Page: Previous  1, 2, 3, 4

techAdmin
Status: Site Admin
Joined: 26 Sep 2003
Posts: 4127
Location: East Coast, West Coast? I know it's one of them.
Reply Quote
There's obviously no point in appealing to amd programmer's pride to get them to stop this ridiculous asberger type behavior of never settling on a path/naming scheme because they clearly have none, however, with great headache and difficulty, sgfxi now again has handling for yet more randomized file path/file names for the f#cking incompetent amd group.

When I think of how much of my life I have WASTED on this f#cking group of incompetents it is severely depressing, and each time they do this sh#t again, I ask myself why on earth I don't just dump amd/fglrx support once and for all.

So now it will download 13.8, and if they don't change their f#cking paths again, the beta auto detect newer version might even work, but the odds of that currently are zero, since they are changing the f#cking file name / path on every f#cking beta release.

Avoid amd video cards + non free drivers like the plague, do NOT buy them, they are clearly dropping linux support WAY down, they have not done a stable release since 13.4, even the stupidest amd fanboy must be able to grasp this fact by now.

Here's a sample of just the last year's file names, not including the path changes:
:: Code ::
# amd-driver-installer-12-8-x86.x86_64.zip
# amd-driver-installer-catalyst-12.10-x86.x86_64.zip
# amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.1-linux-x86.x86_64.zip
# amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.3-beta3-linux-x86.x86_64.zip
# amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13-4-linux-x86.x86_64.zip
# amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13-6-beta-x86.x86_64.zip
# amd-catalyst-13.8-beta1-linux-x86.x86_64.zip


nvidia, meanwhile, releases drivers constantly, using a standard numbering format, like 325.19, that does not require the idiotic -beta or -legacy addons, they are just drivers, numbered, and 325.19 might happen to be a beta, while 325.42 might be a stable. And of course, you can tell which drivers support which cards by checking the numbers, 173.xx.xx support the 5xxx series cards for nvidia, for example. But forget amd even supporting their cards for a fraction of the time that nvidia does.
Back to top
Chris M
Status: Contributor
Joined: 11 Aug 2013
Posts: 69
Reply Quote
H2, thanks a bunch. I really didn't want to be the AMD guy who broke the H2 camel's back.

I thought about appealing to them, but came to the same conclusion. It would be such a small effort on their part.

I really wish I purchased the nvidia card. But I'll look at what you did, and if I can make sense of it and it happens again, I'll try to modify it - but I was in over my head here.
Back to top
techAdmin
Status: Site Admin
Joined: 26 Sep 2003
Posts: 4127
Location: East Coast, West Coast? I know it's one of them.
Reply Quote
that reminds me, I need to update the tests too for this driver.

It's not you who would break the back, it's amd, they simply cannot generate anything consistent, and all decisions they make on the simplest things they have to change because the initial ones were bad decisions. Clearly, there is nobody in amd who notices this, which means almost certainly upper management too is incompetent, that's my guess.

I assume their inner code is just as bad, but thankfully I don't have to interact with that except to note when it fails to support something or other.

By the way, the amount of time it takes them to add support for new kernels/xorgs is another indication of how bad their core architecture is, I'm sure internally it's a big messy ball of spaghetti code, almost impossible to work with.

With every psychotic change amd does, what sgfxi has to do to handle supporting the various drivers changes and becomes more complex, on the amd fglrx side, so the code gets harder and harder to understand, because I am not tracking professionals, I am trying to follow people who have no clue what they are doing, obviously, and that is VERY difficult to do.
Back to top
Chris M
Status: Contributor
Joined: 11 Aug 2013
Posts: 69
Reply Quote
:: techAdmin wrote ::
that reminds me, I need to update the tests too for this driver.


I don't think there are any issues with the script, but you may see something that I'm not. Keep in mind that this looks like a hastily produced beta (which may explain the poor naming/path production). My sense is that AMD is "rushing" to get this out, and that they may even be having problems with a quarterly release cycle - which makes sense, when you consider that a quarterly release creates additional headaches when considering an evolving Xorg and kernels.

Here are my results:

1) The command fglrxinfo produces:

:: Code ::
Setting of real/effective user Id to 0/0 failed
libGL error: open uki failed (Operation not permitted)
libGL error: reverting to (slow) indirect rendering
display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: AMD Radeon HD 6670
OpenGL version string: 2.1 (4.3.12438 Compatibility Profile Context 13.20.5)


The first 3 lines indicate a problem, but that seems to be the beta driver issue.

2) I ran the script 3 times. The first run was done before doing a dist-upgrade - installing the 3.10 kernel (run with the 3.9 kernel). It worked with the errors above, so I ran sgfxi again after doing a dist-upgrade with the 3.10 kernel. Then, I ran it again to see if another install would correct the issues above. It did not. So here is the 2nd run sgfxi log:

:: Code ::
=========================================================
START sgfxi LOGGING:
=========================================================
Script started: 2013-08-17-06:55:44
Video Card Information: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Turks XT [Radeon HD 6670/7670]
Video Card Type: 1002
Video Card Number: 6758
Xorg Version: 1.12
Installing driver to kernel: 3.10-2-amd64
sgfxi script version: 4.20.55
sgfxi start options:  -B -! 6
SYSTEM_BASE: debian
SYSTEM_CODENAME: testing
DISTRIB_CODENAME: debian
DISTRIB_ID: linuxmint
DISTRIB_RELEASE: 1
SIS: linuxmint-debian-64
BITS: 64
FG_DISTRIB_CODENAME: sid
FG_DISTRIB_ID: Debian
APT_TYPE: apt-get
=========================================================
X is Running: true
Current Runlevel: 2
Connection is live (0=true): 4
=========================================================
INSTALL_TO_KERNEL:
KERNEL_FULL: 3.10-2-amd64
KERNEL_BASE: 3
KERNEL_NUMBER: 3.10
KERNEL_MATH: 10
B_IS_XEN: true
Function: create_x_conf - Primary: Start
  xorg is present with xorg.conf file
Function: create_x_conf - Primary: End
Function: check_package_manager_updated - Utility: Start
  sizeWorking: 32
Function: check_package_manager_updated - Utility: End
Function: check_supported_driver - Utility: Start
Function: check_supported_driver - Utility: End
Function: set_cpu_data - Utility: Start
  BITS: 64 - arch: amd64
Function: set_cpu_data - Utility: End
Function: set_driver_install_version - Primary: Start
Function: check_supported_driver - Utility: Start
  Args: last-check
Function: check_supported_driver - Utility: End
Function: print_information_continue - Utility: Start
  Args: info You are using the following options:
 -B - Use Beta Driver (nVidia only. Only if available)
 -! 6 - You are using an advanced Testing option. Only use this if you know what you are doing!

Function: print_information_continue - Utility: End
Function: print_information_continue - Utility: Start
  Args: standard The graphics installer will be installing the fglrx driver: 13.8 (beta1)
This is the latest fglrx Beta driver for your card type.

Function: print_information_continue - Utility: End
  Installing this driver: 13.8 (beta1)
Function: set_driver_install_version - Primary: End
Function: driver_support_tests - Utility: Start
  Args: supported-driver
Function: driver_support_tests - Utility: End
Function: check_kernel_headers - Utility: Start
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: linux-headers-3.10-2-amd64 i
  Package Version: 3.10.5-1
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: linux-headers-3.10-2-amd64 c
  Package Version: 3.10.5-1
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
  headerName: linux-headers-3.10-2-amd64
headerInstalled: 3.10.5-1
headerAvailable: 3.10.5-1
headerFile:
Function: check_kernel_headers - Utility: End
Function: check_run_package_tools - Primary: Start
Function: check_run_package_tools - Primary: End
Function: set_download_info - Primary: Start
  download url: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/beta/ - driver file: amd-catalyst-13.8-beta1-linux-x86.x86_64
Function: set_download_info - Primary: End
Function: download_extract_driver - Primary: Start
  Args: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/beta/ amd-catalyst-13.8-beta1-linux-x86.x86_64
Function: pre_extract_clean_set_up - Utility: Start
  Args: amd-catalyst-13.8-beta1-linux-x86.x86_64
Function: pre_extract_clean_set_up - Utility: End
Creating directory fglrx-install-13.8
Verifying archive integrity... All good.
Uncompressing AMD Catalyst(TM) Proprietary Driver-13.20.5..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Function: download_extract_driver - Primary: End
  Function: set_install_directory - set to: /usr/src/sgfxi-downloads/fglrx-install-13.8
Function: run_driver_patches - Primary: Start
Function: run_driver_patches - Primary: End
Function: x_start_stop_master - Primary: Start
  Args: stop
Function: start_stop_x - Utility: Start
  Args: stop
  default runlevel: 2
current runlevel: 2
  dmanCommand: service lightdm stop
Function: x_is_running - Utility: Start
  xIsRunning: false
Function: x_is_running - Utility: End
Function: start_stop_x - Utility: End
Function: x_start_stop_master - Primary: End
Function: check_driver_install_tools - Primary: Start
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: module-assistant i
  Package Version: 0.11.6
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: build-essential i
  Package Version: 11.6
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: debhelper i
  Package Version: 9.20130630
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: dpkg-cross i
  Package Version:
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: libstdc++5 i
  Package Version: 1:3.3.6-25
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: libstdc++6 i
  Package Version: 4.8.1-2
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: unzip i
  Package Version: 6.0-9
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
Function: check_driver_install_tools - Primary: End
Function: prep_install - Primary: Start
Function: install_package - Utility: Start
  Args: libgl1-mesa-glx reinstall
Function: update_package_manager - Utility: Start
  Args: update
  Update apt-get successful
Function: update_package_manager - Utility: End
Function: check_package_status - Utility: Start
  Args: libgl1-mesa-glx i
  Package Version: 9.1.4-1
Function: check_package_status - Utility: End
  Install command for apt-get: install - Extra args:  --reinstall
Function: install_package - Utility: End
Function: prep_install - Primary: End
Function: preinstall_cleanup - Primary: Start
  Pre Remove: nvidia.ko files:

Function: list_installed_packages - Utility: Start
  Args: nvidia (libkwinnvidiahack|libgl1-nvidia-glx-ia32|libgl1-nvidia-glx:386|modalias|libvdpau|nvidia-bl-dkms|nvidia-cg-toolkit)
  packageList:
Function: list_installed_packages - Utility: End
  Post Purge/Remove: nvidia.ko files:

Function: remove_module - Primary: Start
  Args: nvidia
  operation outcome: unset
Function: remove_module - Primary: End
Function: list_installed_packages - Utility: Start
  Args: fglrx modalias
  packageList:
Function: list_installed_packages - Utility: End
  Using fglrx uninstaller: /usr/share/ati/amd-uninstall.sh force: --force
Function: remove_module - Primary: Start
  Args: fglrx
  operation outcome: unset
Function: remove_module - Primary: End
Function: clean_dkms - Primary: Start
Function: clean_dkms - Primary: End
Function: preinstall_cleanup - Primary: End
Function: run_driver_installer - Primary: Start
  driver: 13.8
  direct fglrx install - no debs: options: 13.8 --install
Function: run_driver_installer - Primary: End
Function: post_installer_steps - Primary: Start
Function: clean_up_fglrx_junk - Utility: Start
Function: clean_up_fglrx_junk - Utility: End
Function: post_installer_steps - Primary: End
Function: update_xorg - Primary: Start
  xorg.conf was backed up to: /etc/X11/xorg.conf-bu-2013-08-17-06:57:31
Function: create_section_device - Utility: Start
Function: create_section_device - Utility: End
Function: create_driver_entry - Utility: Start
Function: create_driver_entry - Utility: End
Function: update_xorgconf_driver_version - Utility: Start
Function: update_xorgconf_driver_version - Utility: End
Function: clear_prep_xorg - Utility: Start
Function: clear_prep_xorg - Utility: End
Function: check_extensions - Utility: Start
Function: create_section_extensions - Utility: Start
Function: create_section_extensions - Utility: End
Function: check_extensions - Utility: End
Function: remove_modelines - Utility: Start
Function: remove_modelines - Utility: End
Function: update_xorg - Primary: End
Function: final_install_steps - Primary: Start
Function: process_xvmc - Utility: Start
Function: process_xvmc - Utility: End
Function: add_module - Primary: Start
  Args: fglrx
  operation outcome: added
Function: add_module - Primary: End
dpkg: warning: ignoring request to remove fglrx-kernel-src which isn't installed
Function: remove_module - Primary: Start
  Args: radeon
  operation outcome: unset
Function: set_modesetting_off - Primary: End
Function: add_grub_nomodeset_blacklist_item - Utility: Start
  Args: radeon
Function: get_active_grub_files - Utility: Start
  grub files:  /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/default/grub
Function: get_active_grub_files - Utility: End
Function: add_grub_nomodeset_blacklist_item - Utility: End
Function: add_modprobe_d_blacklist_item - Utility: Start
  Args: radeon
Function: add_modprobe_d_blacklist_item - Utility: End
Function: set_modesetting_off - Primary: Start
  Args: radeon unset
Function: remove_module - Primary: End
Function: remove_module - Primary: Start
  Args: drm
  operation outcome: unset
Function: remove_module - Primary: End
Function: final_install_steps - Primary: End
Function: x_start_stop_master - Primary: Start
  Args: start
Function: start_x_question - Primary: Start
  Final Step: start-desktop
Function: start_stop_x - Utility: Start
  Args: start
  default runlevel: 2
current runlevel: 2
  dmanCommand: service lightdm start


I kind of wish there wasn't a new kernel to deal with, but there was. In any event, I'm not seeing a script/install issue. The first fglrxinfo issue looks like an AMD beta driver issue.
Back to top
Chris M
Status: Contributor
Joined: 11 Aug 2013
Posts: 69
Reply Quote
phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?82952-AMD-Catalyst-13-8-Beta

It's a driver issue. Running the following command as a superuser ...

:: Code ::
chmod -R 777 /proc/ati


... produces the following fglrxinfo result:

:: Code ::
display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: AMD Radeon HD 6670
OpenGL version string: 4.3.12438 Compatibility Profile Context 13.20.5


Life is good.
Back to top
techAdmin
Status: Site Admin
Joined: 26 Sep 2003
Posts: 4127
Location: East Coast, West Coast? I know it's one of them.
Reply Quote
astoundingly, and possibly for the first time ever, the auto beta version updater for fglrx worked because amd actually managed to do a release without changing the file names or paths.

So beta2 is now downloading, and may actually fix some glitches.
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
Page: Previous  1, 2, 3, 4
All times are GMT - 8 Hours