card. And all other 3D software and games I know in which I could easily tell which card is in use (either via some menu or also deducing by the performance) are too large to be installed in the USB stick.

Cheers,
Gilberto

[rene]

The output of

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inxi -Gx

is probably useful. I have no personal experience with hybrid graphics, but although I expect that on the fly switching could well be an issue on Linux, forcing the radeon (and in your case, later amdgpu) driver to always be used would probably be a matter of supplying a custom xorg.conf "Device" fragment.

If you can confirm that indeed the Intel one is now being selected automatically and that you would be fine with the AMD one being used always in Linux, I'll google up something.

[gsagostinho]

Hi Rene,

The output of inxi -Gx is:

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Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
           Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Chelsea LP [Radeon HD 7730M]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: ati,radeon,intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Mobile
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0

And yes, I would be completely fine using only the Radeon. On my happiest time with these hybrid cards, the solution I had managed was indeed to use only the Radeon with fglrx, but an update broke the whole thing and since then I have been living only with the Intel card. I was waiting for the release of Mint 18 because I was considering to nuke my notebook and make a fresh install, hoping that some of these issues would disappear. So if you would have some idea on how to enable only the ATI card I'd be very happy to hear it.

Thanks a lot for the replies.

Cheers,
Gilberto

[rene]

OK, indeed currently the Intel card is being used. Noting to obtain my information largely from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HybridGraphics let us first have you boot with an explicit radeon.modeset=1. Unfortunately I cannot just make you edit a file in /etc and reboot, seeing as how you are testing from USB.

When you boot the Mint 18 USB you can with any key interrupt the 10 second automatic boot countdown. Do so and with the selection on "Start Linux Mint" press Tab to be able to after "quiet splash" add " i915.modeset=0 radeon.modeset=1" and hit enter to boot. Although I am not completely sure, this might already be enough to have X11 retreat to your radeon automatically; X11 has been dependent on kernel-level modesetting for quite some time. It it works, rerun the inxi command to verify changed output w.r.t. the GXL Renderer bit.

If unlucky it might however also cause X11 to not start at all. You'd in that case reboot and provide "radeon.modeset=1" only, but I expect that this would still leave you with the Intel card as the default. We'd in that case need to go the fuller "VGA switcheroo" route but cannot easily on the Live session; we'd need to switch graphics chips before starting X. That should therefore wait for you to in fact have installed the system.

Which I will take as opportunity to go get some sleep in the meantime...

[gsagostinho]

Hi rene,

Adding the string " i915.modeset=0 radeon.modeset=1" immediately after "quite splash" causes the X server to crash (some segmentation fault error). Using only "radeon.modeset=1" avoids the X server crash, but the system still doesn't seem to be using the Radeon card, given that when I type

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glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer string"

I get:

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OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile 

The problem of using a solution involving switcheroo is that, as you pointed out, it would probably require a full installation, and I am quite unhappy about doing that without knowing if it will work (besides this issue with the graphic cards, my 17.3 us working quite well).

I have read that there is a great chance of the fglrx drivers coming back with Ubuntu 16.04.1, but I am not sure if any of the future Mint 18.x will incorporate that or just stick to 16.04 as base. If there is this possibility for the near future, then maybe I should hold my horses for now.

Thanks again and take care,
Gilberto

[rene]

The problem of using a solution involving switcheroo is that, as you pointed out, it would probably require a full installation, and I am quite unhappy about doing that without knowing if it will work.

I'd quite expect that it would work fine, but if you have an external USB or eSATA or even a 10+ GB second USB stick lying around you could test-install Mint 18 onto it without ever touching your current system. If interested, make sure to also install GRUB onto the external disk/stick and don't worry about the installer claiming to "reformat" your current swap partition (it doesn't; it just reuses it). You will be able to boot it via your BIOS boot menu, most often accessible by tapping F12 during start up.

If however you're not all that interested to begin with I'd also feel free to hang on to 17.3 for a bit; I do, even if not for the sake of fglrx.

I have read that there is a great chance of the fglrx drivers coming back with Ubuntu 16.04.1, but I am not sure if any of the future Mint 18.x will incorporate that or just stick to 16.04 as base. If there is this possibility for the near future, then maybe I should hold my horses for now.

First I hear of it but if you have a trustworthy source, that's interesting. Up to now, Ubuntu hasn't in fact had point releases in the Mint-sense, with for example Ubuntu 14.04.1 no other than a roll-up of all the up to that point released updates over 14.04. Assuming that hasn't changed for 16.04 indeed Mint 18.x will receive any updates and additions to the repository that Ubuntu gets.

[gsagostinho]

Hi Rene,

Unfortunately I don't have a spare HD nor USB stick laying around to try this, though I could buy one more USB stick. But anyway, Ubuntu 16.04.1 will be released in a couple of days (planned for the 21st of July), so I will wait for it. If indeed it does come with fglrx, then I will probably skip Mint 18 and wait for Mint 18.1. However if it doesn't include fglrx then I would be interested in trying your other suggestions for Mint 18.

Thanks again and take care!
Gilberto

[gsagostinho]

Just an update on the situation, in case anyone else comes across this post: Ubuntu 16.04.1 has been released, and fglrx has NOT been included. Someone asked if "[is] fglrx is still unsupported?" and one of the devs (Jo-Erlend Schinstad) wrote:

Yes, that's permanent. We're waiting for the new graphics stack from AMD, but that won't be available until the HWE that comes with 16.04.1, which will be in February.

And indeed that driver is nowhere to be seen in the release notes. So Softpedia was wrong when it reported:

[...] the proprietary AMD Catalyst (fglrx) driver has been temporarily removed the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS repositories, as it is not yet ported to X.Org Server 1.8. It will be added again as part of the first point release, Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS.

@rene Given that I currently have a broken installation of fglrx on my Mint 17.3 anyway, I think I will go ahead and install Mint 18 directly on my HD so that in the worse scenario I will simply continue with what I have now: using only the Intel HD 4000. But I will wait a little bit for it because next month I will get my secondary laptop back, which is when I plan to go ahead with a new install (which is important in case something goes wrong during the installation). So in that case would you still be up to give me a hand with the VGA switcheroo if I don't manage it by myself?

Thanks a lot once again, and take care,
Gilberto

[rene]

So in that case would you still be up to give me a hand with the VGA switcheroo if I don't manage it by myself?

I will but should specify that I have not yet made the switch to 18 myself and might not for some time. I furthermore do not have your hardware or even any dual-graphics hardware so it is a bit to wonder if I in fact would be all that primarily useful. In that context it might be best to post either into this thread or even the forum at large -- but if you want to, feel free to PM me as well; I'll try to be helpful.

[gsagostinho]

Sure Rene, I completely understand it. I am already very thankful for all your answers.

Take care,
Gilberto

[Kezarious]

I'm having a similar problem, I think. Output of inxi -G for me shows:

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Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Trinity [Radeon HD 7520G]
 Display Server: X.Org 1.18.3 drivers: codec, air (unloaded: versa, radeon) Resolution: 1366x768@76.00Hz
 GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 128 bits) GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0

I get the 'linux is running in software rendering mode' message on boot up. Any advice?

[mintuserforever]

Thought this would Be helpful This is A download Link to the AMD Radeon Rx 400 family proprietary Drivers I Have modified the code to work with Linux mint 18/18.1 just click the Link to download extract it run the install script and enjoy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4gl_w ... sp=sharing



ps if anyone is Having problems with AMD Drivers you can email me @ lackofgates@gmail.com
let me know witch video card you Have i will download the ubuntu 16.04 driver or the newest they have modify it and send you a download link thanks for viewing AMD will not stop LINUX

[wmoreno3]

Thought this would Be helpful This is A download Link to the AMD Radeon Rx 400 family proprietary Drivers I Have modified the code to work with Linux mint 18/18.1 just click the Link to download extract it run the install script and enjoy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4gl_w ... sp=sharing



ps if anyone is Having problems with AMD Drivers you can email me @ lackofgates@gmail.com
let me know witch video card you Have i will download the ubuntu 16.04 driver or the newest they have modify it and send you a download link thanks for viewing AMD will not stop LINUX

Thanks you, I wrote at your email about "ATI RADEON HD 5870 on Linux Mint 18.1 64Bits"

[BitStreamer]

I have got the same issue with my Radeon HD5770 and Mint 18.1. The worst problem is that i have to run some virtual machines on my system and there is no 3D acceleration supported.

inixi -G shows:

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Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Juniper XT [Radeon HD 5770]
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD JUNIPER (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.8.0) GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0

In "drivers" I can choose 'intel microcode' but it doesn't solve the issue...

[rene]

I have got the same issue with my Radeon HD5770 and Mint 18.1.

And what issue might that be? Note that the only reply in this thread relevant to your situation is my original one: you are on a standard single-graphics system, fully and well supported out of the box on Mint 18.x. You do not need any external driver for 3D acceleration on your HD5770, proprietary or otherwise. If your Virtualbox guests are not 3D accelerated then the only expected issue is just that you have not in fact enabled 3D acceleration in your Virtualbox guests, Settings -> Display -> Enable 3D Acceleration, and/or that you have not installed the (correct version of the) guest additions into the guest operating system.

Note that I'm in fact specifically using a HD5770 and to verify things just now installed Mint 18.1 Cinnamon 64-bit, in which 3D acceleration worked out of the box, and installed Mint 17.3 Cinnamon 64-bit as a guest OS within said newly installed 18.1, using the by 18.1 provided repository version of Virtualbox and using nothing other than the on 17.3 standard installed Virtualbox guest additions in the guest. Everything just works.

Which wouldn't be to say, by the way, that you wouldn't with that specific mixture of Virtualbox host- and guest-addition versions experience screen corruption issues but that's well-known; you're best of installing on both host and guest the very same Virtualbox versions and directly from Oracle rather than from the repository. But that's secondary. Essentially all is fine out of the box on 18.1 on HD5770. Just be sure to in fact enable 3D accel for your guests and to install with your host version compatible guest additions into the guest.

[gn77]

Older hardware -- pre GCN, i.e., pre HD 7730 -- will have to content with the open source "radeon" driver,

I'd like to do this. I'm running an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650. Video performance doesn't matter on this old system (no gaming or such things), but at least I need the correct resolution. I have a 1920x1080 monitor, but currently it runs with 1400x1050 and cannot be changed.
I get the following output from inxi -Gx:

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$ inxi -Gx
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Madison [Mobility Radeon HD 5650/5750 / 6530M/6550M]
           bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: fbdev,ati (unloaded: vesa,radeon) Resolution: 1400x1050@77.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 128 bits)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 12.0.6 Direct Rendering: Yes

So the radeon driver is not loaded and I get this message that mint is runnning in software rendering mode and I have the wrong screen resolution.

Can somebody give advice on how to activate the radeon driver?

[Lennyz]

Older hardware -- pre GCN, i.e., pre HD 7730 -- will have to content with the open source "radeon" driver,

I'd like to do this. I'm running an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650. Video performance doesn't matter on this old system (no gaming or such things), but at least I need the correct resolution. I have a 1920x1080 monitor, but currently it runs with 1400x1050 and cannot be changed.
I get the following output from inxi -Gx:

Code: Select all

$ inxi -Gx
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Madison [Mobility Radeon HD 5650/5750 / 6530M/6550M]
           bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: fbdev,ati (unloaded: vesa,radeon) Resolution: 1400x1050@77.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 3.8, 128 bits)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 12.0.6 Direct Rendering: Yes

So the radeon driver is not loaded and I get this message that mint is runnning in software rendering mode and I have the wrong screen resolution.

Can somebody give advice on how to activate the radeon driver?

You could try updating your kernel to a newer version. Maybe even up to 4.9.

[paulmedynski]

Here's what my system reports:

$ inxi -SCG
System: Host: laptop Kernel: 4.4.0-75-generic x86_64 (64 bit)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.2.7 Distro: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena
CPU: Dual core AMD A6-4400M APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB
clock speeds: max: 2700 MHz 1: 2000 MHz 2: 2400 MHz
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Trinity [Radeon HD 7520G]
Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
Resolution: 1366x768@60.07hz
GLX Renderer: N/A GLX Version: N/A

I've done a fresh install of Mint ad applied all of the available updates. I chose to use the proprietary 'amd-microcode' in the Driver Manager. Cinnamon crashes immediately on startup and runs in fallback mode. Am I in purgatory, waiting/hoping for AMDGPU support for my Radeon HD 7520G?

Thanks!
-Paul