After long waiting, fglrx 8.42.3 with AIGLX is here (Phoronix, Blognone). And now my laptop is Ubuntu Gutsy so my old instruction is obsoleted already. I note what I have done here in this post for further references.

Actually, my instructions are based on the howto I wrote earlier for Ubuntu Feisty. Please read it for more detail.

1. Enable Composite extension by adding below lines in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Yeah!

   Section "Extensions"
       Option  "Composite" "Enable" 
   EndSection

2. Install necessary tools.

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install module-assistant build-essential fakeroot dh-make debhelper debconf libstdc++5
   sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) wget

3. Download ATI driver.

   mkdir -p ~/fglrx
   cd ~/fglrx
   wget https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run

4. Create .deb packages.

   sh ./ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/7.10

5. Install the .deb packages.

   sudo dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx*.deb
   sudo dpkg -i fglrx-kernel-source*.deb
   sudo dpkg -i fglrx-amdcccle*.deb

6. Compile and install fglrx module.

   sudo module-assistant prepare
   sudo module-assistant update
   sudo module-assistant build -f fglrx
   sudo module-assistant install fglrx

7. Disable fglrx bundled with linux-restricted-module by adding fglrx to /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common.

   DISABLED_MODULES="fglrx"

8. Regenerate module dependencies.

   sudo depmod -a

9. Modify /etc/X11/xorg.conf to use fglrx instead. You may safely use my configuration as follows.

   Section "ServerLayout"
       Identifier     "Default Layout"
       Screen         "Default Screen" 0 0
       InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
       InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"
       InputDevice    "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
       InputDevice    "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
       InputDevice    "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
       InputDevice    "Synaptics Touchpad"
   EndSection
   Section "Files"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
       FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
       FontPath     "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
   EndSection
   Section "Module"
       Load  "bitmap"
       Load  "dbe"
       Load  "ddc"
       Load  "dri"
       Load  "extmod"
       Load  "freetype"
       Load  "glx"
       Load  "int10"
       Load  "type1"
       Load  "vbe"
   EndSection
   Section "InputDevice"
       Identifier  "Generic Keyboard"
       Driver      "kbd"
       Option      "CoreKeyboard"
       Option      "XkbRules" "xorg"
       Option      "XkbModel" "pc104"
       Option      "XkbLayout" "us"
   EndSection
   Section "InputDevice"
       Identifier  "Configured Mouse"
       Driver      "mouse"
       Option      "CorePointer"
       Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
       Option      "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
       Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
       Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
   EndSection
   Section "InputDevice"
       Identifier  "Synaptics Touchpad"
       Driver      "synaptics"
       Option      "SendCoreEvents" "true"
       Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"
       Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
       Option      "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
   EndSection
   Section "InputDevice"
       Identifier  "stylus"
       Driver      "wacom"
       Option      "Device" "/dev/wacom"       # Change to 
       Option      "Type" "stylus"
       Option      "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
   EndSection
   Section "InputDevice"
       Identifier  "eraser"
       Driver      "wacom"
       Option      "Device" "/dev/wacom"       # Change to 
       Option      "Type" "eraser"
       Option      "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
   EndSection
   Section "InputDevice"
       Identifier  "cursor"
       Driver      "wacom"
       Option      "Device" "/dev/wacom"       # Change to 
       Option      "Type" "cursor"
       Option      "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"               # Tablet PC ONLY
   EndSection
   Section "Monitor"
       Identifier   "Builtin LCD"
       HorizSync    28.0 - 70.0
       VertRefresh  43.0 - 60.0
       Option      "DPMS"
   EndSection
   Section "Device"
       Identifier  "ATI Technologies Inc M22 [Radeon Mobility M300]"
       Driver      "fglrx"
       Option      "VideoOverlay" "on"
       Option      "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
       BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
   EndSection
   Section "Screen"
       Identifier "Default Screen"
       Device     "ATI Technologies Inc M22 [Radeon Mobility M300]"
       Monitor    "Builtin LCD"
       DefaultDepth     24
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth     1
               Modes    "1400x1050"
       EndSubSection
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth     4
               Modes    "1400x1050"
       EndSubSection
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth     8
               Modes    "1400x1050"
       EndSubSection
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth     15
               Modes    "1400x1050"
       EndSubSection
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth     16
               Modes    "1400x1050"
       EndSubSection
       SubSection "Display"
               Depth     24
               Modes    "1400x1050"
       EndSubSection
   EndSection
   Section "DRI"
       Mode         0666
   EndSection
   Section "Extensions"
       Option      "Composite" "Enable"
   EndSection

10. Optionally, add fglrx to /etc/modules. Note that you should not need to do it but give it a try if fglrx is not loaded automatically.

    lp
    psmouse
    sbp2
    sr_mod
    rtc
    fuse
    fglrx

11. Add fglrx to whitelist of compiz by adding below line to /etc/xdg/compiz/compiz-manager.

    WHITELIST="$WHITELIST fglrx"

12. Reboot your computer.

13. Verify that everything goes well by running glxinfo and you should obtain something like below.

    $ glxinfo |grep OpenGL
    OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
    OpenGL renderer string: ATI MOBILITY RADEON X300
    OpenGL version string: 2.0.6958 Release
    OpenGL extensions:

14. Now you may enable Desktop Effects in System / Preferences / Appearance / Visual Effects and choose Normal mode. Don't worry. You will be asked to keep settings or revert.

All done! If you have any problems, please consult /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

Tags: ubuntu, gutsy gibbon, ati, amd, fglrx, radeon