Dual Head Display on Dell Optiplex GX620 with ATI

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Getting ATI X600 PCI-X adapter working on Linux

I ordered a shiny new Dell Optiplex GX260 with the Pentium D processor. I wanted to purchase a Dell system that included a dual-head display adapter as a standard option. I knew I would have some issues since the system was so new. I attempted to install many different distributions and all of them had issues with this system. The most common occurance was a complete system freeze after the graphics were initialized. Fedora Core 4 and CentOS 4.2 would freeze at a white screen during setup. Ubuntu 5.10 would install but would freeze during the logon process.

Solution using CentOS 4.2:

1. Install CentOS in text mode. After booting from the CD, enter 'linux text' at the first prompt. During the installation it is fine to choose standard packages such as "Workstation" that will install X11.

2. Boot into runlevel 3. When the computer reboots the first time you need to stop the grub boot loader before it loads linux (press any key such as Shift to get the grub menu). With grub on the screen, press 'a' to add an option to the boot command. Add the number three '3' to the end of the line. This will boot into runlevel 3, which is text only, and will allow you to install the ATI driver.

3. Download the proprietary driver from the ATI web site. This is harder than it might sound!

ATI does not provide a static URL to the driver file. ATI's support web site uses Akamai caching servers and SSL connections, so I could not use wget to download the driver. I attempted to use lynx and elinks (text-only web browsers) to navigate the support site, but I could only get a little way in before getting stuck ("Unsupported URL scheme!" or "JavaScript is currently not supported"). I had to use a GUI browser on a second computer.

The next problem I had was actually downloading the file itself. Once I finally navigated through the hoops to get a link to the driver file, the HTTP server did not deliver it correctly. Rather than allowing me to download the file, the file started to open in my web browser. Again, because of the Akamai servers, I could not just "right-click" on the file to Save As...

I had to quickly catch the "If you are experiencing difficulty downloading, please click here." It took two or three times stopping the page and clicking the Back button in my browser. I finally was able to stop the page before being redirected, right-click on the "click here" and save the file to my hard drive. My browser saved the file as .htm, so I just renamed it to remove the .htm part.

This was just awful.

From there, I copied the ati-driver-installer-8.18.6-i386.run file over the network to the linux box.

Let me know if you have similar trouble. Better yet, write to ATI and complain about their web site!

4. Execute the package to install the drivers. Run the file from the directory where the file was placed:

#  ./ati-driver-installer-8.18.6-i386.run

I accepted the defaults for most of the questions. The only thing I had to change was the type of keyboard.

5. Change to runlevel 5. This will start the graphical logon.

#  init 5

6. Configure for dual-head. Use the ATI Control panel to enable DualScreen, Extend Desktop Horizontal. Apply the Settings and restart the computer.

Even after this I noticed some odd things. I had trouble changing display resolution. The built-in display control panel will does not appear to save the settings. So, for example, I have trouble changing the desktop resolution.

I am happy that I was able to get the Dell offering of the ATI X600 working, but I believe I will still be purchasing an nvidia adapter for this system.

Last Update 10/19/2005 by Dan Stoner

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