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ATI Proprietary Driver (fglrx)

This page describes how to install fglrx on Debian systems.

fglrx stands for FireGL and Radeon for X, the proprietary (non-free) display driver made available by ATI Technologies (now AMD). This driver provides 2D and 3D acceleration for AMD/ATI video card chipsets.

For 3D acceleration, fglrx requires an associated kernel module, its compilation can be automated via module-assistant or DKMS.

<!> As of fglrx-driver 1:9-4-1, support of chipsets prior to the r600 series has been dropped.1

{i} For Radeon chipsets prior to the r600 series (i.e. models up to and including the X1950), they are supported by the "radeon" open source driver, which provides 3D acceleration via DRI. The "radeonhd" driver packaged in xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd supports the Radeon r5xx, r6xx and r7xx chipset series.

Installation

Lenny

  1. Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:

    # Debian Lenny/5.0
    deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian lenny main contrib non-free
  2. Update the list of available packages. Install appropriate fglrx-modules-* packages for your system, along with the fglrx-control and fglrx-driver packages:

    # aptitude update && aptitude install fglrx-modules-2.6-$(uname -r | sed 's,.*-,,') fglrx-control fglrx-driver

    This will also install fglrx-glx and other recommended packages.

  3. If the X Window System is running, exit your desktop environment or window manager. If a display manager is in operation, switch to a virtual console and stop it. For example:

    # invoke-rc.d gdm stop

    or

    # invoke-rc.d kdm stop
  4. Unload the radeon and drm modules:

    # modprobe -r radeon drm
  5. Create or amend /etc/X11/xorg.conf to include a Device section and request use of the fglrx driver:

    # sensible-editor /etc/X11/xorg.conf

    A minimal /etc/X11/xorg.conf example is shown below:

    Section "Device"
        Identifier  "ATI"
        Driver      "fglrx"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Default Screen"
        DefaultDepth     24
    EndSection
    Save the file and exit the editor before continuing.
  6. Start the X Window System (startx) as a regular user, or start your display manager. For example:

    # invoke-rc.d gdm start

    or

    # invoke-rc.d kdm start

Etch

  1. Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:

    # Debian Etch/4.0
    deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free
  2. Update the list of available packages. Install the fglrx-control, fglrx-driver, fglrx-kernel-src and module-assistant packages:

    # aptitude update && aptitude install fglrx-control fglrx-driver fglrx-kernel-src module-assistant
  3. Build and install a fglrx-kernel-* package within your system::

    # m-a a-i fglrx
  4. If the X Window System is running, exit your desktop environment or window manager. If a display manager is in operation, switch to a virtual console and stop it. For example:

    # invoke-rc.d gdm stop

    or

    # invoke-rc.d kdm stop
  5. Unload the radeon and drm modules:

    # modprobe -r radeon drm
  6. Reconfigure the X server:

    # dpkg-reconfigure xserver-org

    Select fglrx as the display driver to be used when prompted.

  7. Start the X Window System (startx) as a regular user, or start your display manager. For example:

    # invoke-rc.d gdm start

    or

    # invoke-rc.d kdm start

Squeeze

  1. Add a "non-free" component to /etc/apt/sources.list, for example:

    # Debian Squeeze (testing)
    deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian squeeze main contrib non-free
  2. Update the list of available packages, then install the fglrx-control and fglrx-driver packages:

    # aptitude update && aptitude install fglrx-control fglrx-driver

    This will also install fglrx-glx, fglrx-modules-dkms and other recommended packages. DKMS will build the fglrx module for your system.

  3. If the X Window System is running, exit your desktop environment or window manager. If a display manager is in operation, switch to a virtual console and stop it. For example:

    # invoke-rc.d gdm stop

    or

    # invoke-rc.d kdm stop
  4. Unload the radeon and drm modules:

    # modprobe -r radeon drm
  5. Create or amend /etc/X11/xorg.conf to include a Device section and request use of the fglrx driver:

    # sensible-editor /etc/X11/xorg.conf

    A minimal /etc/X11/xorg.conf example is shown below:

    Section "Device"
        Identifier  "ATI"
        Driver      "fglrx"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Default Screen"
        DefaultDepth     24
    EndSection
    Save the file and exit the editor before continuing.
  6. Start the X Window System (startx) as a regular user, or start your display manager. For example:

    # invoke-rc.d gdm start

    or

    # invoke-rc.d kdm start

See Also

{X} Be aware that upgrading from packages created by the ATI installer is and will most probably NEVER be supported by the Debian maintainer of the fglrx-driver package(s)!