CrunchBang Linux

Reavus

New Member

Registered: 2013-05-05

Posts: 8

ATI Video Cards and Legacy Drivers. Best way to ensure compatibility?

Hi guys,

I just read this awesome thread:

http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=17948

Unfortunately for me, I have a HD Radeon card below the 5k series. An HD Radeon 4650 to be precise. According to el_koraco, in order for me to use the legacy driver I need to use Xorg 1.12. I am unsure of the required kernel version.

I understand that Wheezy is running Xorg 1.7 and kernel 3.2? If that is the case, should I just run Waldorf stable and install Xorg 1.12? I am unsure of the correct procedure to do this or what is the safest setup to ensure a working graphics card for an extended period of time.

Also, is it safe for me to switch my sources to testing? I'm thinking that as long xorg doesn't update past 1.12 I should be safe but I'm unsure if any kernel updates will automatically recompile the legacy driver module or that it requires to be done manually. Or is it safer to backport Xorg 1.12 and use Stable Waldorf?

For those who might ask why I don't just use the open source driver, I would if I could but the current implementation of the driver means that the graphics card runs wicked hot. I need the proprietary drivers to make sure I can at least sit the thing on my lap.

So, does anyone have any tips to best manage legacy drivers on their system? What sources are you using? Where do you get the correct Xorg version? Any tips to help maintain long term compatibility?

Thanks for any help you guys might have. I appreciate it.

KrunchTime

#! Die Hard

From: not where I belong

Registered: 2012-03-02

Posts: 2,385

Re: ATI Video Cards and Legacy Drivers. Best way to ensure compatibility?

I don't have any tips.  However, AMD Catalyst Driver v13.1 works well under Waldorf.  I have an AMD (ATI) 4570 laptop card.

The referenced driver worked using Sid repos as well until a recent Linux kernel upgrade.  I did notice last night on my other laptop (non-AMD card) that the Linux kernel was updated again under Sid, so hopefully that resolves the issue on my Dell laptop.  The fan runs constantly when I boot into Sid.

Update:  The new kernel available in the Sid repos didn't fix my fan issue.  Sigh....

Last edited by KrunchTime (2013-05-24 05:16:43)

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oktubre

New Member

From: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Registered: 2011-08-10

Posts: 5

Re: ATI Video Cards and Legacy Drivers. Best way to ensure compatibility?

Reavus, ¿did you have any success trying to install the legacy driver? I'm in the same situation here.
For all that I read about it, the best solution is to downgrade xorg...

oktubre

New Member

From: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Registered: 2011-08-10

Posts: 5

Re: ATI Video Cards and Legacy Drivers. Best way to ensure compatibility?

Found it!
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=94847
This works.
The title says "for kernel 3.7 and 3.8" but later it also says that works with 3.2 kernels.
Did it for me.
Good luck!!!

trench

Member

Registered: 2013-02-13

Posts: 36

Re: ATI Video Cards and Legacy Drivers. Best way to ensure compatibility?

Hi guys,

Unfortunately for me, I have a HD Radeon card below the 5k series. An HD Radeon 4650 to be precise. According to el_koraco, in
order for me to use the legacy driver I need to use Xorg 1.12. I am unsure of the required kernel version.

No need to worry about xorg version right now ( its 1.7 v in wheezy/unstable) .. the only thing to worry about is xserver version i.e xserver-xorg-core in debian(1.12.4-6) which fglrx-legacy driver depends upon. So xserver version should not be greater than 1.12. For example in ubuntu 13.04 the default xserver-xorg-core version is 1.13, so in this case you have to downgrade to 1.12 version to work with fglrx-legacy-driver.  Also fglrx-legacy-driver in debian is already patched upto 3.8 kernel ..so you can use any kernel upto 3.8 version..( right now i am using 3.8 kernel with fglrx-legacy-driver)     

I understand that Wheezy is running Xorg 1.7 and kernel 3.2? If that is the case, should I just run Waldorf stable and install Xorg 1.12? I am unsure of the correct procedure to do this or what is the safest setup to ensure a working graphics card for an extended period of time.

No need to install Xorg 1.12 because there isn't .. again you should only worry about xserver-xorg-core version that should not be greater than 1.12 ... so better hold this package because in future it will be upgraded to 1.13  . These commands will do.

To hold package

sudo aptitude hold xserver-xorg-core     

To remove hold

sudo aptitude unhold xserver-xorg-core

So this is you have to do ... if you are in wheezy/waldorf ...  you have to hold the xserver-xorg-core package and add wheezy-backports repository and then install fglrx-legacy-driver. Follow these steps:-

1) Hold xserver-xorg-core package like mentioned above

2) Add wheezy backports repo in sources.list

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ wheezy-backports main contrib non-free

3) update repository

sudo apt-get update 

4) Install fglrx-leagcy-driver from wheezy-backports

sudo apt-get -t wheezy-backports install fglrx-legacy-driver fglrx-legacy-control 

5) Make xorg know about fglrx

 sudo aticonfig --initial

Note :- If you are in testing/unstable branch .. fglrx-legacy-driver is already there... no need to port from any other branch .
And yes any kernel updates will automatically recompile the legacy driver module ( but it will work upto 3.8 kernel ).

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