ATI driver issue with Ubuntu 8.10

Hi. I installed ubuntu 8.10 and,after some fidling and some help from this forum, I managed to get it to work(mostly). I'm starting to prefer it to Vista. However i have a issue with the video driver:

I installed the driver from Administration>hardware drivers, but i get some pretty nasty bugs: google earth artifacts and basically everything that requires graphic acceleration is flickering, including movies. I removed that driver and installed the one from tha ATI site using sudo sh, but this one is even worse. And now, i don't know how to remove it, since it doesn't appear in add/remove. Any ideas? And is there a way to use ati's powerplay? With the GPU running at full steam, my battery dies in 1:45h. Vista lasts 3 hrs.

And is there a device manager app for ubuntu? i installed the "device manager" from add/remove, but all it does is show the hardware. It doesn't allow me to modify anything.

I also have a problem with sound: my laptop has 3 speakers: 2 "sattelites" and a subwoofer. The sattelites work fine, but not the subwoofer. I installed the audio driver from realtek (with sudo sh), but it didn't help at all.

And the FN keys don't work, except the audio ones(volume, mute). They work perfectly under vista and xp whitout any driver.

Thank you in advance.

 

Hi,

try disabling the desktop effects. I have the same issues using compizlike effects on Linux (flickering on any opengl rendering).

Sorry i dont have an answer for keeping the effects and solving the issues. I have got myself used not to use the effects after many attemptings on solving that.

 

Same here. The temporary solution is to disable the desktop effects all together. Until ATI releases better drivers i dont know if there is anything that can be done.

 

Right, so I'm not the only one with these issue. Too bad. Thanks anyway. But can you please help me with my other problems?:

1. How do I remove the driver, since it doesn't appear in add/remove. Any ideas? And is there a way to use ati's powerplay? With the GPU running at full steam, my battery dies in 1:45h. Vista lasts 3 hrs.

2. is there a device manager app for ubuntu? i installed the "device manager" from add/remove, but all it does is show the hardware. It doesn't allow me to modify anything.

3. I also have a problem with sound: my laptop has 3 speakers: 2 "sattelites" and a subwoofer. The sattelites work fine, but not the subwoofer. I installed the audio driver from realtek (with sudo sh), but it didn't help at all.

4. the FN keys don't work, except the audio ones(volume, mute). They work perfectly under vista and xp whitout any driver.This is bad especially because i can't turn on wifi nor bluetooth.

5. I installed google earth using sudo sh. It appears on the "internet" application menu, but it doesn't work properly: even with desktop effects disabled, it just shows a dark sky, with no globe. How do i uninstall it? I doesn't appear in add/remove.

6. the system is not shuting down. When i select shut down, the ubuntu logo appears and the bar under it empties. When it's done, i hear a click from the HDD(probably shuting itself down), but the system just freezes at that screeen. I have to hold the power button down for a few secs to turn it off. Strangely, it desn't do this when i restart.

 

Anyone? (10 char)

 

Install the Proprietary Driver from Hardware drivers, you may have to reinstall, I don't know.
To save battery life the proprietary driver gets you the Control Center, and to further add battery life add the CPU power applet to the panel

 

The drvers are downloaded from the ati website and installed with sudo sh. When i go to hardware drivers it just says that "no proprietary drivers were found".

Isn't there a terminal command or someting to uninstall software that doesn't appear in add/remove?

There is no power saving setting there.

Already did that, but the indicator still shows 1:45 hrs left when the batt is full. The cpu is running at 900 mhz, so it must be the GPU not throtling.