FGLRX Issues and Linux Mint

After installing Linux Mint 17.1 on my HP laptop, I noticed that the fglrx-updates package doesn't detect my AMD display drivers.  That's very disappointing but there's no release notes for the Catalyst driver yet (15.3?).  So, I'm not certain if AMD is supposed to drop support for the 7xxM series.  To install fglrx, I had to use the regular fglrx release from Linux Mint.

Then, of course, the Ubuntu fglrx issue dual monitor hit me hard with the flickering desktop.  Sheesh.  From my additional research however, I've found this blurb from the Arch Linux article.

When using a PowerXpress laptop in AMD-only mode (ie, setting the discrete card to render everything) you sometimes run into issues with artifacting/duplicating between displays. This is a known issue, and seems to effect 7xxxM series cards.
The artifacting disappears when you transform one of the monitors by either rotating or scaling. So you can use xrandr to fix this

So, I used the xrandr command they supplied and massaged it to my own case and came up with this:

xrandr --output LVDS1 --primary --mode 1366x768 --pos 0x0 --scale 1.0001x1.0001 --output VGA1 --right-of LVDS1 --scale 1x1 --mode 1024x768

This is not quite what I was hoping for as the second screen seems to display one half of my first monitor display.  After playing around with xrandr, I found the command that would fix it here.

xrandr --output LVDS1 --primary --mode 1366x768 --pos 0x0 --output VGA1 --right-of LVDS1 --scale 1.0001x1.0001 --mode 1024x768

The other caveat on Linux Mint seems to be the installation of the bcm4313 drivers, but that's easy to resolve.

Done! Goodbye fglrx!

In short, I've given up on AMD's drivers.  I waited as long as I could but there is just no improvement.  The notes here details on how I got rid of the fglrx and switched to open source.

Basically, I followed the instructions from this article for removing.  I did not however perform the steps to reinstall the open source drivers from there.  I ran the software sources application and clicked on the open source drivers, applying the changes and letting it reinstall the packages.  Then, I deleted xorg.conf and rebooted.

Voila!  Multiple monitors are back!

Revisiting fglrx and multi-monitor setup on Ubuntu 13.04

I really hate that multi-monitor is broken for muxless AMD/Intel hybrid laptops on 13.04.  I've gotten all the way to the latest 13.11 beta and the problems remain.  However, I did uncover some interesting things.

The desktop display options have always been conspicuously absent on amdcccle.  It seems to have been caused by the RandR 1.2 extensions being enabled.  According to this link and this link, it seems I have to disable RandR from xorg and amd's own config file.  One day, I will get to try it on my own.

1. Edit /etc/ati/amdpcsdb and add EnableRandR12=Sfalse on the [AMDPCSROOT/SYSTEM/DDX] section.
2. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add Option "EnableRandR12" "false" on "Device" section.

Downgrading from 13.04 to 12.10?

Generally, 13.04 is fine for my nVIDIA desktop, but on my HP laptop, I'm very unhappy with it.  The lack of a dual head setup is seriously killing me (Thank you, AMD...) and after the recent updates, my touchpad click button is now playing tricks on me.  What do I do?  Do I downgrade to 12.10?  Will the next Ubuntu release fix all of these issues?  Hmmm...

I intentionally upgraded my PC first and give 13.04 a week on that machine to make sure everything was spiffy.  This grace period was for me to decide whether or not to upgrade my work laptop.  I see now that I should probably not be upgrade happy with my work laptop but that will mean I will get stuck with the same problem I had before, which is getting stuck on old releases forever.

It's been a rough week...

AMD FGLRX 13.8 BETA Driver

So, I updated my drivers to 13.8 Beta today using this guide.  The install is no different from Quantal but it's just to make sure I don't make any foolish errors.  I also took the liberty to remove the xserver-xorg-video-intel package that was used by a hack.  As it turns out, there is progress.  Now fglrx will load up without having to use bogus outdated intel video drivers.  The bad news?  Using an external monitor still does not work.  It is clearly a regression with fglrx drivers with 13.04.  That's just how it is with AMD, I suppose.

Progress on the fglrx dual monitor issue

Here's a nice little progress.  I think the root cause of my dual screen woes is the solution to get fglrx working in the first place!!!  This is some spectacular failure on AMD's part, but what else is new with AMD with Linux?

AMD did put out 13.8 beta drivers.  Hopefully, I can ditch the stupid solution and get my 2 screens back!

Worth looking into is the seemingly "Official" bug on launchpad.  Someone posted a possible workaround by disabling SNA acceleration.  Certainly worth a try.  I hate apt-marking outdated packages.

Section "Device"
      Identifier "intel"
      Driver "intel"
      Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"
EndSection

Progress on the fglrx dual monitor issue

So, I've been poking around and I'm noticing that xrandr is printing out some very funny things in 13.04.

On 12.10, this is what xrandr tells me:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2390 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 309mm x 174mm
VGA1 connected 1024x768+1366+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 267mm x 200mm

On 13.04, notice the difference in resolution:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2390 x 777, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 309mm x 174mm

VGA1 connected 1024x768+1366+9 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 267mm x 200mm

So, this is why the screen seems pushed to the side and is causing the whole misalignment of my desktop.  There must be a way to set xrandr to how it was in 12.10.  I have to keep looking.

I've tried to reconfigure xrandr:
xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --pos 0x0 --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --pos 0x0 --right-of LVDS1

This gives me the correct xrandr configuration on 12.10:
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2390 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 309mm x 174mm
VGA1 connected 1024x768+1366+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 267mm x 200mm

But this did not fix my error.  The screen would go off just the same.  This feels like a regression on xrandr and/or fglrx.