Ubuntu edgy and ATI step-by-step

I found the best way to set up ATI drivers on Ubuntu 6.10. This doesn’t cover any errors, so do not take another steps until you handle your problem(s).
Here is what to do:

wget https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ati-driver-installer-8.33.6-x86.x86_64.run

(or newer from ATI driver download page)

mkdir ati-ins

cp ati-driver-installer-8.33.6-x86.x86_64.run ati-ins

cd ati-ins

sudo aptitude install module-assistant build-essential debhelper debconf dh-make fakeroot libstdc++5 linux-headers-$(uname -r)

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

add this at the end of file:

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

then

sudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

add text so it’ll look like this:

DISABLED_MODULES="somemodule2 fglrx"

save and exit, then

sudo ln -sf bash /bin/sh

bash ./ati-driver-installer-.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/edgy

wait…

sudo ln -sf dash /bin/sh

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

sudo module-assistant prepare,update

sudo module-assistant build,install fglrx-kernel

sudo depmod

sudo rm -f /usr/src/fglrx-kernel*.deb

finish

sudo aticonfig --initial

sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv

reboot.

Check with:

fglrxinfo

glxinfo | grep direct

output should be something like this:
luc@luc-desktop:~$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON 9550 Generic
OpenGL version string: 2.0.6286 (8.33.6)
luc@luc-desktop:~$ glxinfo | grep direct
direct rendering: Yes

More on Binary Driver Howto ATI on Ubuntu help page.

16 Responses to “Ubuntu edgy and ATI step-by-step”


  1. 1 Scott Harris February 13, 2007 at 4:36

    This really helped me, But I needed to Install module-assistant, I just googled it to find a debian package, and the

    Section “Extensions”
    Option “Composite” “Disable”
    EndSection

    Part is a bit of for my machine, I needed to change “Disable” to “False”

    Hopefully this will help ya’ll, and nano is the Coolest text editor!

  2. 2 trueboar February 13, 2007 at 6:09

    If you’ll look closely at this line:
    sudo aptitude install module-assistant build-essential debhelper debconf dh-make fakeroot libstdc++5 linux-headers-$(uname -r)
    you’d see that module-assistant is being installed.

  3. 3 Andrew February 27, 2007 at 12:37

    I’m at the line

    bash ./ati-driver-installer-.run –buildpkg Ubuntu/edgy

    and the teminal tells me

    > bash: ./ati-driver-.run–buildpkg: No such file or directory

    help

  4. 4 trueboar February 27, 2007 at 9:54

    You did not provide full filename replace ‘ati-driver-installer-.run’ with something like that ‘ati-driver-installer-8.33.6-x86.x86_64.run’. You must enter full filename you want to execute.

  5. 5 Andrew February 27, 2007 at 4:25

    well i replaced the name i wrote the line like so

    > bash ./ati-driver-installer-8.34.8-x86_64.run –bulidpkg Ubuntu/edgy

    and the terminal still outputs the following message

    bash: ./ati-driver-installer-8.34.8-x86_64.run: No such file or directory

    i do have the driver file in the folder /ati-ins
    and i am in that folder in the terminal when i type the command
    i just dont understand why it wont work…

  6. 6 trueboar February 27, 2007 at 4:39

    Make 110% sure that your filename is actually ‘ati-driver-installer-8.34.8-x86_64.run’. If this is righ then easiest step will be to undo every step in this howto and start again. Just delete ati-ins directory.
    To check you have any file in current directory typ ‘ls -l’ (this is lowercase L).

  7. 7 Andrew February 27, 2007 at 5:00

    ok i deleted the folder and started over….
    i’ve reached as far as here

    sudo aptitude install module-assistant build-essential debhelper debconf dh-make fakeroot libstdc++5 linux-headers-$(uname -r)

    and then the terminal prints out

    E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock – open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable)
    E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
    Reading package lists… Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information… Done
    Reading extended state information
    Initializing package states… Done
    Building tag database… Done
    E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock – open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable)
    E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?

    is this fine?

  8. 8 trueboar February 27, 2007 at 5:05

    No, it’s not. You must have opened command line or graphical package manager (synaptic for example). Two applications can’t use package manager at once.

  9. 9 Andrew February 27, 2007 at 5:33

    when i type

    sudo module-assistant prepare,update

    into the terminal
    and i get the graphical “updater”

    how do i proceed….

    i press update, then update (it takes a milisecond then goes back to the menu)
    and i exit is that right?

  10. 10 trueboar February 27, 2007 at 5:43

    Graphical but still in the terminal? Right. Read carefully and proceed if you can (eg. no errors/warnings).

  11. 11 Andrew February 27, 2007 at 6:10

    well i did everything….
    and i rebooted…
    and i can see by trying to “throw” around my terminal window and how jerky it looks that the graphics card still isnt being used….

    i type

    fglrxinfo

    and it outputs

    > Xlib: extension “XFree86-DRI” missing on display “:0.0″.
    > display: :0.0 screen: 0
    > OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: http://www.mesa3d.org
    > OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
    > OpenGL version string: 1.2 (1.5 Mesa 6.5.1)

    and glxinfo | grep direct

    > Xlib: extension “XFree86-DRI” missing on display “:0.0″.
    > direct rendering: No
    > OpenGL renderer string: Mesa GLX Indirect
    > gmanr26@luffy:~$

    any help….
    btw i running an ATI Radeon 9550 card

  12. 12 trueboar February 27, 2007 at 6:23

    I’m also user of r9550 and everything written above worked fine. My guess is that you have incorrect settings in your xorg.conf. Try those two commands:
    grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
    grep WW /var/log/Xorg.0.log
    With this output do some google.

    From what I can see it’s clear that your system is not using fglrx driver. That means you did something wrong. Please consider getting help for example on official Ubuntu chat room on FreeNode. I’m just a regular user and I don’t think you can get much support from me at this point.

  13. 13 Brooder May 6, 2007 at 12:57

    When i used the command “sudo module-assistant build,install fglrx-kernel” i got this error
    Build of the package fglrx-kernel-source failed! How do you wish to proceed?
    what did i do wrong?

  14. 14 trueboar May 6, 2007 at 10:18

    I don’t know. You should have this option after failed build:
    VIEW Examine the build log file

    Go with this to some irc channel, eg #ubuntu on freenode, or forums. I think ubuntuforums might be helpful.

  15. 15 Sareth May 14, 2007 at 7:34

    I found the answer to this problem. Run this:

    sudo depmod -ae
    sudo echo fglrx >> /etc/modules

    Restart:
    sudo shutdown -r now

    Verify:
    lsmod | grep fglrx

    That should be it.

  16. 16 Rafael July 27, 2007 at 1:54

    i got an error in the file xorg.cf, and it says that the error is on the line 143, some has the same problem? can some help me with this?
    thx.


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