Bug 421257 – ati-faq wrong/unclear assertions about xorg.conf

• Product: [OLD] Docs on www.gentoo.org
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description Enrico Tagliavini 2012-06-15 17:41:43 UTC]

In the ati-faq doc it says "You may not need to manually create xorg.conf or modify it. Try running without it first." Which is correct only when using the open source radeon driver. It should be stated in a clear way that when using ati-drivers aticonfig *must* be used to create a valid xorg.conf to istruct Xorg to use fglrx userspace driver. In the current state it seems no xorg.conf is good for all cases.

Just below the faq says "You can also use the Xorg auto configuration option:
# X -configure"
This is obsolete (and not working) from a really long time and should be removed, saying to instead use aticonfig only when using ati-drivers (as previously explained). When using radeon there is no need to use xorg.conf. If the user need more info she/he can read the gentoo Xorg configuration guide as already pointed.

Thank you

[Comment 1 Sven Vermeulen (RETIRED) 2012-06-29 15:26:42 UTC]

Can you tell me why "X -configure" is obsolete / malfunctioning? On my system, it is still documented as a working method ("man Xorg")...

That being said, from a quick Google, I believe that for ATI the aticonfig application is more suited instead of "X -configure", not? Is it ok if I (1.) update the document to mention that the automated support is only for the open-source radeon driver, and (2.) configuration can be assisted through aticonfig?

[Comment 2 Enrico Tagliavini 2012-06-29 15:43:19 UTC]

Mhm seems you are right it is not deprecated may be.... It might be I'm just confusing myself with some message from the ML. Anyway it is known to give problems (and also the man page says that), it is no more wide tested so it should not be suggested imho.

Moreover X -configure is no more needed for radeon driver users. You can simply do mods in xorg.conf.d/ if needed. On the other end for fglrx users X -configure will never work, since it doesn't even try to load fglrx (not here at least). Aticonfig is a must for fglrx user and there is no other real way to make it work.

And if I have to say it all X -configure never worked for me even with the radeon driver for three generation of radeon cards. But ok YMMV.

It is correct to say that automated support is only for the open-source radeon driver. It should just work if the hardware is supported and no xorg.conf is needed. For fglrx is it not correct to say "configuration can be assisted through aticonfig" but s/can/have to/ and you are correct. Generating xorg.conf by hand or by other way will likely simply fail as soon as you try to use aticonfig or amdcccle to change the multidesktop layout or the overscan/underscan. Fglrx is damn fragile, let's try to help those unluck AMD users.

[Comment 3 Sven Vermeulen (RETIRED) 2012-06-29 16:18:23 UTC]

Guide updated to reflect that automatic X (without -Configure) works only for the open-source driver, and that the -configure option is also just for this. Mention aticonfig at this location as well (and remove the note about aticonfig later).