ATI Catalyst 8.3 Proprietary Linux Display Driver

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AMD has released new ATI Catalyst drivers for Linux

The above drivers support English only. The display driver requires POSIX shared memory to be enabled on the system. Kernel Source package is no longer required if Kernel Header package is installed.

System Requirements

Before attempting to install the ATI Catalyst Linux software suite, the following software must be installed:

XOrg 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2 or 7.3
Linux Kernel 2.6 and above
glibc version 2.2 or 2.3
POSIX Shared Memory (/dev/shm) support is required for 3D applications
The ATI Catalyst Linux software suite no longer provides precompiled Kernel Modules; all installations require GCC compiler and kernel-headers or kernel-source in order to enable 2D and 3D acceleration.

For best performance and ease of use, AMD recommends the following:

Kernel module build environment - should include the following:
Kernel source code: Either the Kernel Source or Kernel Headers packages
The rpm utility should be installed and configured correctly on your system, if you intend to install via RPM packages
The following packages must be installed in order for the ATI Catalyst Linux driver to install and work properly:

XFree86-Mesa-libGL
libstdc++
libgcc
XFree86-libs
fontconfig
freetype
zlib
New Features

This release of the ATI Catalystâ„¢ Linux driver introduces Xvideo extension for video scaling and color space conversion is now support on Xpress 1200 series hardware

Resolved Issues

The following section provide a brief description of resolved issues with the latest version of the ATI Catalyst Linux software suite. These include:

On workstation hardware 3D applications will no longer be corrupted if the screen width is not an integer multiple of 64 pixels, for example with a 1680x1050 wide screen display. Further details can be found in topic number 737-31720
Display flicker is no longer be noticed when the gnome screen-saver starts
Several image brightness and gamma-correction issues were resolved. Setting the gamma correction using xgamma, fglrx_xgamma, xorg.conf and in OpenGL games will all work as expected now.
Diagonal tearing will no longer be noticed when playing a video file using a video player that utilizes the XVideo extension
Video playback will no longer look blocky when playing a video file using a video player that utilizes the XVideo extension
Known Issues

The following section provides a brief description of known issues associated with the latest version of ATI Catalyst Linux software suite. These issues include:

There is no support for video playback on the second head in dual head mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-26985
Desktop corruption may be noticed when dragging the overlay/video when using dual-display mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-29578
A black screen may be observed on some hardware when switching to the console or leaving the X window system when a Vesa framebuffer console driver is used. Further details can be found in topic number 737-30687
Video Playback may display wrong colors and additional shadow images when cropping or expanding a video file using a video player that utilizes the XVideo extension
For further information and general help on driver or software installation, game issues, and more, visit the ATI FAQ website.

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