Thinkpads Forum

Hello, I am completely new to Linux and decided to have a go with the new version of Ubuntu.

The installation went great and everything up and running (at least as far as I can tell ).

I heard that I should upgrade to the newest fglrx drivers for better video performance, so I decided to have a go.

After backing up /etc/X11/xorg.conf I did the following:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
sudo aticonfig --initial
sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

and added

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "false"
EndSection

to the xorg.conf file.

Everything seemed to go well so far, but then I rebooted "sudo shutdown -r now"!

Now I am told that the computer "Failed to start the X server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly ..."

I am running the 2.6.20-15-generic kernel, and the graphics card is ATI FireGL 9000 64MB.

Is this graphics card not supported by the drivers, or did I do something wrong?

I got the system up and running again by copying back the original xorg.conf. Are there any benefit from using other drivers than the default one?

Thanks in advance for any help

Unfortunately, ATI is no longer supporting your FireGL with their accelerated drivers. Anything from 9250 and older is no longer supported.

If you really want to get it working you'll have to install some older drivers, that are older than 8.29.6. Since the standard Open Source radeon driver should work fine with the Radeon 9000 series, that is what I would use if I was in your situation.

In case you decide to install Linux on a machine with a newer ATI Graphics card there is a easier way to get the ATI driver setup. You can select it via the Restricted Drivers app in either System Settings or Preferences (I forget which one) menu. I used it on my T60 with an x1300 and it setup everything perfectly, automatically.

Basically, I would check that you were using the radeon driver instead of the vesa driver as I think that would probably be the best solution for you.

Cheers

So I should use the default ones, unless the default ones are VESA drivers? Any hints on how I go about to find out which drivers I am actually using?

I do not plan to run any graphic heavy applications on this laptop as I have a desktop for that, so I reckon I'd better use default ones that work great with suspending etc. than the fglrx drivers.

A screenshot of the 'device manager' on the graphics adapter:

The quickest way to check is to look at the contents of xorg.conf. The driver should be radeon instead of vesa. If you require a more graphical method then it will have to wait till later when I get a chance to boot into Ubuntu itself.

So I run ATI drivers, is this a third set from what the "radeon" drivers, or are they equal?

Again, thank you for all your help!

I think that the ati driver is probably the one that you want. Its been quite a while since I've used the open source driver. Basically, you don't want it to say vesa (it will say fglrx if you are using the accelerated drivers.)

Ok, I will let it stay like it is then Thanks for your help!