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Problem:

The ATI Linux driver
installation instructions on the ATI website didn't work too well for
me, nor did it report on the errors that occurred during
installation. I also found the installation instructions to be more
complex then they needed to be and all the required packages listed
were for a Red Hat distro...not SUSE.

Solution:

Installation Procedure

The following procedure is
for creating and installing the ATI driver package:

1. Be sure to install
   all of the required Linux Packages.

2. Download the "ATI
   Driver Installer", as outlined in the Environment Factors
   below.

3. At a Shell/Terminal
   prompt, switch to user root using
   the 'sux -' command.

4. Change (cd) to the
   directory where you downloaded the "ATI Proprietary Linux
   x86_64 Display Driver for XFree86 / X.Org" file named
   "ati-driver-installer-x.xx.x-y.run"

5. Execute the ATI installer by typing
   "./ati-driver-installer-x.xx.x-y.run" at the shell
   prompt.

6. The installer will now verify it's integrity and detect
   your system environment. Once it has completed these tasks, it will
   present you with the initial Setup window where you will
   select "Generate Distribution Specific Driver Package"
   and click the Continue button.

7. Read and Agree to the License Agreement.

8. You'll then be presented with a list of Options.
   Click the "SUSE Packages" button and select your O/S
   version. For me that was "SUSE/SUSE100-AMD64".

9. Click the Continue button and wait for it to
   generate and save your custom package.

10. Ignore the part about running the "aticonfig" tool
    and click the Exit button.

11. In the same directory, you should now have a new RPM
    that starts with the name "fglrx". That is the package
    you will now use to install the driver.

12. Just to be on the safe side, check the
    "/usr/share/fglrx/fglrx-install.log" file for errors that
    may have occurred during the package creation. Resolve any errors
    before continuing. (See the Examples section of a screen shot
    of a cleaninstall.)

13. Hold down the following three keys to switch to "tty1":
    CTRL - ALT - F1

14. Log in as "root" and switch to runlevel 3
    (multi-user mode - no GUI) using the 'init 3' command.

15. Change (cd) to the directory where your newly generated
    "fglrx" package was saved.

16. Type 'rpm -Uvh fglrx~~~~.rpm', where
    '~~~~' is the remainder of the package name. In my
    case that would be: fglrx64_6_8_0_SUSE100-8.23.7-1.x86_64.rpm
    (Note: remember all Linux commands are case-sensitive.
    That is a capital "U" and small "v" and small
    "h" after "rpm".)

17. If all goes well the package should install without a
    hitch! Now run the Sax2 program to configure the driver with the
    following command (all lower case - that's a zero after the
    "-m"): sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx -b
    /usr/share/doc/packages/fglrx/sax2-profile

18. In a few seconds the SaX2 configuration screen
    should open. Click the "Change Configuration" button and
    make any changes you need to do (i.e. resolution, colors, etc.) and
    click the "OK" button. Be sure to "Test" any
    changes before saving them! (Note: It's normal if the "3D"
    symbol in the centre has a red line through it...no need to
    worry...we'll check the 3D stuff momentarily.)

19. After you've adjusted things, click the "Save"
    button and click "Yes" to close SaX2.

20. Reboot the computer by issuing an 'init 6'
    command. (Note: For me, sometimes the screen will turn to a
    grey or off-white colour when exiting SaX2. I don't know why
    it does that, a simple CTRL - ALT - DEL (three finger
    salute), which reboots the computer, fixes it.)

21. It's now time to determine if the ATI OpenGL rendering
    engine is being used: after the reboot, log in normally and at a
    Terminal prompt issue the following command: fglrxinfo

22. The output should be "OpenGL vendor string: ATI
    Technologies Inc." (See the 'Examples' section for a
    screen shot of the output.) If it reads "OpenGL vendor string:
    Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org",
    or anything other then ATI see the Troubleshooting and
    Testing section below.

23. That's it! You are all done!

Troubleshooting and Testing

The
following are steps to follow in order to troubleshoot and test your
ATI OpenGL driver installation. Also, many
Kernel updates tend to kick out the ATI modules, so you will need to
perform these steps to reinstate the OpenGL drivers.

1. In
   a Terminal window, enter the following command: fglrxinfo

2. The output should say
   "OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc." If it reads
   "OpenGL vendor string: Mesa project: www.mesa3d.org",
   or anything other then "ATI" perform the following:

   
   

   1. Hold down the following
      three keys to switch to "tty1": CTRL - ALT - F1

   2. Log in as "root"
      and switch to runlevel 3 (multi-user mode - no GUI) using the
      'init 3' command.

   3. Now we need to ensure
      the kernel modules are in place: at the command prompt type:
      fglrx-kernel-build.sh

   4. Note and resolve any
      errors. Usually problems occur if you don't have the proper
      packages installed. See the "Linux Packages" section
      under the "Environment Factors" heading.

   5. Now run the Sax2
      program to configure the driver with the following command (all
      lower case - that's a zero after the "-m"):
      sax2 -r -m 0=fglrx -b /usr/share/doc/packages/fglrx/sax2-profile

   6. Make any required
      changes (see the "Installation Procedure" section for
      more detail) and save and exit Sax2.

   7. Reboot using the 'init
      6' command and login as normal (as a user not "root")

   8. Try the 'fglrxinfo'
      command once more to see the output. Hopefully it reads "ATI".
      If not, you may either try reinstalling from scratch, or do some
      forum surfing for some help.

   
   

3. When the OpenGL vendor
   string says "ATI", in a Terminal window execute the
   following command: glxgears (A simple OpenGL program that
   reports back the FPS rating to the Terminal window that spawned it.
   In my case I reached close to 3000 FPS! :)

4. Another
   test is the OpenGL screensaver called "GLMatrix"
   by Jamie Zawinski. This screensaver comes standard with SUSE Linux
   and is provided by the 'xscreensaver'
   package.

Environment Factors:

Linux Packages

The following Linux
packages are required in order to ensure a successful installation:

Description

Required Packages

All Systems

Additionally Required on

64 Bit system

The Linux kernel sources.

kernel-source

QT libraries

qt3

qt3-32bit

The standard C++ library packages

compat / compat-libstdc++ / libstdc++ /
libstdc++-devel

compat-32bit

C complier runtime library

libgcc

X.Org libraries

xorg-x11-devel / xorg-x11-libs

xorg-x11-devel-32bit / xorg-x11-libs-32bit

OpenGL program support

xorg-x11-Mesa / xorg-x11-Mesa-devel

xorg-x11-Mesa-32bit / xorg-x11-Mesa-devel-32bit

Font rendering subsystem

fontconfig / fontconfig-devel

fontconfig-32bit

XML Parser Toolkit

expat

expat-32bit

TrueType Font Engine

freetype / freetype2 / freetype2-devel

freetype2-32bit

Data Compression Library

zlib / zlib-devel

zlib-32bit

ATI Driver

You'll need to visit the
ATI Support Website (http://support.ati.com)
and download the "ATI Proprietary Linux x86_64 Display Driver
for XFree86 / X.Org". Be sure to grab the full "ATI
Driver Installer" version. At the time of this writing it was
version 8.24.8 at approximately 27-32 mega-bytes in size, depending
on the processor type. Once you download the file, as user root,
make sure you run the 'chmod 755
ati-driver-installer-x.xx.x-y.run' (where 'x'
is the version and 'y' is the processor type) command
to convert it to an executable, to be run during the installation
procedure.

Disclaimer: As with everything else at Cool Solutions, this content is definitely not supported by Novell (so don't even think of calling Support if you try something and it blows up).

It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test, test, test before you do anything drastic with it.