Difference between ATI's own driver and IBM's driver?

[CoolDragon]

I saw some guys say that you can install ATI's driver instead of IBM's driver for FireGL V3200. So what is the difference?

[nirvana0001]

both made by ati, but newer verison (ati) and older verison (IBM).
probably IBM haven't test the new one yet. please correct me if i am wrong.

[fongj]

ditto with what nirvana said. That's basically the gist of it....

The newer ATI drivers are much more capable than IBM ones... e.g. the "Theatre Mode" and other features that Bill describes as "How to use and LOVE your external monitor" http://thinkpads.com/external-video.htm. Not sure if these awesome features will also be available for your FireGL V3200, but getting them for my A31p (ATI Mobility FireGL 7800) has made me fall in love with it all over again.

[CoolDragon]

So can I just download the Catalyst driver and install it? According to the T42 FAQ, you need Patje’s Mobility Modding Tool to install it? But it does not have FireGL V3200 listed.

As far as external monitor, I highly recommend Ultramon (http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/), which makes external monitor really easy to use. I don't know if the ATI's own Catalyst driver has all these features.

[fongj]

So can I just download the Catalyst driver and install it? According to the T42 FAQ, you need Patje’s Mobility Modding Tool to install it? But it does not have FireGL V3200 listed.

As far as external monitor, I highly recommend Ultramon (http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/), which makes external monitor really easy to use. I don't know if the ATI's own Catalyst driver has all these features.

I'm not sure about Mobility Modding for FireGL V3200..... maybe you can check/ask in the forums (here, or at Driver Heaven)...

Yup, I agree that UltraMon is great for managing multiple monitors and extending the desktop. For extra multimedia capabilities though, that's where the newest ATI drivers come in. With the FireGL 7800, at least, the IBM drivers and UltraMon were incapable of doing many things. I wished for something like "Theatre Mode" to be available, but never even knew my card would be able to do it. lol... I guess that's my biggest reason for pushing the newest ATI drivers vs. IBM drivers...

Here's my breakdown of it:

Ultramon (haven't used it for a while, but here's what I remember):

• easy to enable/disable external monitor
• can extend the desktop to the external monitor, but (unlike Windows)adds support for wallpapers and screensavers
• provides a new, independent taskbar on the 2nd monitor's extended desktop
• hotkeys (customizable, and always work) for moving windows and mouse pointer back and forth

IBM Presentation Director (manages settings for external monitor also, but also supports the s-video out on my A31p)

• quickly and easily mirror the display onto whatever output I want. e.g. monitors/projectors of many different resolutions, and TV, etc..

latest ATI Catalyst drivers (mobility mod'ded)

• Theatre Mode!!!! - when mirroring on the external display, a video/dvd will play on both your Thinkpad LCD and the external display! With full-screen Theatre Mode, the video/dvd can be windowed or even minimized on your Thinkpad's display, but will play full-screen on the external display.
• Also, you will be able to rotate your Thinkpad's display, which I haven't found a use for, but is pretty nifty nonetheless.

[CoolDragon]

I guess Catalyst is more for game guys while IBM's driver is more for 3D CAD guys.

[nirvana0001]

So can I just download the Catalyst driver and install it? According to the T42 FAQ, you need Patje’s Mobility Modding Tool to install it? But it does not have FireGL V3200 listed.

why don't you watch t43/p FAQ?

[fongj]

I guess Catalyst is more for game guys while IBM's driver is more for 3D CAD guys.

Kinda... I can see how the Catalyst stuff is more for multimedia... but there's nothing negative about having those vs. IBM's approved drivers, right? Or are there stability issues (i.e. the IBM drivers go through extensive testing with CAD and other applications)?

[beeblebrox]

I have been using the Omega drivers on my T40p (Mobility FireGL 9000) for quite some time and loved them... until I used some software that was based on OpenGL, only then I realized that there was a large difference in performance between OpenGL and DirectX, which actually should no be.

Checked with SiSandra, and it said, that OpenGL was not hardware supported, and all ATI Catalyst and Omega drivers recognized the ATI chip as a 9000 model only. All ATI Catalyst settings of OpenGL did not have any effect on performance. The OpenGL drivers were generic, based on Microsoft stuff.

Then I installed the IBM ATI drivers, the FireGL was recognized and OpenGL flies !!

So my conclusion was that only genuine ATI OEM (IBM)FireGL drivers support the FireGL chips, anything else is recognized as the standard Radeon chip.

Can anyone help me with my question, why generic ATI OpenGL support does not use the proper hardware included in the chips? I mean, FireGL and Radeon chips are more or less quite identical, only drivers are different and certified. (?!)

[Torque]

I always use the IBM drivers. I need this thing to be rocksolid and stable all the time. Use my TP for CAD projects. Don't really care about theatre-modes and other multimedia-stuff.
Run a couple of games as well. They run fine. I hardly thingk you'll see any major improvement in DirectX performance by using the latest catalyst driver.

But if you are more dependant on multimedia features and some (possibly) extra performance in games and other directX applications, the Omega or Catalyst drivers should work better than IBM's, which are kinda safeguard.

Pardon my bad english.

[Cpgeek]

i am using a T40p notebook with a Mobility FireGL 9000 and for some reason openGL just plain doesn't work. i've tried updating to the latest version of the drivers from IBM (1rd633ww.exe) but that doesn't seem to help, i've also completely removed my drivers and re-installed them just to make sure that something wasn't currupt somewhere.

i looked at my driver configuration page and it says that opengl is enabled, i even tried unchecking the box, rebooting when it told me to, checking the box, rebooting when it told me to, and then trying to use an opengl application again and still no luck.

does anybody have any ideas?