if you plan on running Linux don't use an ATI card
 

Well I give up on Linux well it isn't a Linux problem its an ATI problen there drivers are pretty bad for windows but Linux ati driver Suck huge I spent the paste week trying to config my Radeon x800 vid card and it failed every time well except once out of the 30+ reinstalls of Linux the drivers actually worked buit then I screwed up and never could get them working properly again I was going to install Linux on my new system I am building but since I am going ATI for the card ( because they are allot cheaper) I won't be installing Linux which is to bad I like Linux its just those fn drivers from ati so a little advice for anyone planing on running linux make sure you don't have a ATI card especially an x800 ( which are apparently the worst for Linux ) SO back to this winblows again oh yeah

+1 for nvidia

While their drives may not be the greatest to be executed for linux they do provide the support!

i have never had trouble setting up an ati card on linux. Which distro did you try ?

You are permitted to use periods in this section of the forum :). It helps us read it better, lol.

Yeah I setup linux on my x800 and my x850 which worked ok, but I could never get 3d acceleration to work. Hopefully that will change now that they are releasing their drivers specs to the open source community.

I tried ubuntu, fiery fawn or whatever it was called (the distro prior to the new one out now). Not reading up on the drivers before installing them, I tried to get my x1600xt's up and running. Of course, not understanding all the linux shell commands, I couldn't undo the driver installation and had to just scrap the whole linux install.

Booerns.

first off, did you follow the guide on installing the graphics drivers if not i would recommend it. Also if your using ubuntu there is a guide for getting it up and running much more decently. Finally when ever i have used linux with ati graphics cards they are generally more difficult than nvidia but not impossible. Also if you follow the guides you will end up with backup configs so if something does go south you can always restore to when it worked by overwriting the config file. I don't have direct links for the guides but if you search for something like Ubuntu Guide, there should be alink in there to the unofficial ubuntu graphics card wiki.

If your going to run Ubuntu I highly recommend you use Envy to install your video card drivers. It is an automated script with graphic and text interface that works for both Nvidia and ATI drivers. Just download the latest package from here Envy, install the package and run the script from the icon in the panel application menu, select either Nvidia or ATI, and your done! The script will download the latest drivers, compile them to the kernel, and configure your xorg.conf for you.

I also noticed that the Envy script allows you to use the nvidia-settings application when the drivers in the Ubuntu repository don't allow you to install it if your using their nvidia-glx-new package. One more thing, if your windows manager ever messed up and your install will no longer load up Gnome or KDE, you can use Envy from the command line by logging in and running Envy. Very good way to avoid having to reinstall Ubuntu because of a video card screw-up.

I'm not to sure about the problems of ATI drivers on other distros, I only installed an ATI card in Ubuntu.

Well, guide or no guide, x1600xt's are not supported by the drivers I used (which was my mistake), and I do not have the $$ to buy a new set of old GPUs that are supported for that computer (I do not want to run linux on my main machine).

I may try it again at a later date once I find some drivers that will support them. Until then...winblows xp it is!

AMD/ATI recently released the driver core for the linux drivers to the public. In the latest installment of Ubuntu; basic drivers are provided if you choose to install them. However, they are far from perfect, but they will mature with time. Still; as much as I hate to say it; stay with nVidia cards for now.

I agree. nVidia has the best drivers and is easier to install, but..

A few years ago I managed to get real good performance with an ATi Radeon9800XT together with Linux! But... it didn't work right from the box. I needed to compile my own Linux kernel in order for the ATi drivers to work with full 3D acceleration. I was then able to play Unreal Tournament 2003 with pretty good speed!

I would recommend Debian over Ubuntu, any day. It's of course a matter of personal choice. I've been using Debian myself since 1999.