Current state of ATI drivers...

[deathadder]

Hi all,

My graphics card has just killed itself and I need to get a replacement, I've been looking at ATI card after years of nVidia use because at the moment ATI seem to be pumping out similiar spec cards for less. The main difference seems be about £10-15 which isn't loads but worth the saving if the card can perform well.

So that begs the question, are ATI drivers still the nightmare they use to be? Is a saving of £10 worth the driver pain? I'm not lookin at the card doing much, I play 1 or 2 simpleish games in Linux but want it to be able to handle some desktop effects like transparency and shadowing for windows. So 3d support is a must :) I don't want a full "compiz desktop" just some eye candy.

So comments about ATI drivers from people using modernish cards would be great!

Thanks

[JohnT]

Different distros will handle this differently according to their setup but you can go here and do a search for "ATI Radeon" and get some reasonable idea of the road ahead.
Phoronix (http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=g_search)

[deathadder]

Hi JohnT,

Thanks for the link I'll have more of a read, not that I'm short of reading material at the moment, but figured opinions from people using the cards was missing from some of the stuff.

By the way, I'm, thinking of getting the HD 4850 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/512MB-Asus-HD-4850-PCI-E-20-(x16)-1986-MHz-GDDR3-GPU-625-MHz-800-Cores-2-x-DL-DVI-I-HDTV) if anyone is using the same card I'd like to hear about it :)

[loopback48]

I too would like to know more about how ATI graphics cards are handled in Linux. I've been using Nvidia cards for quite some years. Only because there were drivers - Nivdia's or Debian's - to make it work. And installing the drivers was not a problem.

On the other hand, I've read where ATI lacks drivers for Linux. So what gives? Is it as easy to download drivers for ATI? I'd much rather have the option of two cards to use than be restriced to one brand. Although I'm sure Nvidia loves being the darling of Linux.

So what's the consensuses? Is ATI a viable graphics card to use in Linux? And how easy is it to get and install drivers for it?

[je_fro]

I used to maintain ati-drivers for a linux distro and it was not fun. Every update resulted in 20 fresh new bug reports. Then my 2 year-old mobility radeon was declared "legacy hardware" and driver updates were stopped. What a shame because they were just beginning to be usable. If you need 3D gaming, go nvidia, but if not ati is just fine. I still use the xorg ati driver as well as radeonhd.
Just my $.02
Good luck!

[loopback48]

I used to maintain ati-drivers for a linux distro and it was not fun. Every update resulted in 20 fresh new bug reports. Then my 2 year-old mobility radeon was declared "legacy hardware" and driver updates were stopped. What a shame because they were just beginning to be usable. If you need 3D gaming, go nvidia, but if not ati is just fine. I still use the xorg ati driver as well as radeonhd.
Just my $.02
Good luck!

I have to admit that I really don't have any use for 3D drivers. I'm just not a gamer nor do I use any apps that require 3D software. Still, there is something about having the drivers installed. Called it the 'Linux Effect'. It tugs at me. So, despite the fact I don't have a need for 3D drivers, I do install them. Good to know that ATI drivers, at least the Linux 2D drivers , are available for linux. Though for the time being I'll stick to Nvidia cards.

Thanks for the info.

[Darkbolt]

As a user with a hd4600 user, trust me, go nvidia.

The [ati] open source drivers are decent, if you don't want 3d accel or power management (great way to kill the fan on the thing), the closed source function for 3d, but forget about suspend/resume.

Nvidia ftw, I'll never be buying another ati card.