Drivers Linux & Installing them

[Holland1994]

Hi guys, since a few days I have installed Linux Mint 14 32bit. I have some difficulties which I can't overcome actually.
First of all, I'm looking for the "right" the open source driver the ATI R9600 (RV350). The offical ones don't support the newer kernels.
I can't really find some which I can install either.

Secondly, I am looking for drivers for the Realtek rtl8139. I can't find the right ones. However, I have found an .ARM file, how to install that one?
Edit: I have found this topic however, I will check that later. http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=110666

Please help me with my first steps with Linux

[jungle_boy]

Firstly; Welcome to Linux world!. You should try LM13 because it has more old custom kernel and it is stable, with more compatibility with proprietary drivers, or not.

Secondly, Realtek is a fairly standard adapter and has been in the mainline kernel for a long time. The driver/module is 8139cp.ko. The device should be auto-detected on a modern Linux distribution like LM13.

[bb333]

For video read the release notes:
http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_nadia.php
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/l ... ng=English

Ethernet:

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$ ifconfig -a

That's an ethernet card, should be listed, and should work fine.

[Holland1994]

For video read the release notes:
http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_nadia.php
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/l ... ng=English

I did, and after some research my gpu is already thrown to legacy by ATI, in 2009. So no hope for the official drivers. Which open source driver can I use for my GPU? Because now it can't even play a 240p video without lagg.

Ethernet:

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$ ifconfig -a

That's an ethernet card, should be listed, and should work fine.

Ah yes, LAN is working, those drivers are fine I suppose. It's an ethernet card with a wifi antenna. The problem is that the wifi isn't working here in Linux, though it worked in xp&windows7.
So what needs to be done to fix this problem?

[bb333]

For video read the release notes:
http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_nadia.php
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/l ... ng=English

I did, and after some research my gpu is already thrown to legacy by ATI, in 2009. So no hope for the official drivers. Which open source driver can I use for my GPU? Because now it can't even play a 240p video without lagg.

Ethernet:

Code: Select all

$ ifconfig -a

That's an ethernet card, should be listed, and should work fine.

Ah yes, LAN is working, those drivers are fine I suppose. It's an ethernet card with a wifi antenna. The problem is that the wifi isn't working here in Linux, though it worked in xp&windows7.
So what needs to be done to fix this problem?

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$ inxi -G

That should list "radeon" as the driver. That is the open source driver. If not, install these and reboot:

xserver-xorg-video-radeon
xserver-xorg-video-ati

or install the proprietary drivers from the link provided.

_____________


Wireless likely requires proprietary drivers. Find out what card it is. That realtek is lan only.

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$ inxi -N

or

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$ lspci

Google "ubuntu [your card]" or "linux mint [your card]"

You can also install windows drivers. There is an option in the linux mint control panel. "windows wireless drivers"

[Holland1994]

Ethernet:

Code: Select all

$ ifconfig -a

That's an ethernet card, should be listed, and should work fine.

Code: Select all

$ inxi -G

That should list "radeon" as the driver. That is the open source driver. If not, install these and reboot:

xserver-xorg-video-radeon
xserver-xorg-video-ati

or install the proprietary drivers from the link provided.

_____________


Wireless likely requires proprietary drivers. Find out what card it is. That realtek is lan only.

Code: Select all

$ inxi -N

or

Code: Select all

$ lspci

Google "ubuntu [your card]" or "linux mint [your card]"

You can also install windows drivers. There is an option in the linux mint control panel. "windows wireless drivers"

[/quote]
Thanks for your reply:). About my wifi problem, yes you are right. My realtek is only an ethernet card, and thus is only LAN. My wifi card is: Intersil ISL3886 [Prism Javelin/Prism Xbow]. I installed it via ndiswrapper, but nothing seems to happen.

For the video card, yes it shows up as Radeon,

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Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV350 AP [Radeon 9600] 
          X.Org: 1.13.0 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1024x768@75.1hz 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on ATI RV350 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 9.0

So it has the open source drivers, but it does not meet my requirements. I read that the ATI drivers would support my graphic card until Ubuntu 9.10

9600 http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...2&lang=English
X.Org 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, or 7.4 ubuntu 9.10 = 7.4

So I probably should take Mint 8/9 then?

[bb333]

Comments say it works in 14 but YMMV:
http://www.ubuntuvibes.com/2012/10/how- ... egacy.html

Which version of mint are you running? If Cinnamon, turn off 3D effects. Radeon should not be running that slow.

Tweaks may help:
http://help.ubuntu.com/community/Radeon ... The_Driver

--------------
Install linux-firmware-nonfree.

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$ sudo apt-get install linux-firmware-nonfree

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$ sudo modprobe p54pci

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$ iwconfig

Should list your card.

[Holland1994]

Thanks for your reply.
My wifi is working, thanks mate.
I turned off my Cinnamon 3D effects, and it does improve my performance. I can now play 480 videos, the stutters are hardly noticable, thanks!
However, I do have a question about the driver tweaks. I can't find the xorg.conf in

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/etc/X11/

Do you think they should help in this situation?

[bb333]

Thanks for your reply.
My wifi is working, thanks mate.
I turned off my Cinnamon 3D effects, and it does improve my performance. I can now play 480 videos, the stutters are hardly noticable, thanks!
However, I do have a question about the driver tweaks. I can't find the xorg.conf in

Code: Select all

/etc/X11/

Do you think they should help in this situation?

Have no clue. I can only speak for Intel integrated graphics (it did help a bit with video tearing and other things).

xorg.conf was removed a while back. I know in debian you can still create it.

http://wiki.debian.org/Xorg

CTRL+ALT+F2 through F6 to find a terminal (screen will turn black with just a prompt) F7 should get you back to mint.

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$ sudo /etc/init.d/mdm stop

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$ sudo cd /etc/X11/

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$ sudo Xorg -configure

replace mdm with whatever your display manager is. gdm, kdm, xdm. Cinnamon should be mdm.

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$ sudo /etc/init.d/mdm start

It should be there now. Edit it as sudo/root. Reboot may be necessary for changes to take effect.

[Holland1994]

Thanks, that worked.
I have one last question though, how to implent a start up command like: sudo modprobe p54pci.
I have put it in my rc.local, but it won't work.
This is how it looks like:

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#!/bin/sh -e                                                                        
#                                                                                  
# rc.local                                                                          
#                                                                                  
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.                    
# Make sure that the script will “exit 0″ on success or any other                  
# value on error.                                                                  
#                                                                                  
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution              
# bits.                                                                            
#                                                                                  
# By default this script does nothing.                                              
                                                                                   
sudo modprobe p54pci

So how should I address this?