Home Home > 2014 > 12 > 13 > New Proprietary AMD/ATI Catalyst omega fglrx 14.12 (14.501.1003-1) rpm released
Sign up | Login

Deprecation notice: openSUSE Lizards user blog platform is deprecated, and will remain read only for the time being. Learn more...

New Proprietary AMD/ATI Catalyst omega fglrx 14.12 (14.501.1003-1) rpm released

December 13th, 2014 by

Hey Christmas time around! AMD give us a new version of fglrx, and Sebastian Siebert just release his script yesterday night.
So I’ve prepared the new version available for openSUSE 11.4, 12.1, 12.2, 12.3, 13.1, 13.2 and Tumbleweed.
Sebastian’s script contain a special patch for supporting kernel up to 3.17 and 3.18 version.
I should also share Sebastian’s surprize about the fact that this version didn’t got a beta/rc cycle….

I hope this release will give better results for all of you who own an apu (especially the recent one), and also fix a number of issue with the hybrid chipset intel cpu/amd gpu embedded.

See below how to report issue on Sebastian blog.

It will be the last build for all openSUSE version below 13.1 (except if patches are needed).
In January 12.3 support will definitively end. But I will let the drivers as is so you can still use them in case of.

Installation / update

Please refer to the wiki page SDB:AMD_fgrlx

New packaging schema

The driver is now splitted into different rpm that all need to be installed. Normally the necessary Require field is there and should happen automatically.

My advise is to check if you have them all installed.

for 32 bits

zypper install fglrx_xpic fglrx_core fglrx_graphics fglrx_amdcccle fglrx_opencl

for 64 bits

zypper install fglrx64_xpic fglrx64_core fglrx64_graphics fglrx64_amdcccle fglrx64_opencl

A notice for Tumbleweed users

The new release has now its package correctly named, previously they were called SUSEFACTORY, with the new version the package will contain SUSETUMBLEWEED in their name

Release note about 14.12

AMD Catalyst Full release note

New Features:
The following section provides a summary of new features in this driver version.

    OpenCL 2.0 support (requires 64-bit OS and compatible AMD Radeon™ R Series GPU)
    VAAPI decoding support (H264, VC1, MPEG2, MPEG4)
    Distribution specific package support for Ubuntu and Red Hat

Resolved Issues:
This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst Linux Software Suite.

    [402835]: Unexpected pixmap's time stamp change on Ubuntu with composite enabled causes Linux Khronos CTS to randomly fail
    [403420]: Driver install can sometimes have an error in Ubuntu 14.10 using GPL symbol before Kernel 3.16
    [405011]: Driver installation may intermittently fail on Kernel 3.9.0
    [409856]: Generate Distribution Specific Package' mode of Catalyst install does not create symbolic links for libGL
    [407550]: Driver upgrade failed in Ubuntu with specific drivers

Known Issues:
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced with the AMD Catalyst Linux Software Suite.

  [404829]: Horizontal flashing lines on second screen in a clone mode with V-Sync on using AMD Mobility Graphics with Switchable Intel Graphics
  [404508]: Display takes a long time to redraw the screen after an S4 cycle

This Catalyst fglrx version support openSUSE version from 11.4 to 13.2 plus Tumbleweed (thus covering kernel to 3.18 series).
Again a special thanks to Sebastian Siebert for his effort on making this driver working under openSUSE and latest kernel.
Want to help, use the donate button on his blog page

Sebastien Siebert making script

Sebastian Siebert post about 14.12

Damn I’m impressed by the number of steam games tested there, I should try some of them during hollidays 🙂

If you have any problems with the driver, don’t be afraid to report to Sebastian (German and English bugreports are gladly accepted).
he will try, as far as I am able to reproduce the bug. Together with the necessary system information, he will go directly to the right place at AMD to have the bug fixed in the next driver release.
Thank you very much, Sebastian.

See below what to do in case of troubles.

Debugging and reporting troubles

I recommend in case of trouble the use of his script which can collect the whole informations needed to help you. then you just have to issue a simple commande in console to collect all informations, you can review them, and finally transmit them.
Check the website to get the latest.

su -c 'sh makerpm-amd-14.12.sh -ur'
The system report 'amd-report.txt' was generated.                                                                                                          [ OK ]
Do you want to read the system report 'amd-report.txt' now? yes/no [y/n]: y
Are you sure to upload the above-named system report to sprunge.us? yes/no [y/n]: y

The report was uploaded to sprunge.us.
   The link is:  http://sprunge.us/eMEB

Copy paste the link in the comment zone of Sebastian post

Reminder this drivers is only for radeon HD5xxx

This release concern only owners of radeon HD5xxx or above.
For older gpu, the fglrx-legacy is still there see wiki page atSDB:AMD_fgrlx_legacy.
Beware of it obsolete status, and prefer the free open-source radeon driver which came out of the box from your openSUSE distribution.
For 12.3, and more true with 13.1+ the free radeon often offer a better experience than the old fglrx-legacy, especially for HD2xxx-HD4xxx range.

Humor : the never ending links

In 2014 April, I’ve decided to close the automatic redirection of http://geeko.ioda.net/mirror/ati after being obsolete for more than one year.
The reason was that there’s no safe way to drive people having a older Radeon HD card (series 2xxx to 4xxxx) to not use newer fglrx build.

Guess what? I’m still seeing more than quarter billion hit on those address (for 12.1 to 13.1) 🙂

If you click on such link referring to this url, please do your best to fix thoses and check your or friends computer configurations 🙂

Mirror total Statistics

Month Unique visitors Number of visits Pages Hits Bandwidth
2011 195,167 537,369 10.080M 10.369M 1,582.25 GB
2012 804,092 2,014,942 59.263M 59.656M 4,390.50 GB
2013 570,673 1,834,450 28.668M 29.384M 6,378.90 GB
2014 149,900 448,086 15,427M 15.761M 6,068.12 GB

All proudly distributed by openSUSE powered server and sponsored by Ioda-Net Sàrl

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

22 Responses to “New Proprietary AMD/ATI Catalyst omega fglrx 14.12 (14.501.1003-1) rpm released”

  1. Anonymous

    Kwin crashed and AMD Control Center gave me error, after the first restart, but removing it seems to return OpenSUSE to normal.

    Vendor: HP.
    Graphics: Switchable graphics (AMD + Intel).

    • Then as what I’ve guessed all couple intel cpu/gpu + amd is still relative crap.
      Sorry don’t have that kind of hardware to test.

    • Prior to SuSe 13.1, in order to get usably smooth graphics with dual heads enabled, fglrx used to be my go to graphics driver on SuSe < 13.1 as the free suplied ATI driver was very choppy. Back about a year or more ago, every time m Xorg would update in yast, I would need to manually re-install it. This was very very easy. Just now I saw an xorg update, so I called my script,
      that I wrote, "is_catalyst_installed" which checks to see if fglrx is the currently running driver. It returned my "YOU MUST REINSTALL CATALYST" message. Now I admit, the cobwebs are starting to stick at the age of (nearly) 53, and I did not remember if, since upgrading to 13.1– have I just gone with the new freeware, or was I still using catalyst. I decided, based upon my earlier knowledge of the level of quality, why not take the plunge. I followed instructions up at https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AMD_fglrx#1-click_install_64_bits, took the "add repository and then install in Yast2" method, and then restarted the system. What a disaster. At least some failsafe graphics driver was working, but the screen res was wrong, (1 inch of black all the way arond) and no dual head option. I ended up (1) uninstalling the fglrx NOISE, (2) REMOVING the fglrx repository and (3) reverting (crossing my fingers at each step of the way. I'm back to smooth, beautiful smooth with dual heads at the correct screen resolution (no black around the edges).

      Bottom line — if you're on SuSe 13.1 stay the hell away from fglrx. Maybe there out to be a YMMV warning somewhere. Well, consider this to be one.

  2. Jenya

    Unfortunately X crashed (openSUSE 13.2 with Xfce, LXDE and Razor-Qt) during boot.
    Log file is present on http://sprunge.us/QhWg.

    Vendor: HP Pavilion g6 Notebook PC
    CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2310M CPU @ 2.10GHz
    Graphics: Switchable graphics (AMD Radeon HD 6400M + Intel).

    • zlndot

      Same here, I mean the X crash issue. Thank Snapper that undoing changes is easier than ever. 🙂
      HP ProBook 450 G1 (Intel HD 4600 / Radeon HD 8750M)

    • I’m sorry to say that but you miss something during your installation fglrx is not active
      [ 48.357] (II) LoadModule: “fglrx”
      [ 48.679] (WW) Warning, couldn’t open module fglrx
      [ 48.679] (II) UnloadModule: “fglrx”
      [ 48.680] (II) Unloading fglrx
      [ 48.680] (EE) Failed to load module “fglrx” (module does not exist, 0)
      [ 48.680] (II) LoadModule: “ati”
      [ 48.680] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/ati_drv.so
      [ 48.920] (II) Module ati: vendor=”X.Org Foundation”
      [ 49.039] compiled for 1.16.1, module version = 7.4.0
      [ 49.039] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
      [ 49.039] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 18.0
      [ 49.039] (II) LoadModule: “radeon”
      [ 49.039] (II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/radeon_drv.so
      [ 49.737] (II) Module radeon: vendor=”X.Org Foundation”

      it load radeon ???

      Did you really installed fglrx drivers ?
      in your report there none installed …

      check the article you need all fglr(64)_ package in the repo installed, nothing less nothing more.

  3. Kudos for the packages!

    BTW: Why isn’t the AMD drivers repo in the community repos list in Yast like the nvidia one?

    • Isn’t it listed on community repo really, uh that’s a mistake we should take care off.
      It’s always complicated for us (openSUSE community) to be sure to publish right things at the right place when we’re talking about patented blob … 🙂
      Anyway I will check if we can have those repos also available.

    • Anonymous

      Should be visible now for 13.2 and tumbleweed

  4. Wladimir S. Mesko

    Does it work with Gnome? Tried the script many times, always ending in a text mode screen…

  5. This package of AMD fglrx installed easily and works well EXCEPT…

    If you are a Second Life or OpenSimulator user who wears clothing made from rigged mesh, you will not see the mesh objects. They will be invisible. You can see them if you turn “Hardware Skinning” off within the viewers (happens with all of them) which is not a suggested idea. Running without hardware skinning can lead to overheating as the CPU has to do more work to make up for the turned off GPU.

    It is best to rollback to the earlier fglrx package, 14.201.1006.1002. Rigged mesh can be seen with hardware skinning active.

    This is a known problem for all AMD drivers beginning with 14.9 that affected a few machines. It appears that 14.12 affects a wider number of machines on all OS platforms.

    The Mesa/Gallium driver combo may work for some AMD GPUs, but not for any that are driven by the R600 opensource driver. That, too, uses a software renderer only and leads to degraded performance and increased heat.

  6. Chris

    FGLRX will not work with GNOME on 13.2. To resolve, you must install lightdm, and manually type lightdm inside system-config editor as your display manager.

    Only then, you can boot into Gnome3

  7. nico_g

    Thanks for your work : the driver was perfect under Tumbleweed with 3.18 kernel. But I have updated to 3.19 and fglrx is broken…
    I posted here :
    https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/505434-X-doesn-t-start-after-kernel-update-with-AMD-Catalyst-%28fglrx%29
    I think we need a new version for 3.19 kernel. Thanks in advance for your help and if you need some help for test, I’m here !

    Nicolas

    • Hey Nico, I was traveling last week and didn’t being able to rebuild the new patches from Sebastian.
      The drivers build have just been released with a new build version supporting 3.19 kernel 14.501.1003-2