FglrxLegacySpec

Please check the status of this specification in Launchpad before editing it. If it is Approved, contact the Assignee or another knowledgeable person before making changes.

Launchpad entry: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/fglrx-legacy
Packages affected:

Summary

Include packages for 8.28.8 ATI FGLRX driver.

Rationale

The new 8.32.5 driver shipped with Feisty drops support for several of the older ATI cards. The older driver is necessary for those who want full 3D acceleration to work on their hardware.

Use cases

John has a computer with a Mobility Radeon 9000. This worked in Edgy, but when he upgrades to Feisty it automatically upgrades his driver, and his card no longer works. He therefore installs the legacy fglrx driver for his card so he can carry on as before.

Scope

Design

Implementation

Code

Data preservation and migration

Unresolved issues

BoF agenda and discussion

Comments

The open source "ati" driver has quite good support for (also) those cards ATI/AMD does not support anymore. On my Radeon Mobility 9000, eg. games and 3D desktops are working (even though 3D desktop would really require more texture memory).
The Envy project seems to be able to install a legacy fglrx driver, and prevent it from automatically upgrading (on feisty).

Ubuntu Wiki