Ok, the Catalyst 8.7 are out there from a few days and I installed them today. Big surprise! After enabling again DRI the system doesn't freeze! Wow: I'm impressed to be out of the darkness. Let's resume the situation:
+1:
- Installation works out of the box (have to remember to rerun it after each kernel update ;))
- Accelerated X works
- Compiz works (get you transparent windows and video effects)
- Terrible flickering during windowed video playback (switching to fullscreen gives HW-accelerated, flicker-free video playback though). Workaround exists but it makes full screen quality very bad (large pixels anybody?).
- The small preview thumbnails do not show. That is, when switching with ALT+Tab do, there are small white squares instead of containing the window' thumbnail.
About the performances I could not say:
mario@gear:~$ fgl_glxgears
Using GLX_SGIX_pbuffer
18093 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3618.600 FPS
19450 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3890.000 FPS
19352 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3870.400 FPS
19265 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3853.000 FPS
19168 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3833.600 FPS
Anyway, it is enough for a satisfying Compiz experience!
I hope that the minor issues are going to be fixed soon. They are minor glitches but they ruin the ability to fully enjoy this card under the penguin.
I hope that the minor issues are going to be fixed soon. They are minor glitches but they ruin the ability to fully enjoy this card under the penguin.