Removal and installation is really straight forward and there is only a few extra steps. I keep my drivers in separate folders for each version. All commands are displayed as if you were in the working folder for that driver and ONLY that driver version.

Generate the fglrx/catalyst drivers for your distribution
Supported distro’s found here.
sh ati-driver-installer-* --buildpkg Distribution/codename

Backup your xorg.conf (just in case, re-configuring xorg sucks!) and remove the previous fglrx drivers
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
sudo apt-get purge xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx-kernel-source fglrx-modaliases fglrx-amdcccle
# if /etc/ati still exists, remove it!
sudo rm -rf /etc/ati/

Now reboot and when restarting do not boot into the GUI. Xorg will be looking for your fglrx driver and it is now obviously gone, so you will either lock-up or it may recover nicely and allow you to enter into a low graphics mode. Either way, boot into a terminal window. On Ubuntu you can enter the recovery console.

Now from terminal install the new fglrx/catalyst driver
sudo dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_*.deb fglrx-kernel-source_*.deb fglrx-amdcccle_*.deb

Now reboot from terminal and enter the GUI. You will have to reconfigure any settings you made in the previous Catalyst driver. fglrx/catalyst brightness, contrast, gamma howto.

If you happen to have any issues booting back into the GUI. Go back to the terminal and remove your previous xorg.conf. and follow these instructions for generating a new one.

A more detailed walk-through can always be found at http://wiki.cchtml.com/

I know that the servers are properly configured (because I set them up) and they are not an open relay. They reject mail correctly and SA/CAV are filtering mail correctly.

Without knowing the cause I took two approaches to resolve the issue. The first thing I did was change the RDNS for the machines. The second thing I did was setup a Postfix catch-all to cut down on outgoing mail from the machines. The servers each receive 30-60 or more email’s a minute to unknown users. This is a mere trickle compared to most mail servers, but enough.

It’s bad practice to setup a catch-all. But when you are not AOL, Microsoft, Google, etc, you have very little push and pull on the internet and can get blocked for adding to the spam. Some spammers are clever enough to purposely use other mail servers to reject mail and send that email to their intended recipient.

Anyway, after much research, not a single blog, howto or tutorial demonstrated how to setup a catch-all in Postfix correctly. Every method I read about caught ALL mail even if the intended recipient existed locally on the machine. One blog post I read said it would send the mail to the correct recipient before it redirected mail for the unknown user, which goes to show this guy did not test his configuration and even posted about it!

I eventually found my way by reading the postfix configuration documentation. This very simple method is a combination of two parameters you can add in /etc/postfix/main.cf

luser_relay = localuser@localdomain.com
local_recipient_maps =


luser_relay is the local user on the machine to catch all email that does not belong to an existing local user. luser_relay documentation.

local_recipient_maps is left blank to stop Postfix from checking if the user exists on the local machine. This is very important, without this line, Postfix will still reject the mail and send a bounce message. local_recipient_maps documenation.

After adding the above two lines to the configuration, apply the changes and restart Postfix in terminal.

service postfix reload
/etc/init.d/postfix restart


Sometimes, somehow and someway the client loses sync with folders and this little bash script will fix the problem. I originally found this on the Ubuntu forums a few months ago.


#!/bin/bash
# see http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=974536
cd $HOME/.evolution/mail
echo "Deleting .index(s)";
find -name "*.index" -exec rm {} \;
echo "Deleting .ev-summary(s)";
find -name "*.ev-summary" -exec rm {} \;
echo "Deleting .cmeta(s)";
find -name "*.cmeta" -exec rm {} \;
echo "Done.";


In my previous post I went over setting and making these adjustments. The previous methods for Contrast and Brightness remain. However for gamma, the only way and previously existing method is now using fglrx_xgamma.

In terminal;

fglrx_xgamma -c 0 -gamma .85

This setting will be immediately applied and also after restarting.


iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -m state -m recent ! -s 10.0.0.0/24 -i eth0 --dport 22 --state NEW --set --name DEFAULT --rsource
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp -m state -m recent ! -s 10.0.0.0/24 -i eth0 --dport 22 --state NEW -j DROP --update --seconds 60 --hitcount 2 --name DEFAULT --rsource
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT


sudo iptables -A FORWARD -m state --state ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp -m tcp -m state --dport 21 --state NEW -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp -m tcp -m state --sport 20 --state RELATED -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A FORWARD -p tcp -m tcp -m state --dport 1024:65535 --sport 1024:65535 --state RELATED -j ACCEPT

Once you have the dialog open, click the Video tab. Under Default Output, the Plugin selection should say Autodetect unless you have changed it. Change this to X Window System (No Xv).

This should fix fullscreen playback issues mentioned previously. It did for me atleast with fglrx ati drivers.

Notes:

Caution: The script assumes the nfs share is not an existing directory on the local machine. It uses the same mount points on the the local machine as the remote machine.

All mount points are located in /media. I did this to keep in unison with Ubuntu.

This was convenient for me but may not play well on other setups. Simply ask and I can modify the script to accommodate different setups easily. You’re also welcome to change it yourself

Before using this script, you should make sure that your nfs shares are setup correctly and functioning without this script.

Line 22: Replace this with your username:group on your local machine

Lines 13 & 24: Replace x.x.x with your local C class. EX: 192.168.1

Usage:

Make sure the script is executable with chmod +x

Mounting

./filename 100 folder

• filename is self-explanatory I think.
• 100 is the last octet of the IP address that the nfs share is located on
• folder is the remote mount point and local mount point for mounting

Unmounting

./filename u folder

• u simply means unmount
• folder is the mount location on the local machine

#!/bin/bash

# MOUNT: ./mnt 100 folder
# UNMOUNT: ./mnt u folder

if [ $1 != "" ] && [ $2 != "" ]; then

  DIR=/media/$2
  EXISTMOUNT=`sudo cat /etc/mtab | grep $DIR`;
  EXISTDIR=`ls /media/ | grep $2`;

  if [ $1 != "u" ]; then
    EXISTREMDIR=`showmount -e 10.0.0.$1 | grep $DIR`;
  fi

  if [[ "$EXISTMOUNT" != *$DIR* ]] && [ $1 != "u" ]  &&
     [[ "$EXISTREMDIR" = *$DIR* ]]; then
    
    echo "Creating: $DIR"
    sudo mkdir $DIR
    sudo chown username:group $DIR
    echo "done."
    echo "Mounting: $DIR"
    sudo mount 10.0.0.$1:$DIR $DIR
    echo "done."
  
  fi
  
  if [ "$EXISTDIR" = $2 ] && [ $1 = "u" ]; then
    
    echo "Unmounting: $DIR"
    sudo umount $DIR;
    echo "done."
    
    # failsafe directory removal
    EXISTMOUNT=`sudo cat /etc/mtab | grep $DIR`;
    if [[ "$EXISTMOUNT" != *$DIR* ]]; then
      echo "Removing: $DIR"
      sudo rmdir $DIR
      echo "done."
    fi
    
  fi
  
fi

If it is automatically mounted, you will need to unmount it. On my laptop, my dvd drive is /dev/sr0.

To figure out what device it is, you can always mount the device or if it is already mounted, type
cat /etc/mtab | grep udf.

To create the iso/disk image, the device must not be mounted. To unmount your DVD drive/CDROM drive;
#DVD Drive
sudo umount /dev/sr0
#CDRom Drive
sudo umount /dev/cdrom

Now, we will copy the raw data from the dvd/cd to a disk image using the dd command. The dd command stands for “dataset definition” but I like to personally remember it by “data dump”.

Be VERY careful using dd, one mistake can make a hard drive completely unusable. Caution is advised. Lot’s of useful information on dd can be found on the wikipedia.

Now for the command;
dd if=/dev/sr0 of=/home/user/diskimage.iso

This will copy the raw data from /dev/sr0 (DVD drive) to the file /home/user/diskimage.iso

I downloaded the official driver from ATI’s website. 9.4 catalyst.

I followed the instructions to install the drivers manually from the link below line for line;
When I built the packages I had the previous driver still installed from envyng. I also left compiz running with all my desktop effects enabled. I’m not sure how relevant that is, but it is what I did.

This is really not for the faint of heart! Be cautious and patient, READ CAREFULLY and follow the instructions word for word! If you mess this up, ubuntu will more than likely not be bootable into the GUI after. If something is wrong, ubuntu will freeze at boot probably with some messed up crap on the screen. You will have to remove the fglrx packages from the recovery terminal. (which happened to me once already).
http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Jaunty_Installation_Guide#Installing_the_drivers_manually

After installation was complete, I did not reboot immediately.
I backed up first /etc/ati/amdpcsdb and then removed it from that directory.
Then I rebooted…

After reboot, i DID NOT do aticonfig --initial OR aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf. And I don’t plan on it.

My xorg.conf is a mess at the moment and not complete, but I attached it anyway since the video card driver settings I am using are there and are complete. But I’ve read that without running aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf, the ati driver doesn’t read the xorg.conf settings. Not sure one way or the other right now honestly. But I’m not running it.

For testing, I opened firefox which had 12 tabs, system monitor, nautilus, terminal with transparency, netbeans 6.7 beta and evolution. I also ran glxgears and I am seeing 500-600 FPS more! glxgears is now up to 1500-1600 on HD3400 Series.

I booted with Xorg at 65mb, after running these applications and glxgears. Also maximizing and minimizing each window repeatedly since this clearly showed the leak the most, Xorg is freeing up memory and garbage collecting quite well! Xorg is now at 76-77mb. Open is firefox with 5 tabs and system monitor. Normally before, Xorg would be at 130-170mb at least after this. Especially after minimize and maximize so many times. So at this point, an 11-12mb increase after all that with windows still open is VERY acceptable compared to before.

I posted this info on launchpad a couple days ago.

Anyway, Good luck!

Launchpad Link for this bug;
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/353800/

For those who would prefer to compile xorg;
http://launchpadlibrarian.net/26424345/107_fedora_dont_backfill_bg_none.patch

PPA is available here;
https://edge.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/xserver-no-backfill

Launchpad link for this bug;
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fglrx-installer/+bug/351186

I could not find anywhere on google a single search result except for setting gamma, so I post this here.

To change brightness and contrast you do this through aticonfig. These settings are saved as you change them and are irreversible without deleting /etc/ati/amdpcsdb first. I recommend making small increments and make sure your syntax is correct.

First you need to determine what monitor(s) types are connected. With aticonfig in terminal try aticonfig --query-monitor. If you get the error it is not supported when RandR is enabled. You can then try xrandr. This will return the screen # and types. From xrandr you should be able to pick out what display type you need for aticonfig, the naming will be different.

aticonfig requires the following display type options in the string crt1, lvds, tv, cv, tmds1, crt2, tmds2, tmds2i, dfp3, dfp4, dfp5, dfp6. So you can try one of these until you get the right one. Querying incorrect display type does no harm. Typically, lvds is going to be your LCD.

To determine the contrast and brightness you are using type the following below in a terminal, lvds is the display type and in the output, value is the current setting;

Contrast
aticonfig --query-dispattrib=lvds,contrast
Which outputs for me:
contrast attribute information of monitor lvds :
default:100, value:85, min:0, max:200, step:1

Brightness
aticonfig --query-dispattrib=lvds,brightness
Which outputs for me:
brightness attribute information of monitor lvds :
default:0, value:-3, min:-100, max:100, step:1

Notice how brightness is min value of -100 and max 100 while contrast is a min value of 0 and max 200. So be careful.

To set these, be very careful of typos or accidentally setting a null value. Your screen could very easily go black:
aticonfig --set-dispattrib=lvds,contrast:100
Where 100 is the contrast value you are setting. And the same goes for brightness:
aticonfig --set-dispattrib=lvds,brightness:0

UPDATE: Use fglrx_xgamma for setting gamma. Xorg.conf gamma no longer works in fglrx versions 9.5 and later.

Gamma is not supported anywhere I can see in the man for aticonfig. So for gamma you can see the current setting through xserver by typing xgamma. It should return values for red, blue and green.

xgamma supports decimal values like 0.85 or 1.0. 1.0 being default. If you want to change the gamma for all 3, type xgamma -gamma 0.85 or whatever value you want. If you want to change individual colors, you have to do it one by one. Replace -gamma with -rgamma, -ggamma or -bgamma. Red, green, blue respectively.

The thing about xgamma, these settings are only stored and saved for your current user/boot session. To make these settings permanent, you will need to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf. If your xorg.conf is not setup, you should get started reading here.

So open xorg.conf as sudo in your text editor of choice. For gnome users, one of my fav commands is gksu gedit /ect/X11/xorg.conf &disown.

Next goto Section "Monitor". Inside this section simply add your gamma setting with, Gamma 0.85 0.85 0.85 (red, blue, green). Or you can put a single value for all 3. Save and exit.

That’s it, pretty straight forward I hope.

The reason I am posting this is because it took me several hours to figure this out. I could not find in one place an organized concise approach. I’d imagine the experts already know this info but for the new Linux users, I can see this being helpful and also as a reference for me in the future

This does not fix the current memory leak in Xorg or the slow sluggishness of compiz when minimizing, maximizing or resizing. Sadly, I’m experiencing both of these issues on Jaunty with the ATI Driver, I have not tried the open source ATI Driver yet.

I went through many installations and removals of the ati driver during this process. I will only explain how and what I did to actually get the driver working with direct rendering enabled.

Let’s begin:

You can see if you have direct rendering working by typing:

glxinfo | grep direct

If you get “direct rendering: Yes” you do not need to do this and your drivers and card are configured correctly. Otherwise, if it says no and possibly one of two messages after the “no”. Your xorg and driver settings are not configured correctly.

After a complete failure of the drivers off ATI’s website not working, even after compiling the .deb packages and installing everything that was necessary, my Linux installation no longer booted in the GUI.

The first thing I did was boot into recovery and remove ALL FGLRX packages from my installation. If you get permission denied for any commands, use sudo. You can see what packages are installed by typing this:

dpkg -l | grep fglrx

If any of the following packages are installed they will need removed:
xorg-driver-fglrx, fglrx-kernel-source, fglrx-modaliases, fglrx-amdcccle

You can remove these with the following command, leave out any packages that are not installed;

apt-get purge xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx-kernel-source fglrx-modaliases fglrx-amdcccle

Purge ensures that all files and directories created by the packages are removed. After successful purge I typed reboot. I was back in the GUI now in an 800×600 screen, which was great since I could not boot into the GUI before! This also told me that all previous flgrx drivers were definitely gone =)

After I rebooted I started envyng.

envyng -t

This takes us to the text based version of the installer. If you do not have envyng, I highly recommend it, download it via;

sudo apt-get install envyng-core

After you go through the text based wizard, it will ask you to reboot. Do that. You should come back to your login with your native screen resolution. Envyng never failed me through about 6-7 manual package removals and re-installing again everytime.

You can check if your drivers are working and installed correctly by typing the following “fglrxinfo”, you should see something like this:

display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series
OpenGL version string: 2.1.8575

Next we will update xorg.conf. This creates a new xorg.conf and backups your old.

aticonfig --initial -f

To update your xorg.cong, type;

sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you don’t have vim, you can use vi instead. This is my xorg.conf file after researching and looking at other Linux users xorg.conf files for my series card.

Section "ServerLayout"

#  InputDevice   "Synaptics Touchpad"
	Identifier     "Default Layout"
	Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"
	Option	    "AIGLX" "on"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"

#	Disable	"dri2"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "dri"
#Load  "synaptics"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Generic Keyboard"
	Driver      "kbd"
	Option	    "CoreKeyboard"
	Option	    "XkbRules" "xorg"
	Option	    "XkbModel" "pc105"
	Option	    "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

  # Option "CorePointer"
  # Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
  # Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
  # Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
  # Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
	Identifier  "Configured Mouse"
	Driver      "mouse"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	Gamma        0.85
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	Option	    "DynamicClocks" "on"
	Option	    "mtrr" "on"
	Option	    "DesktopSetup" "Single"
	Option	    "ScreenOverlap" "0"
	Option	    "VideoOverlay" "on"
	Option	    "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
	Option	    "Stereo" "off"
	Option	    "StereoSyncEnable" "1"
	Option	    "FSAAEnable" "no"
	Option	    "FSAAScale" "1"
	Option	    "FSAADisableGamma" "no"
	Option	    "FSAACustomizeMSPos" "no"
	Option	    "UseFastTLS" "0"
	Option	    "BlockSignalsOnLock" "on"
	Option	    "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps"
	Option	    "AccelMethod" "XAA"
	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
	Device     "Mobility Radeon HD 3400 Series"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"

  #Group "Video"
	Mode         0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
	Option	    "RENDER" "Enable"
	Option	    "DAMAGE" "Enable"
	Option	    "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

The trick in this file that got my direct rendering enabled was setting the name of my actual video card under Section “Device” and Section “Screen”. To get the name of your video card as linux sees it, type the following;

lspci | grep VGA

Once you have updated your xorg.conf file, these settings are NOT actually set at this point. Even after a reboot! You must now type following to enable these settings.

sudo aticonfig --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf

You should see a message that it was updated. Now reboot again and type the following to see if your direct rendering is enabled.

glxinfo | grep direct

You should get “direct rendering: Yes”