Ubuntu and old ATI video cards (+ a little about BURG)

My story will be useful to those who have an old ATI video card, and want a better graphics performance than the standard mesa driver, well, and MonoDevelop-4 (a small hobby). Alas, but with the Linux distribution, I can only go before the Zamkan package, the rest is a dense forest for me.
Please do not judge strictly since this is my first article, and it is intended for ordinary novice users who may have little knowledge of Linux systems. And for those who are older and understand, I propose to read, laugh at very spontaneous and not always correct decisions.

Act I. Me and the Battleship Maya (Linux Mint Maya)

I knew about the problems with the video card, I knew about some of the conditions for their successful installation, so Linux Mint Maya was chosen for installation, as it is based on Ubuntu 12.04LTS, and as it turned out, my choice was not bad. But why the old distribution? AMD decided not to support old video cards under Unix systems, and therefore we have to spin and spin in order to work smartly and beautifully. And so you have to choose one thing. But it did not satisfy me. Therefore, the search began for the right thing on the Internet and was quite successful, a repository was found with all the necessary tools, in general, labor costs were minimized.

So let's start ... Driver requirements:

- Xserver <1.13 (there is 1.12.4 in the repository)
- Xorg <= 6.9
- core <= 3.4 (although they write that there is a fix for 3.8)
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How to find out that the system meets our requirements:

- X -version find out the version of Xserver and theoretically the kernel
- uname -r will show us the kernel version
- aptitude show xserver-xorg version of Xorg (I don’t know how to make it easier, I don’t know)

As a result, on the downloaded and installed distribution we have Xserver 1.11.3, Xorg 7.6 and kernel 3.2.0. According to the requirements, it almost fits, but was not, decided to deliver. Add a repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:makson96/fglrx
sudo apt-get update

The repository has been established, the key has become, well, well, now we are updating the list of available packages in the repository and installing the fglrx-legacy package, there are a lot of options to install it, I did through apt-get:

sudo apt-get install fglrx-legacy

Everything has become. Restart and, behold, it works, and very well. Test gears (glxgears) showed ~ 800 FPS.
Update X-sy did not, as everything worked fine.
But my joy was fleeting ... The monodevelop installed from the repositories was only the 2nd version, and the new addonchik with MonoGame was not uploaded to it. I was upset, but did not give up, the debian repositories on Yandex were found, a site with a description of the Debian packages was also found. A line was added to sources.list (/ etc / apt /)

deb mirror.yandex.ru/debian stable main contrib non-free

When updating the lists of available packages, apt-get said that it did not find a pair of keys. The keys were downloaded from the servers by the command:

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ububntu.com <ID >

Both required keys were installed and an attempt was made to install Monodevelop 4th version. But even here, the failure ... it needs a newer version of libc6 library than mine ... ok, demolishing mine we put Debian's on it ... it’s said, done ... almost all the packages that I had depended on this library ... "oh well," I thought I pressed Y ... the new library did not, it was a little offense for me ... "well, okay," I thought again, and tried to install the previous version of this library ... attempts were unsuccessful ... "okay," I thought, and rebooted into Windows next to it. And again, Google, and the search for a solution ...

Act II. Roundtrip

Google showed me an identical ubunt site with a list of packages and their descriptions in local repositories. It was found out that the library I need is in the fresh release 14.04 LTS ... well, ok, downloaded, installed ... the windows are slowing down, they are not pleasing to the eye ... but oh well. Knowing that I didn’t so easily install the driver, I immediately went to look for the kernels of version 3.2.0, as I was sure that it worked, everything was not done in X (Ctrl + Alt + (F1-F6)), because I don’t digest Unity (or I just don’t know how to cook) ... As it turned out, by default, the root does not have a password because it refused to start up under this account, but this is fixable, returned to X (Ctrl + Alt + F7), opened the terminal and:

sudo passwd root

I specified a new password, and everything, everything you need is ready, but then I thought that it’s easier to download it, but I’m not sure where to copy it, but I don’t have to use it, you can download the kernel in the tar archive here (https://www.kernel.org/ ). I downloaded unpacked, and left X.
So, we have the power now, it should be compiled, and before assembling, configuring, moving to the directory with the unpacked kernel we write:

make menuconfig

But it did not work, the make-up grunted something in response, especially without delving into his answer, he made a second attack:

make config

Well, that's all, the configuration started ... YYYYY ... answering about fifty questions I was tired of, eventually squeezed Enter, thereby responding with the default answer (it stands out with a capital letter) ...
And on this configuration is complete, now run its assembly:

make

The process is long, so you can go to sleep. Soon the kernel is assembled, now we need to assemble the modules and install them:

make modules
make modules_install

Everything went almost successfully, there was one error, but there was a module like related to dvb, well, I would use it like this on this hardware, so I ignored it. Now it's up to you to install the kernel:

make install

The kernel will go where it should go (to the / boot directory) and the GRUB autoconfiguration will be launched. After installation, go to the reboot and select the item with the kernel load 3.2. The system booted up and Hsa started up, now it's small, roll back the X, and install the driver. And I am again under the root, I connected the repository, and ... FSE ... there is no such package, apt told me, well, I didn’t lose my head, climbed again into sources.list, and slightly corrected the data so that apt turned to the precise section, dedicated to users 12.04. Through aptitude, I looked at the exact version of the X package and instructed apt-get to install it for me, he warned me that I was doing something wrong, but I assured him that it was necessary, and he began to download and install, and of course everything was spoiled ... attempts to deliver the apt-get packages I needed were unsuccessful, then I remembered, aptitude can also install and resolve disagreements. And ... yes, he did it, the old X were successfully installed, after which it would be necessary to check the performance, but I decided to immediately roll up the driver. After installing the drivers, as always, the reboot ... and everything ... X does not start, reading the logs did not give me any hints for the right decision, so I started mindlessly replacing / deleting different packages ... In the end, desperately, I decided that I would endure the old version of MonoDevelop. Installed Maya, put the driver.

Act III. This is not the dwarf whom I expected

Returning to Maya, it was decided to put the environment of the gnome, how did I like this environment ... small panels, compiz, and more effects compiz ... well, and from me followed:

sudo apt-get install gnome

Everything downloaded well, but when installing gdm, he was outraged that the mdm that was standing had the same files as him, and they were there too. Without thinking twice deleted mdm:

sudo apt-get remove mdm

And then I restarted the installation of the gnome, but now with the flags force and yes (he asks whether to make changes to some files, and waits for an answer, and I planned to move away):

sudo apt-get -fy install gnome

Everything became, made LogOut, and ... gdm did not start, well, following the ancient custom when something does not work, but it should, "turn off and turn on", everything worked, selecting the GNOME session, logged in, and my eyes appeared what is called gnome-shell Of course, I did not expect to see the dwarf who was imprinted in my memory back in 2005-2006. But what I saw was significantly different ... Rummaging through the Internet, extensions were found that significantly increased the comfort of using the shell, and in principle, I liked it ... it's better than the unit ...

Act IV. MonoDevelop-4.0

Without leaving hope, I decided to install this IDE. It was thought to attempt to collect it from source. Of course, they were quickly found, a link to them is on the official site. Attempting to install it was partially successful, she needed a mono compiler to build, but I had one, so I turned to the package description page again, it turned out that a 3rd version compiler was needed, and again Google ... but Google pointed out to me more simply decision. A repository was found where the version I needed was already compiled into a deb package:

deb ppa.launchpad.net/ermshiperete/monodevelop/ubuntu precise main

This line was added to the package source lists and then the required key was installed. The necessary package becomes without problems, but there is one thing, but you need to run monodevelop from the console:

monodevelop-4.0

pictures in the menu did not appear, well, okay, but it works ...

+ Small Bonus (BURG)

Before delivering Ubuntu, attempts were made to install OSx86, I used to install it myself, but then there was another video card ... and it worked without problems. But that's not the point, to launch a MacOS, a chameleon was put to identify the computer as one of the poppy family, and again, it’s pretty cute, and the standard GRUB configuration just nervously smokes on the sidelines, but I knew what could be done better, and in my search I came across BURG, and a note in a foreign language, according to Google, is Indonesian, but it doesn’t matter, there were references to repositories and I missed it.
The first step for us is to install BURG itself, and set it up

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bean123ch/burg
sudo apt-get install burg burg-themes

During the installation, BURG asks what parameters to start the kernel with, we specify:

quiet splash (peeped in grub configuration)

then we are required to choose a boot partition, and that's it, consider that BURG is worth it. You can take a look at BURG without a reboot, just run:

sudo burg-emu

Following the instructions at the bottom of the bootloader image, you can choose a theme ... but as for me, they are not very good, and there was no desire to finish it with your hands, I wanted to finish this faster. On the same Indonesian page they offer to put the Super Boot Manager, using which you can put more graphic themes for the bootloader. It is in a different repository, so we continue:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ingalex/super-boot-manager
sudo apt-get install super-boot-manager

We put it, we launch it, it asks for the root password, then we choose the language, it seems there is no Russian, I chose English, and everything is clear. Click Burg-manger, Themes tab, and choose what you like, double-click on the one you like, it downloads, installs, and configures it.

PS:

I would like to note that at first I mentioned that after adding a new repository to the list and then installing from it, it is necessary to update the lists of available packages, but later I began to intentionally lose this in order to develop the habit of doing so. Also, the article misses many aspects, since they are simple and not trivial, and I have not met a rake there.