ati driver rant, the next generation

[storm2k]

so, let me go back to the beginning. i haev an ati all in wonder radeon 8500dv, with the breakout box so i can watch dvds on my tv and make video and stuff.

now the trials and tribulations of me adn this card and linux are well known to many. basically, the default radeon drivers shipped with xfree86 choke on the breakout box, because it can't determine which monitor is my primary monitor and chokes, and the only way i can run linux on the thing is to have the breakout box unplugged. naturally, this defeats the purpose of having the card.

on redhat 8, i was able to fix the problem by using the proprietary ati driver, which worked with xf 4.2.0. though it required some manual configuration, i got it to work eventually.

the problem of course is that redhat 9, like most modern distros uses xfree 4.3.0 now. the old ati driver obviously won't work.

so ati FINALLY updates the damn driver, but it looks like it's compiled against glibc 2.2 rather than 2.3.x, which will elad to more problems, i believe, seeing as how you're supposed to use the same glibc versions.

grr!

[Beemer]

I think you're lieing to us. It is clearly writen in the feature spec's, "Reliable customer service from ATI".

How can your rant be? lol

It's a big pain in the butt when you have high hopes on your hardware purchase and it falls very short of your expectations.

Lots of compatibility research has to be done previous to almost any purchase now-a-days.

Many of us no this so I am posting this to those that might need the heads up.

If unsure of any aspect of your possible purchase, E-mail the manufacturer for the information you need. Any question may result in a purchase of their product so they are more than willing to help out.

Cheers!

[jkrohn]

This is the one reason that I continue to buy NVidia. Their support to linux has been second to none IMO (as far as closed drivers go).

While their current state kinda prohibits me from buying a new card, I will still stick with them. My ti4200 should last long enough.

If ATI would get their act together (not only in the Linux driver arena, but their Windows drivers aren't too much better) they could have much more market.

Jkrohn

[Telexen]

People are still claiming ATi has gotten their act together with drivers... no they haven't ... my Radeons still crash and burn

[Epyon9283]

I don't have any problems with my ATI cards in linux or windows.

[storm2k]

actually my card perfroms perfectly well in xp. i don't have driver problems and my games work fine, the dvd works fine, the breakout box works fine, this is all just an indication that ati, like many hardware manufacturers does not take linux seriously at all, and it is very frustrating. i miss my dual boot.

[CMonster]

storm2k - I feel for you. Linux still has a long long way to go in order for many hardware and software companies to get behind it. On the other end of your dilemma -I hear ya- while I think it good to have a "new" version of Linux every 6 months, the compatibility issues that arise can drive one mad... this version of XFree x.x.x vs version x.x.x or glibc 2.2 vs 2.3 -all hail backwards compatibility!

[vass0922]

Considering the latest update of Linux drivers was in late july thats pretty good as JK mentioned with closed drivers froma hardware company.

When was the last ATI linux update?
I can never find drivers on their site

[storm2k]

linux drivers were updated sept 4th. i was all excited... till i realized that they wouldn't work on redhat 9. i wish they'd realize that redhat 6 hasn't been a standard for a while.

[storm2k]

ok. maybe i should retract it. it seems ati has updated their documentation (at long last), and said for requirments:

Any Linux/x86 system that does provide a glibc 2.2 (=libc 6.2) compatible environment is supported. If your system does have a glibc 2.3 then this condition is nicley fullfiled due to the lib's backward compatibility.

so it seems that i am NOT sol.

guess who's gonna be coming back to the linux fold soon?!