14 DAY TRIAL // AMD has just released the new Catalyst 14.3 Beta Linux video driver for the Linux platforms, which is actually the second one in this particular branch. Just like the previous one, it comes with just a few changes that leave Linux users disappointed.
The Linux users have been waiting for a new major AMD Catalyst release, but that particular release seems to be delayed. Instead. we have to contend with small builds that are almost inconsequential. The upgrades are in fact so small that no one would really miss them if they didn't show up.
According to the changelog, Xorg no longer crashes when playing AVI video files in the VLC player or the Parole player (a rare occurrence, not something that affected all systems).
Also, a problem with Nexuiz - Demo3 Ubuntu performance that was lower than Redhat's has been fixed and a problem with Nexuiz - Demo3 Linux performance that was lower than Windows' has been corrected. Keep in mind that Nexuiz is an FPS game that has been dead for quite some time, so it's at least bizarre that they chose to fix this particular issue.
AMD Catalyst 14.3 Beta video driver has been tested and will work on the following operating systems: Red Hat Enterprise Linux Suite 6.4 and 6.5, SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP3, OpenSuSE 13.1, Ubuntu 12.04.3 and 13.10. There is no mention of Ubuntu 14.04, but that Linux distribution is still in development.
The driver also has a few very specific system requirements and dependencies: Xorg/Xserver 7.4 and above (up to 1.15), Linux kernel 2.6 or above (up to 3.13), and glibc version 2.2 or 2.3. POSIX Shared Memory (/dev/shm) support is recommended for 3D applications, but it's not mandatory. There is no mention of Linux kernel 3.14, which is still in development.
The AMD developer also explained that some issues still remain. For example, stuttering and poor performance are still experienced after playing an OpenGL game for a several minutes on Ubuntu, the terminal panel stops refreshing until there is movement from the mouse cursor, and a system hang has been observed while hotpluging the stereo display.
Check the release notes for more details about this driver. Download the AMD Catalyst 14.3 Beta Linux video driver right now from Softpedia.
Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.