amd64 kernel support for Radeon 9700?

mjolson

Hello,

I've built a 64-bit amd64 Gentoo install, and I'm looking to add support for my Radeon 9700 Pro. I'm going from the Gentoo ATI Radeon FAQ, but its suggestions and my build don't agree on several points, and the tech notes and ATi's drivers notes are making me uneasy.

Kernel Options
I'm using make menuconfig for all of these.

The FAQ suggests (section 2.1) that I enable /dev/agpgart support in my kernel. Okay, but that option's listed with three dashes, rather than the usual [ ] or < >. A quick glance through the docs revealed nothing, so I can either assume "that's built-in" or "that's not supported". Well, I can always recompile my kernel, so I forged ahead.

Next kernel suggestion was "Enable your motherboard's AGP chipset". Mine's an ASUS A8V; a quick check of the manual says I have a VIA chipset. Unfortuantely, there are no options for anything of the sort in the menu. Well, again, I can always recompile. The closest thing I could find was "Intel i865 chipset support" (with the annotation "If unsure, select Y"). I don't think I have an i865 sitting around anywhere, but what the hell. I enabled it.

I meant to check the "on-CPU GART" setting, but according to my notes I completely forgot. Not that it mattered, I don't think: see below.

Drivers
So I recompile my kernel and boot to it without issues. I try to emerge ati-drivers; everything's masked. Okay, I emerge it with ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" and it emerges fine. Not an encouraging sign (the mask, that is), but it looks like I'm making progress.

fglrx? What's that?
Next step in the FAQ is running fglrxconfig to build a config file. Well, that utility doesn't exist on my system. I read a bit further along, and find a reference to an fglrx module. I modprobe fglrx, and I don't have it. I check /usr/source/linux/drivers for anything that looks like it might build fglrx.ko, and come up empty. Okay, boot back into XP and let's check the docs (and the Gentoo forums :-)

).

No 64-bit drivers?
I check ATi's drivers page first, and it claims that there's no support for 64-bit systems at the moment. Check the FAQ, and sure enough, it claims that there aren't any 64-bit drivers, but "the drivers should work if you're using 32-bit mode". I know I compiled IA32 emulation into my kernel; is that what they're talking about, or do I need to build a 32-bit system to run these drivers? The amd64 technotes don't say much of anything about the 32-bit drivers.

The technotes do say that XFree 4.3.0 doesn't like higher-end Radeons, but that 4.3.99-mumble works fine. I've compiled X.Org 6.7.0, but I haven't set it up yet.

Should I just buy a GeForce 6?
The technotes also claim that nVidia produces amd64 drivers (and nVidia's drivers page concurs). Sounds great -- I'm probably going to pick up a GeForce 6 in the not-too-distant future anyway -- but I'm concerned about the (lack of) AGP stuff in my kernel config options. Am I going to run into the same problems with a different brand of card? I've looked around the net a little for fglrx info, and it seems to be tied to ATi cards, but what about the missing chipset options?
_________________
man 3 strfry

Maedhros · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:10 pm Post subject:

There really aren't any 64-bit ATi drivers, no. You can't get hardware acceleration with your card, unless you run the whole system as 32-bit. Thus the reason most people are recommending nVidia to anyone who'll listen - their drivers do work. :wink:

For example, this petition has 18112 signatures, when I checked it: ATI Petition for Adequate Drivers in Linux
_________________
No-one's more important than the earthworm.

mjolson · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:15 pm Post subject:

Maedhros · Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2004 11:16 pm Post subject:

Mine works perfectly. :wink:

Have a look at the AMD64 forum as well, there are loads of people using nVidia.
_________________
No-one's more important than the earthworm.

Seclar · Posted: Tue Oct 12, 2004 8:50 am Post subject: Nvidia

I've got a fairly inexpensive Nvidia Geforce FX5200 card in my dual Opteron server. I emerged the nvidia-kernel and nvidia-glx packages and it worked first time without problems. Ati need to wake up and smell the Opterons :lol:

_________________
Seclar

And lo did Moses return from the mountains with the 10 Coding Commandments and a CD full of source code and examples....

TrumpetX · n00b Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 23

19860 Signatures Total

*check*

Ugh, no way would I have purchased this laptop had i known that.... now... to recompile/reinstall in 32 bit or just ditch for windoze (easy way out). *ARGH*
_________________
http://www.trumpetx.com
Sign the ATI Petition for driver support in linux.

Deathwing00 · Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:48 pm Post subject:

Moved from Installing Gentoo.

TrumpetX · n00b Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 23

Is there a way to use win32 drivers? I thought I saw some reference to this in a post, but can't seem to find it now.
_________________
http://www.trumpetx.com
Sign the ATI Petition for driver support in linux.

mlsfit138 · Guru Joined: 20 Sep 2003 Posts: 406 Location: Washington

TrumpetX · n00b Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 23