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March 9, 2005
Finally! 64bit 3D Video for Linux
At home, I have a decent workstation, which I built last May (2004). I bought all the parts and put the whole thing together myself, like I always do.
However, it has not been all coconuts and hammocks in paradise.
The one problem area that I have had to deal with on this system has been the video. Unfortunatly, ATI has not released an open source Linux driver for this card yet. What they have done for a while now is to release their Linux driver (minus a couple of bits that are encumbered by patents) under an open source license when they release the next version of a chip line.
Unfortunately, the Radeon 9800 is the list chip in that line so they have not pulled the trigger on that one.
Here are the specs:
- Tyan dual Opteron motherboard
- 2 x AMD Opteron 242 processors (1.6GHz)
- 2 x 512MB PC3200 DDR DRAM
- 1 x SATA 160GB 7200RPM Western Digital hard drive
- 1 x ATI Radeon 9800Pro 8x AGP graphics card
- DVD, CD-R/RW (fast, too)
As you can see, I did not skimp on the hardware, though I did not buy the most expensive version of (most) parts, either. A good compromise and a system that I am very happy with.
"No problem. ATI makes a great binary-only driver that does not taint the kernel. I'll just download and use that," I said to myself. Well, that's when the real fun began.
ATI did a really smart thing and made it so that you can build the binary-only driver for your version of the kernel. Their process gives the driver forward-compatibility; when a new kernel package (or version, even) is released, I can build the fglrx driver from ATI for the newer kernel. This is a very good thing. But to accomplish this with a "binary-only" driver, they built all the important stuff ahead, and the driver build process simply links it all together.
"How does that cause you a problem, Lamont?" you might ask. Well, those pre-built bits are 32bit. I am using a 64bit system and need 64bit bits. ATI did not have such a beast at the time I built my box.
"Why not install the 32bit X server so you can use the ATI driver?quot; Because, this is a 64bit system and I want it running 64bits. Besides, it dual boots and I play my games under WindowsXP since there are a couple I can not get to run under Linux at all. Once I have hardware 3D under Linux at 64bits, I will move all the games I can from Windows to Linux.
That day is now upon us. Recently, ATI finally made a 64bit version of fglrx (which supports the Radeon 9800Pro) for Linux using the Unreal Tournament 2004 to "test" the full capabilities of the system with. I think I read somewhere that there is a 64bit version of the Linux client for that game available. I hope so.
Posted by lamontp at March 9, 2005 7:08 PM
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