New Features

This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces product support for the following new operating systems:

* CrossFireX support
* Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support
* Support for new Linux operating systems
* ATI OverDrive™ Support for Linux
* ATI MultiView™
* Auto Detection and installation of distribution packaging

CrossFireX support

This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces support for CrossFireX configurations using the ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series on systems running the Linux operating system.


Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support

This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces Adaptive Anti-Aliasing support for the ATI Radeon HD 4800, ATI Radeon HD 3000 Series, ATI Radeon HD 2000 Series, and ATI Radeon X1000 Series of products installed on systems running the Linux operating system. Adaptive Anti-Aliasing substantially improves image quality by anti-aliasing transparent textures. This option is available in the Catalyst Control Center Linux Edition.
Support for new Linux operating systems

This release of ATI Catalyst™ Linux introduces support for the following new operating systems:

* RHEL 5.2 production support
* RHEL 4.7 early look

ATI OverDrive™ Support for Linux

ATI OverDrive™ maximizes the performance of the graphic processing unit (GPU) on your graphics card. This provides the ability to improve the performance of your GPU, especially if you are using a custom cooling solution.

Caution: Using ATI Overdrive™ to increase the graphics processor or memory clocks above normal limits may result in graphics corruption, data loss or system hangs. If ATI Overdrive™ detects unsafe conditions, it will automatically reduce the clocks. However, ATI cannot guarantee results, and will not be responsible for data loss or other problems that may occur as a result of using ATI Overdrive™.

ATI OverDrive™ on AMD Linux driver is a command line GPU overclocking tool for supported graphics adapters. It allows the users to:

* Enable or disable ATI OverDrive™
* Get GPU and memory clock range
* Manually set clocks within the available range. Note that there
* Test clocks with a stress utility
* Obtain GPU temperature

Graphics cards supported include:

* ATI Radeon™ HD 4870 X2
* ATI Radeon™ HD 4800
* ATI Radeon™ HD 4670
* ATI Radeon™ HD 4850
* ATI Radeon™ HD 4550
* ATI Radeon™ HD 3870
* ATI Radeon™ HD 3850
* ATI Radeon™ HD 3830
* ATI Radeon™ HD 3690
* ATI Radeon™ HD 3600
* ATI Radeon™ HD 3470
* ATI Radeon™ HD 3450
* ATI Radeon™ HD 3430
* ATI Radeon™ HD 2600

Note: The ATI Radeon™ HD 2900, ATI Radeon™ HD 3870 X2, and ATI Radeon™ HD 3850 X2 series of products, along with Workstation, and FireStream™ products are currently not supported.

Note: Mobile GPU OverDrive™ support is individual for each vendor, i.e. the same mobile GPU may have or may have not Overdrive 5 support. Please contact your vendor for more information.

More details on how to use ATI OverDrive™ can be found in the aticonfig help file.

ATI MultiView™

ATI MultiView™ provides the ability to utilize GPUs from multiple adapters on an independent multi-display desktop. It allows a user to configure, manage and use a Multiview configuration under Linux and allows OpenGL applications run on any displays driven by multiple GPUs. ATI MultiView™ provides:

* Multi-GPU configuration support
* Up to 4 displays support
* Enhanced display configuration and selection through the Catalyst Control Center Linux Edition
* Administrator shortcut which provides access to configuration options that require root privileges. Root privileges are required for multi-screen configurations, including enabling and disabling certain multi-screen configurations and screen placement.
* ATI MultiView™ only works on systems with two identical FireGL™ products which include:

o ATI FireGL™ V7700
o ATI FireGL™ V7400
o ATI FireGL™ V5600
o ATI FireGL™ V5200
o ATI FireGL™ V3700
o ATI FireGL™ V3600
o ATI FireGL™ V3400
o ATI FireGL™ V3350
o ATI FireGL™ V3300

* ATI MultiView™ does not operate with Compiz environments
* ATI MultiView™ (released in 8.52/8.53) does not operate with Xinerama enabled

Auto Detection and installation of distribution packaging

With version 2.0 of the AMD Graphics Driver distribution packaging Application Programming Interface (API), each Linux distribution will have the option of updating their packaging scripts to provide auto detection and installation of the AMD graphics driver.

Version 2.0 of the API installation option will automatically generate and install a distribution-specific package using the distribution's package management system, it automatically check for build and install dependencies when generating and installing distribution-specific packages.

Note: This is achieved in supported distributions by using the following command: aticonfig --buildandinstallpkg

Version 2.0 enhancements include the following:

* Automatic OS detection. Users will be able to generate and install distribution-specific packages without having to provide system-specific information
* Dryrun option. Users will have the ability to request a test run of the installer to ensure that all dependencies are met

Tip: Dryrun can be added after either --buildpkg or --buildandinstallpkg to simulate those actions.

Currently only RedHat, Slackware and Ubuntu support these enhanced options. As more distribution packaging scripts implement the AMD Graphics Driver distribution packaging API version 2.0 this list will grow.

• ATI Radeon CrossFire On Linux
• AMD OverDrive On Linux
• AMD Catalyst 8.8 Linux Driver

• ATI Catalyst 8.8 Proprietary Linux x86 Display Driver
• ATI Catalyst 8.8 Proprietary Linux x86_64 Display Driver