After several posts into their forums, it is now the time for AMD to launch their most awaited driver (bug-fixes concerning to Steam Linux client) that comes in their 3rd instalment of Catalyst 13.2 beta.  So, if you had problem with Serious Sam 3 or Team Fortress 2, now you can actually feel the ultimate gaming experience. Yet, there are many things remaining to be fixed, but this driver it was most awaited by many… many… people out there. Especially for us, Ubuntu users.

Check the log…

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Feature Highlights of the AMD Catalyst™ 13.2 Beta Driver for Linux

• [370476 ]: Resolves a Team Fortress 2 performance issue with Ubuntu 12.04/12.10 and AMD Radeon™ HD 7000, 6000 Series GPU. Up to 300% performance improvement
• [369298 ]: Resolves a Serious Sam 3 launching and corruption issue with Ubuntu 12.04/12.10 and AMD Radeon™ HD 7000, 6000 Series GPU

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AMD Desktop Product Family Compatibility

AMD Radeon™ HD 8900 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series

AMD Radeon HD 8800 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series

AMD Radeon HD 8700 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6600 Series

AMD Radeon HD 8400 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6500 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6400 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6300 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6200 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7600 Series

ATI Radeon HD 5900 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7500 Series

ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7570 Series

ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7500 Series

ATI Radeon HD 5600 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7400 Series

ATI Radeon HD 5500 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7300 Series

ATI Radeon HD 5400 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7000 series

ATI Radeon HD 5000 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series

AMD Radeon™ HD 7600A Series

AMD Radeon HD 6600A Series

AMD Radeon HD 7400A Series

AMD Radeon HD 6350A Series

AMD Radeon™ E6760

AMD Radeon E6460

AMD Radeon™ HD 7600G Series

AMD Radeon HD 7600D Series

AMD Radeon HD 7500G Series

AMD Radeon HD 7500D Series

AMD Radeon HD 7400G Series

AMD Radeon HD 7400D Series

AMD Radeon HD 7300G Series

AMD Radeon HD 6500D Series

AMD Radeon HD 6700G Series

AMD Radeon HD 6400D Series

AMD Radeon HD 6600G Series

AMD Radeon HD 6300D Series

AMD Radeon HD 6500G Series

AMD Radeon HD 6400G Series

AMD Radeon HD 6300G Series

AMD Radeon HD 6200G Series

AMD Radeon™ HD 7900M Series

AMD Radeon HD 6500M Series

AMD Radeon HD 7800M Series

AMD Radeon HD 6400M Series

AMD Radeon HD 7700M Series

AMD Radeon HD 6300M Series

AMD Radeon HD 7600M Series

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5800 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7500M Series

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5700 Series

AMD Radeon HD 7000M Series

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5600 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6900M Series

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5500 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6800M Series

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5400 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6700M Series

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series

AMD Radeon HD 6600M Series

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According to AMD, there is a potential performance boost up to 300% improvement ONLY for Radeon HD 7000, 6000 series.  However, I tested the game with my Radeon 6950 and I didn’t notice a 300% boost. The overall experience is updated, indeed, but I can’t see this 300% boost the AMD claims in their website. I will make some test with Radeon HD7000 as soon as possible and then come back. Good news don’t stop here because there is another thing about this driver release. For the first time (if my memory serves me right) AMD offers you support for their upcoming GPUs: AMD Radeon 8000 series GPU also known as Oland family. According to TechPowerUp “the Radeon HD 8870,  could offer performance comparable to today’s high-end GPUs. The HD 8870 is clocked at 1050 MHz with 1100 MHz PowerTune Boost frequency; while the HD 8850 is clocked at 925 MHz with 975 MHz boost frequency. The memory of both SKUs is clocked at 6.00 GHz, yielding 192 GB/s memory bandwidth. The chips hence have 256-bit wide memory interfaces”.

[button color=”red” link=”http://www2.ati.com/drivers/beta/amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.2-beta3-linux-x86.x86_64.zip”%5DDownload Catalyst[/button]

How to Install

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System Requirements:
Before attempting to install the AMD Catalyst™ Linux graphics driver, the following software must be installed:

• Xorg/Xserver 6.9 and above (up to 1.13)
• Linux kernel 2.6 or above (up to 3.5)
• glibc version 2.2 or 2.3
• POSIX Shared Memory (/dev/shm) support is required for 3D applications

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Just for the sake of beta, notice that  If a Linux 2.6.11 or newer kernel was built with CONFIG_AGP enabled, the kernel AGP frontend is required to load the fglrx kernel module. To identify whether your kernel with CONFIG_AGP enabled, look for CONFIG_AGP=y in the kernel config file, or if the ‘agpgart’ module is loaded

Install any necessary Dependencies

sudo apt-get install XFree86-Mesa-libGL libstdc++ libgcc XFree86-libs fontconfig freetype zlib gcc

Run the installer

AMD recommends you to run the installer and build the kernel automatically. Then reboot your PC and come back.
However, just in case, there is another alternative way which I prefer to use:

The hard (manual) way

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#First install of AMD Catalyst

#prerequisite packages#
sudo apt-get install build-essential cdbs dh-make dkms
sudo apt-get install execstack dh-modaliases fakeroot libqtgui4

# If you are 64 bit, install these too
sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-multiarch:i386
sudo apt-get install lib32gcc1 libc6-i386
cd /usr ; sudo ln -svT lib /usr/lib64

# Go into your Downloads folder (I suppose you have already download the driver)
cd Downloads

# Make the package executable
chmod +x amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.2-beta3-linux-x86.x86_64.run

# Create and install deb packages for precise 12.04 or quantal 12.10
sudo sh ./amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.2-beta3-linux-x86.x86_64 --buildpkg Ubuntu/precise
sudo dpkg -i fglrx*.deb

# Enable new settings
sudo aticonfig --initial -f

# Reboot you PC

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[toggle title=”Upgrade from AMD Catalyst 13.x to 12.8″]
# eg Upgrade from AMD Catalyst 13.2 beta 2 to 13.2 beta 3

# Go into your Downloads folder (I suppose you have already download the driver)
cd Downloads

# Make the package executable
chmod +x amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.2-beta3-linux-x86.x86_64.run

# Create deb packages for precise (12.04) or quantal (12.10)
sudo sh ./amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13.2-beta3-linux-x86.x86_64 --buildpkg Ubuntu/precise

# Force overwrite the older packages with the new ones
sudo dpkg --force-overwrite -i *.deb

# Reboot you PC

If want to unistall them

sudo apt-get remove --purge fglrx fglrx_* fglrx-amdcccle* fglrx-dev*

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If you have an older GPU than Radeon HD5000 (eg Radeon 4870) you need to use the AMD Legacy Linux Driver (instructions here).

In case you experience any tearing problems for Gnome 3 shell users, you are advised to enable the Tear Free option from the Catalyst Control Center.