This article discusses the fglrx proprietary video drivers for ATi cards for Linux, and how to install them on various distributions. The fglrx drivers have something of a reputation for being problematic; however, they have got a lot better recently; the latest versions seem to work fine pretty much all of the time.

General Info

Generally, freely-distributed/community/non-commercial Linux distributions don't install the fglrx drivers by default, because they are not open source. However, most distros offer a (relatively) simple way to install and configure them.

According to ATi, the drivers support kernel versions 2.4.* and 2.6.*; and X Windowing System versions XFree86 4.[123] and X.Org 6.8.*. They also work fine on X.Org 7.0 (so-called "Modular X"), at least under Gentoo or Ubuntu. This covers pretty much every distro in existence.

Distro-specific instructions

Please add instructions for your distro.

Ubuntu

To install the fglrx drivers, run at a terminal or the console the command

aptitude install xserver-xorg-driver-ati

(you could also use apt-get or Synaptic to install the package). Next, run

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

On the second question -- the one that tells you to "Select the desired X server driver" -- make sure you choose the fglrx option from the menu. Generally, for the other questions, the default choices will be acceptable. When the process is finished, reboot your computer. (Rebooting is actually probably not necessary, but it avoids any issues with kernel modules and suchlike.) Once you have restarted, to make sure that 3-D acceleration is working correctly, run

glxinfo

and check that there is a line saying

direct rendering: Yes

Gentoo

First, make sure that "Enable loadable module support", "Module unloading" and "MTRR (Memory Type Range Register) support" are built into your kernel, and that "/dev/agpgart (AGP support)" and your specific AGP chipset are enabled as modules. Also make sure that "Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support)" and "Support for framebuffer devices" are disabled. If necessary, compile and install a new kernel and reboot your computer with the new kernel.

Install the ATI drivers by running

emerge -av ati-drivers
opengl set ati

Then, to configure the X server, run

aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Now, reboot your computer. (Rebooting is actually probably not necessary, but it avoids any issues with kernel modules and suchlike.) Once you have restarted, to make sure that 3-D acceleration is working correctly, run

glxinfo

and check that there is a line saying

direct rendering: Yes

Troubleshooting

Using the following snippet (from the Ubuntu Wiki) for the Device section in /etc/X11/xorg.conf may help with problems with the fglrx drivers (particularly if you are using Xgl):

Section "Device"
  Identifier  "card0"
  Driver      "fglrx"
  Option       "no_accel" "no"
  Option       "no_dri" "no"
  Option       "DynamicClocks" "on"
  Option       "mtrr" "on"
  Option       "DesktopSetup" "Single"
  Option       "ScreenOverlap" "0"
  Option       "Capabilities" "0x00000000"
  Option       "CapabilitiesEx" "0x00000000"
  Option       "VideoOverlay" "on"
  Option       "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
  Option       "CenterMode" "off"
  Option       "PseudoColorVisuals" "off"
  Option       "Stereo" "off"
  Option       "StereoSyncEnable" "1"
  Option       "FSAAEnable" "no"
  Option       "FSAAScale" "1"
  Option       "FSAADisableGamma" "no"
  Option       "FSAACustomizeMSPos" "no"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosX0" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosY0" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosX1" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosY1" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosX2" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosY2" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosX3" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosY3" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosX4" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosY4" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosX5" "0.000000"
  Option       "FSAAMSPosY5" "0.000000"
  Option       "UseFastTLS" "0"
  Option       "BlockSignalsOnLock" "on"
  Option       "UseInternalAGPGART" "no"
  Option       "ForceGenericCPU" "no"
  Option       "KernelModuleParm" "agplock=0"
  Option       "PowerState" "1"
  BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection