AMD Graphic Drivers

[rowdy]

I installed noob ki11ah last night. I have been distro hopping for a while and have probably installed about 20 different distros in the past three months. The design is absolutely brilliant, and I think I may stopping for a while. The only problem I'm having so far is installing the graphics drivers for AMD. I've used the free drivers before and they usually don't work well with my laptop. Usually I just download the driver from the website itself and install. That seems to break my laptop with this distro. I have tried installing in smxi, but smxi never seems to work for me anyway. I've tried the directions in the wiki and that is also a no go. My main reason for wanting to install the catalyst drivers is because they always seem to extend my battery life dramatically. The default drivers I have now provide me with 2 hours at 100% charge, whereas in a distro like crunchbang when I have catalyst installed I can squeak out almost 4 hours.

Does anyone have any adivce, or can they point me in the right direction? Thanks to anyone who responds and to whoever put this project together.

[ivanovnegro]

Welcome.

We probably need more info, like:

To get the quickest possible help, mention the exact release codename in your post (uname -a is a good idea, too). Due to the lack of crystal balls, attach the output of lspci -nnk if you encounter hardware problems.

[rowdy]

I said what the release was. I'm asking for anyone with a similar experience with AMD drivers, or how they overcame them. Thanks.

[machinebacon]

Hi and welcome. Quick question: in Crunchbang, did you change the sources to Sid or track Waldorf as by default? If you changed the sources, it is all the same like here: the proprietary blob is a great PITA because of version mismatches upstream.

[ivanovnegro]

^ Exactly and that is why I asked for system specs because I thought you need something specific.

[dkeg]

ISRM

[wuxmedia]

IRSM ?
http://sliderulemuseum.com/ perhaps?

[dkeg]

no, but it sure does stink

[wuxmedia]

oops, I didn't read that right, yes - the putrefaction commences...

[rowdy]

Hi and welcome. Quick question: in Crunchbang, did you change the sources to Sid or track Waldorf as by default? If you changed the sources, it is all the same like here: the proprietary blob is a great PITA because of version mismatches upstream.

No I always used Waldorf. I've been searching for ways to do it in Sid, but the solutions I have found haven't worked so far. I'm sure I'll figure it out. If this wasn't a laptop I would just buy an Nvidia graphics card. AMD is continuously a pain in the ass for me.

[machinebacon]

Honestly, I think there's no cure for AMD in Sid, because the stuff is always on the move. If sgfxi didn't do it right (it is advised to do it twice, so again after reboot), then you can try after a new upgrade cycle. There's no failsafe method for it, unfortunately.