ATI Graphics Cards in 2010

[Cinorcim]

I know ATI cards have not worked well with Linux in the past, however this may have changed since AMD bought out ATI and their being improvements in the OpenGL platform. (version 3.1/3.2) So... I am wondering. Is AMD planning to add more features to their cards by offering customer good solid drivers for use on the Linux platform(s)? I know that has always been one of their pros making good CPU chips that work well with Linux. But my main question is, do the 5xxx series cards work (well) in Linux? Has anyone every tried Linux with one of these card or are their any drivers out there?

Thank you,
- Cinorcim

[Rubberman]

As far as I can tell from postings here and elsewhere (I use nVidia cards mostly myself), the ATI open source drivers are not yet "up to snuff" and their proprietary drivers don't support older hardware well - they tend to drop access to the drivers for cards after an unpleasantly short period of time. There are a LOT of complaints about this on the Net. That, in fact, is the main reason why a lot of folks recommend getting nVidia cards in preference to ATI cards, because they have better support for more versions (and generations) of Linux. That's not to say that their drivers are perfect - I still get pixel glitches with full-motion video on the latest drivers for my 8800GT card which don't exist on one from over a year ago, which I still use.

[Cinorcim]

Is their any way to emulate drivers? like WINE for ATI drivers?

[Rubberman]

You can always use the generic vesa driver, but that generally doesn't provide good enough performance for fullscreen video, special effects, etc. Nor does it provide you the high resolutions your hardware is likely capable of. That's kind of a fall-back for when you are looking for the best drivers for your hardware. I've used it in the past when I was getting my current workstation configured and trying various nVidia drivers. Useful, but not optimal.

[Cinorcim]

Ok thank you :3