14 DAY TRIAL // The latest ATI/AMD Linux display driver was released yesterday, and it brings various new features such as CrossFireX and Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support. It also introduces ATIOverDrive to maximize the GPU's (Graphical Processing Unit) performance, although some caution is advised, as increasing its clocks above normal limits could cause system hangs, graphics corruption or data loss. ATI MultiView is another addition that comes with this version, allowing the GPU's use on an independent multi-display desktop from multiple adapters.
Issues resolved in this release:
· Segmentation faults do not occur anymore if the Overscan is set to an invalid value; · Playing media files with XVideo enabled no longer results in XServer crashes; · The incorrect error message displayed when applying an unsupported TV geometry in a terminal has been removed; · The problem occurring when attempting to start the Catalyst Control Center on a system containing an ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 product, to which a CRT device has been connected, has been resolved; · Quake 3 Arena (demo) runs without segmentation faults; · OpenGL PBOs now works fine with GL_RGB texture format; · The aticonfig --enable-monitor command in Ubuntu 7.04 no longer causes the restart of the XServer; · The hyperlink on the welcome screen of the Catalyst Control Center (Linux Edition) doesn't generate an extra long time for the browser to load the web page; · The libGL.so, no such file or directory error doesn't occur anymore during the initial RPM installation; · The appropriate package to build is now automatically determined by the Linux installer; · When the Linux Kernel is updated, the specific kernel module is now installed to the correct place; · The lack of a window manager when attempting to run the XServer doesn't lead to the green flashes and the computer becoming unresponsive anymore; · It's now possible to create two successive connections without the fail of the direct GL context; · Doom 3 can now be launched on a secondary display device under x; · The kdesktop_application no longer generates a segmentation fault; · The bug with the X start-up after the installation and configuration of the driver with default values has been removed.
Known issues of this release:
· The print preview and save functions of DiscoveryStudio1.7 may not work properly; · Dragging the overlay/video when using dual-display mode may result in desktop corruption; · Setting the desktop resolution to 2048x1536 on systems containing an ATI Radeon HD 3200 series could lead to bandwidth corruption; · The SUZI/textured video may cause an X segmentation fault; · The enabling of AIGLX could prevent the X Server from resetting properly; · The OS could become unresponsive when running Xtest; · Attempting to launch Softimage XSI Ariane x64 could cause a segmentation fault; · The playback of the video files or suzi test app causes an instability of the X desktop; · Audio may not be heard when connecting an HDMI display device; · Resuming the system from standby, while a 3D application was running, may lead to desktop corruption; · The X server could fail to display an image when one of multiple users logs out.
In order to achieve the best performance and ease of use, ATI/AMD recommends the following:
· Kernel module build environment - should include Kernel source code: either the Kernel Source, or Kernel Headers packages · ISSE Support enabled in your Linux Kernel (applies to Intel Pentium III and later CPUs only; enabled by default on version 2.4 and later kernels) · The rpm utility should be installed and configured correctly on your system, if you intend to install it via RPM packages;
Requirements:
· XOrg 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1 or 7.2; XFree86 version 4.3 · Linux kernel 2.4 or higher · glibc version 2.2 or 2.3 · POSIX Shared Memory (/dev/shm) support is required for 3D applications
For installation instructions and more information about this release, please go here.
You can download the ATI/AMD Linux Display Driver now from Softpedia.