Ubuntu 的 ATi 驅動

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/FglrxInteferesWithRadeonDriver
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver

我的 laptop 有一張非常古怪的顯示卡：ATI Mobility Radeon X2300
ATi 對 Linux 本來就很不友善了，再加上這張怪卡，更有得煩了。

lspci -nn | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon X2300 [1002:718a]

我的環境是 Ubuntu 11.10 i386，先來認識一些名詞。

［Mesa］
Mesa is a software library for 3D computer graphics that provides a generic OpenGL implementation for rendering three-dimensional graphics on multiple platforms.

［Radeon Driver］
Open Source driver for many ATI graphics cards called "radeon" or "ati". It will provide 2D and 3D acceleration in your video hardware. This driver is not as fast as the closed-source, proprietary "fglrx" driver from AMD/ATI Inc. for some cards, but has better dual-head support, and supports some older chipsets that fglrx does not.

［Catalyst | fglrx］
fglrx is a proprietary, Linux binary-only driver for ATI graphic chips with support for 3D acceleration. fglrx is the name of the Linux display driver used for ATI Radeon and ATI FireGL family of video adapters and stands for "FireGL and Radeon for X". It contains both free and open-source and proprietary parts.

=== fglrx ===

fglrx 就是 Catalyst for Linux
ATi 很小氣，不願意開放它的驅動原始碼，只提供編譯好的二進位驅動檔給 Linux OS
每個不同的 Linux 發行版再自行打包它們的 ATi Driver，就是 fglrx（FireGL and Radeon for X）
你看 ATi 取的這爛名字 ....

fglrx 雖然還有其他問題：
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problems_with_fglrx
http://askubuntu.com/questions/78906/ati-amd-proprietary-fglrx-graphics-install-fails-how-can-i-resolve-the-problem

但是大家最推薦、最簡便的解法還是使用 fglrx

不管是透過 PPA 使用 apt-get 安裝：
https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates
https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

或下載官方原始檔來編譯安裝（ATi Radeon 系列）：
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/previous/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx

只是根據硬體支援清單，我的 Radeon X2300 看起來已經不被新版的 fglrx 支援了：
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Hardware#Not_Yet_Supported_or_Unoffically_Supported

我測試了 apt-get 安裝的 fglrx：

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install fglrx fglrx-amdcccle
sudo apt-get install fglrx-updates fglrx-amdcccle-updates
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

也測試了官方不同版本的的原始檔安裝：
ati-driver-installer-9-3-x86.x86_64.run
ati-driver-installer-10-12-x86.x86_64.run
ati-driver-installer-11-10-x86.x86_64.run
ati-driver-installer-11-12-x86.x86_64.run

=== Radeon Driver ===

使用 apt-cache search radeon，找到下列套件：

xserver-xorg-video-ati - X.Org X server -- AMD/ATI display driver wrapper
xserver-xorg-video-ati-dbg - X.Org X server -- AMD/ATI display driver wrapper (debugging symbols)
xserver-xorg-video-radeon - X.Org X server -- AMD/ATI Radeon display driver
xserver-xorg-video-radeon-dbg - X.Org X server -- AMD/ATI Radeon display driver (debugging symbols)
radeontool - utility to control ATI Radeon backlight functions on laptops

fglrx-amdcccle-updates - Catalyst Control Center for the AMD graphics accelerators
fglrx-amdcccle - Catalyst Control Center for the AMD graphics accelerators
fglrx-updates - Video driver for the AMD graphics accelerators
fglrx-updates-dev - Video driver for the AMD graphics accelerators (devel files)
fglrx - Video driver for the AMD graphics accelerators
fglrx-dev - Video driver for the AMD graphics accelerators (devel files)

libdrm-radeon1 - Userspace interface to radeon-specific kernel DRM services -- runtime
libdrm-radeon1-dbg - Userspace interface to radeon-specific kernel DRM services -- debugging symbols

根據 https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver
看起來 Radeon Driver 另外一個可以嘗試的選擇。

If you've previously installed the ATI binary/proprietary driver (a.k.a Catalyst/fglrx), you need to make sure it's fully purged before trying to use the open-source ati/radeon driver.

sudo apt-get purge fglrx*
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati* xserver-xorg-video-radeon* radeontool

但是，在使用 Chrome 或 Firefox 搭配 Flash 時，gnome 經常會當掉，很糟糕。
將 Flash 套件移除之後，目前還沒有出現當幾狀況！COOL！

Reference：
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1556555
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1250530
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Oneiric_Installation_Guide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Catalyst
http://maketecheasier.com/install-custom-gnome-shell-themes/2011/09/27
http://mrrichard.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Install-FGLRX-in-Ubuntu-1010
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/FglrxInteferesWithRadeonDriver
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonHD
http://mrrichard.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Install-FGLRX-in-Ubuntu-1010
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/previous/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx
http://askubuntu.com/questions/124292/what-is-the-correct-way-to-install-ati-catalyst-video-drivers-fglrx/129200#129200
http://askubuntu.com/questions/71457/how-can-i-set-up-dual-monitor-display-with-ati-driver