Ubuntu HOWTO: 3D Acceleration in ATI Mobility Radeon M6 LY (and possibly others)

First, check to be sure that we have the 3D Acceleration drivers installed:


sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri

Next, open the xorg.conf file. This file controls how the graphical display acts:


sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the part of the configuration of the log that says Section "Device". Notice that the entire configuration is seperated into sections. Each Section configures a different thing. We are looking for the Section that configures your video card.

Make a copy of the entire Section, then add "#" to the beginning of the lines of the first copy, like the example below:

before


Section "Device"


    Identifier    "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility M6 LY [Radeon Mobility 9000]"


    Driver        "ati"


    BusID        "PCI:1:0:0"


EndSection

after


#Section "Device"


#    Identifier    "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility M6 LY [Radeon Mobility 9000]"


#    Driver        "ati"


#    BusID        "PCI:1:0:0"


#EndSection




Section "Device"


    Identifier    "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility M6 LY [Radeon Mobility 9000]"


    Driver        "ati"


    BusID        "PCI:1:0:0"


EndSection

Add the following Options to the second copy of the Section "Device":


    Option        "BusType" "PCI"


    Option        "AGPMode" "4"


    Option        "AGPSize" "32" # default: 8


    Option        "AGPFastWrite" "false" # More stable this way.


    Option        "SWcursor" "true" # More stable this way.


    Option        "EnablePageFlip" "true" # Faster.


    Option        "EnableDepthMoves" "false" # More stable this way.


    Option        "RenderAccel" "false" # More stable this way


    Option        "AccelMethod" "XAA" # or XAA, EXA, XAA more stable


    Option        "DDCMode"


    Option        "SubPixelOrder" "NONE"


    Option        "ColorTiling" "false" # More stable this way.


    Option        "DynamicClocks" "true"


    Option        "bioshotkeys"   "True"


    Option        "XAANoOffscreenPixmaps" "true" # More stable this way.

Look for the Section "Module", and insert these modules if they don't exist already:


    Load    "dri"


    Load    "extmod"


    Load    "glx"


    Load    "GLcore"

Reboot.

Once log in again:


glxinfo | grep direct

If it says "direct:Yes" congrats!