Trying to run Ubuntu 12.04 or 14.04 with old ATI cards

Question

First, I've tried Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 11.04, Ubuntu 10.04, Xubuntu 11.04, Xubuntu 12.04. Video card is ATI Radeon 9600/9550/X1050 Series.

I've done some digging before I decided to ask question here, found that: http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Hardware#Radeon_.28Catalyst_.3C.3D_9.3_.26_Open_Source.29 http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Precise_Installation_Guide#Installing_Proprietary_Drivers_a.k.a._Catalyst.2Ffglrx

Is there a way to get it working with another driver on Linux 12.04+? Generally, the problem is that system freezes after few second if there is no acpi=off or nomodeset in boot options. With these options I have 800x600 maximum resolution.

Any ideas? Maybe there is different drivers or sth? Or is there a simple way to make 8.04 version stable with new and working repositories from newer version of Xubuntu? That'd be easiest way to solve problem. But I'd prefer new version anyway.

Solution

This list is ALL suported Radion GPUs

SUPPORTED HARDWARE
       The radeon driver supports PCI, AGP, and PCIe video cards based on  the
       following ATI/AMD chips (note: list is non-exhaustive):

       R100        Radeon 7200
       RV100       Radeon 7000(VE), M6, RN50/ES1000
       RS100       Radeon IGP320(M)
       RV200       Radeon 7500, M7, FireGL 7800
       RS200       Radeon IGP330(M)/IGP340(M)
       RS250       Radeon Mobility 7000 IGP
       R200        Radeon 8500, 9100, FireGL 8800/8700
       RV250       Radeon 9000PRO/9000, M9
       RV280       Radeon 9200PRO/9200/9200SE/9250, M9+
       RS300       Radeon 9100 IGP
       RS350       Radeon 9200 IGP
       RS400/RS480 Radeon XPRESS 200(M)/1100 IGP
       R300        Radeon 9700PRO/9700/9500PRO/9500/9600TX, FireGL X1/Z1
       R350        Radeon 9800PRO/9800SE/9800, FireGL X2
       R360        Radeon 9800XT
       RV350       Radeon 9600PRO/9600SE/9600/9550, M10/M11, FireGL T2
       RV360       Radeon 9600XT
       RV370       Radeon X300, M22
       RV380       Radeon X600, M24
       RV410       Radeon X700, M26 PCIe
       R420        Radeon X800 AGP
       R423/R430   Radeon X800, M28 PCIe
       R480/R481   Radeon X850 PCIe/AGP
       RV505/RV515/RV516/RV550
                   Radeon X1300/X1400/X1500/X1550/X2300
       R520        Radeon X1800
       RV530/RV560 Radeon X1600/X1650/X1700
       RV570/R580  Radeon X1900/X1950
       RS600/RS690/RS740
                   Radeon X1200/X1250/X2100
       R600        Radeon HD 2900
       RV610/RV630 Radeon HD 2400/2600/2700/4200/4225/4250
       RV620/RV635 Radeon HD 3410/3430/3450/3470/3650/3670
       RV670       Radeon HD 3690/3850/3870
       RS780/RS880 Radeon HD 3100/3200/3300/4100/4200/4250/4290
       RV710/RV730 Radeon                                                   HD
                   4330/4350/4550/4650/4670/5145/5165/530v/545v/560v/565v
       RV740/RV770/RV790
                   Radeon HD 4770/4730/4830/4850/4860/4870/4890
       CEDAR       Radeon HD 5430/5450/6330/6350/6370
       REDWOOD     Radeon HD 5550/5570/5650/5670/5730/5750/5770/6530/6550/6570
       JUNIPER     Radeon HD 5750/5770/5830/5850/5870/6750/6770/6830/6850/6870
       CYPRESS     Radeon HD 5830/5850/5870
       HEMLOCK     Radeon HD 5970
       PALM        Radeon HD 6310/6250
       SUMO/SUMO2  Radeon HD 6370/6380/6410/6480/6520/6530/6550/6620
       BARTS       Radeon HD 6790/6850/6870/6950/6970/6990
       TURKS       Radeon HD 6570/6630/6650/6670/6730/6750/6770
       CAICOS      Radeon HD 6430/6450/6470/6490
       CAYMAN      Radeon HD 6950/6970/6990
       ARUBA       Radeon HD 7000 series
       TAHITI      Radeon HD 7900 series
       PITCAIRN    Radeon HD 7800 series
       VERDE       Radeon HD 7700 series
       OLAND       Radeon HD 8000 series
       HAINAN      Radeon HD 8000 series
       BONAIRE     Radeon HD 7790 series
       KAVERI      KAVERI APUs
       KABINI      KABINI APUs

If yours dont show they are not supported by the current driver.

Unfortunately there seems to be no legacy drivers for AMD.

Run with nomodeset Try installing from software and updates and use the one labelled open source, i should work for you.

Comments

[RaV]

The similiar problems which I have right after boot are described there: link link link

[Rmano]

How old? I had a HD2300 working ok with newer kernels (14.04) and the open-source (default) driver. Please add more data about your card...

[RaV]

This is not exactly my computer (family), so I can't check it right now, but I remember that it was KT266A/ATA 133/ ATX Chipset which came with ATI Radeon 9600/9550/X1050 Series. Most important thing is that catalyst doesn't support it (from the first link).

[RaV]

Btw. HD2300 is from 2006-2007. We are talking about 2001-2002 :P

[Rmano]

Oops. So maybe nomodeset is the correct one? Using the standard VESA driver in X11? Sorry I can't be more useful... good luck!

[RaV]

Forgotten one thing, with nomodeset or acpi=off I have only 800x600 resolution... xP I'am using clean version of Ubuntu. I tried some tricks, but didn't worked.