[EN] ATI Catalyst(fglrx) on Siduction?

[towo]

The amd-run-installer is breaking every deb based system.
Especialy if multiarch is needed, have fun with this shit.
And btw, fglrx 12.10 is in sid, so no need to break things.

[lizbeth]

deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import incoming backport romeo
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian unstable main contrib non-free
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org sid main non-free

lmde with sid

[towo]

And, what you will tell us?
This is a siduction forum, so please stay with our rules or search another forum.

[lizbeth]

Feel free to delete my user forum account.  After reviewing the resonse from the moderators, I find I no longer have any interest in using siduction for any purpose whatsoever.  Good riddance!

[JustDebian]

With xserver-xorg-video-radeon installed, VGAswitcheroo can be used to switch dual GPUs and turn off an inactive GPU.

Code: [Select]


mount -t debugfs debugfs /sys/kernel/debug
echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch


This How-To article on VGA_switcheroo was helpful:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/how-to-switch-between-graphics-processors-using-vga-switcheroo-4175437338/

Kernel Mode Settings that work similarly to fglrx to manage the GPUs are already active. The problem is that GPUs are set to run at maximum by default.

These two articles were most helpful for learning about the KMS options and creating a script to run them at boot:
http://radeon.koolfy.be/tag/power-management/
http://www.techytalk.info/ubuntu-open-source-ati-radeon-driver-power-usage-tweaks/

I opted to use the 'dynpm' option so both GPUs in my HP Dv7-4170us with Radeon HD 4250/5470 could remain active but run cooler and use less power. Unfortunately, they still run hotter than when using Windows 7 and Catalyst - there is no workable fglrx driver known to me for this HP laptop.

The KMS and VGA_switcheroo methods can be used together to manage dual GPUs. For example, the discrete GPU can be deactivated with VGA_switcheroo until it is needed - doing so on my HP machine reduced temperature by 8 to 10 degrees Celcius.

[dibl]

Feel free to delete my user forum account.  After reviewing the resonse from the moderators, I find I no longer have any interest in using siduction for any purpose whatsoever.  Good riddance!

It would be very easy to nuke your account.  However, you might (eventually) find there are things you can learn here, and reasons why we don't encourage using third-party repos, especially for drivers, and perhaps you might come to a different point of view about participating in the siduction community.  So you can keep your account --- "just in case".

 

[DeepDayze]

When will fglrx ever run smoothly on sid anyway? Its just a sad state of affairs,while nvidia's driver is quite usable in comparison

[dibl]

Its just a sad state of affairs,while nvidia's driver is quite usable in comparison

Sad, yes, and kind of strange too, when you consider how "evil" the binary blob is considered by the FOSS advocates, and how AMD are supposedly the more cooperative with open source developers.

[DeepDayze]

Its just a sad state of affairs,while nvidia's driver is quite usable in comparison

Sad, yes, and kind of strange too, when you consider how "evil" the binary blob is considered by the FOSS advocates, and how AMD are supposedly the more cooperative with open source developers.

Yet the open AMD driver still has issues with power management for example.

[agaida]

dibl: There is nothing strange with the catalyst. The fact is that the amd people develop mainstream. We are not mainstream . Without joking - the ati-driver works well with a lot of distributions. Unfortunally unstable and testing debianoids are not the best choice because of the structure of the most repos.

to be happy with the catalyst it needs a) a matching X-Server and b) a matching kernel. Booth you will find in stable (or Arch ..). Beside of these issues its a good idea to learn to patch and build booth Server and/or drivers. That was my start with ubuntu and debian-packaging. It's a little bit steep learning curve, but it is worth it. (OK, one can think about using intel or nvidia right from the start :twisted: )

[dibl]

to be happy with the catalyst it needs a) a matching X-Server and b) a matching kernel. Booth you will find in stable (or Arch ..). Beside of these issues its a good idea to learn to patch and build booth Server and/or drivers. That was my start with ubuntu and debian-packaging. It's a little bit steep learning curve, but it is worth it. (OK, one can think about using intel or nvidia right from the start :twisted: )

I see -- so, with our frequent kernel updates in sid, we would have to rebuild our X-server and catalyst packages for every new kernel (or pin our kernel for a few months).

The first computer that I tried Ubuntu on had an ATI card in it, and the difficulties that I had configuring a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file were so painful that I nearly gave up the project. (Of course I am now very glad that I stayed with it.)  But ever since that terrible experience, I have built my computers with Nvidia cards (or bought them with Intel chips). There are too many better ways to spend time in life, than wrestling with such difficulties when you have another choice.

Wow -- this thread has become very philosophical -- I hope the OP is not offended!  

[timc]

@dibl - No problem for the OP.

@DeepDayze - I have learned to deal with the power management problems. If you want any help, let me know.

Tim

[towo]

Code: [Select]

System:    Host: amd-box Kernel: 3.9.0-rc7-experimental-686 i686 (32 bit, gcc: 4.7.2)
           Desktop: Xfce 4.10.2 (Gtk 2.24.10) Distro: siduction 12.2.0 Riders on the Storm - xfce - (201212092126)
Machine:   System: FUJITSU SIEMENS product: ESPRIMO E
           Mobo: FUJITSU SIEMENS model: D2464-A2 version: S26361-D2464-A2
           Bios: FUJITSU SIEMENS // Phoenix version: 6.00 R1.14.2464.A2 date: 05/22/2007
CPU:       Dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 svm) bmips: 4018.24
           Clock Speeds: 1: 1000.00 MHz 2: 1000.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Caicos [Radeon HD 6450] bus-ID: 03:00.0
           X.Org: 1.12.4 driver: fglrx Resolution: 1280x1024@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer: AMD Radeon HD 6450 GLX Version: 4.2.12172 - CPC 12.10.17 Direct Rendering: Yes
Network:   Card: NVIDIA MCP51 Ethernet Controller driver: forcedeth port: 8c60 bus-ID: 00:14.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:19:99:0c:92:42
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 160.0GB (-) 1: model: SAMSUNG_HD161HJ
Info:      Processes: 135 Uptime: 1:24 Memory: 247.3/3040.9MB Runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 4.7.2
           Client: Shell (bash 4.2.45) inxi: 1.8.45
I don't see the problem.

[dibl]

I don't see the problem.

Says the guy who makes the kernels!


 :lol:

[towo]

You see, that i have running fglrx?

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towo@amd-box:~$ dpkg -l | grep fglrx
ii  fglrx-atieventsd                                           1:13.3~beta3-0.siduction.1         i386         external events daemon for the non-free ATI/AMD RadeonHD display driver
ii  fglrx-control                                              1:13.3~beta3-0.siduction.1         i386         control panel for the non-free ATI/AMD RadeonHD display driver
ii  fglrx-driver                                               1:13.3~beta3-0.siduction.1         i386         non-free ATI/AMD RadeonHD display driver
ii  fglrx-modules-dkms                                         1:13.3~beta3-0.siduction.1         i386         dkms module source for the non-free ATI/AMD RadeonHD display driver
ii  glx-alternative-fglrx                                      0.2.90                             i386         allows the selection of FGLRX as GLX provider
ii  libfglrx:i386                                              1:13.3~beta3-0.siduction.1         i386         non-free ATI/AMD RadeonHD display driver (runtime libraries)
ii  libfglrx-amdxvba1:i386                                     1:13.3~beta3-0.siduction.1         i386         AMD XvBA (X-Video Bitstream Acceleration) runtime libraries
ii  libgl1-fglrx-glx:i386                                      1:13.3~beta3-0.siduction.1         i386         proprietary libGL for the non-free ATI/AMD RadeonHD display driver
That's why i do not see the problem.