Getting closer - An ATI graphics guide, A quick guide to get basic graphics working on problematic ATI cards Options

Hello everyone,

I've been doing MONTHS of research for getting QE/CI working on my mobility radeon 9000. At this point in time, I'm fairly confident that we can't get QE/CI working on anything lower than the 9550 (if I'm wrong please correct me).

Although I havn't gotten QE/CI working on my laptop, I've gotten pretty darn close. I've gotten it to the point where iTunes will render visualizations with very decent framerates, chess with no artifacts, etc. I'm not sure if any graphically intense applications (ex. Motion ) will work on this, but if anyone can get it going I'd love to hear.

Anyways, enough gibberish, lets get on with the guide.

Firstoff, go to Omni's Callisto project page

http://omni.starchaser.org/callisto/

I tried all the builds, but only build 003 worked for me. All other builds either didn't work or I got a very depressing black screen. If you don't feel like experimenting, I reccomend downloading build 003, it seems like it has the highest success rate.

After you download the Callisto build, extract it and open the installation file (html). Follow the steps in the walkthrough. After you've completed those steps you (should) be able to change your resolution.

Now lets get some 3d acceleration!

Download JaS's ATi driver by clicking the link below.

http://forum.osx86project.org/index.php?ac...post&id=678

r0ck3r4ever's guide for installing this driver was very good (which you can read below)

unzip the file
open terminal
do the following
sudo -s
enter your password
rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/ATI*
cp -r /Users/YOUR USER NAME HERE/Desktop/Ati/build/Debug/Ati.kext /System/Library/Extensions/
chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/Ati.kext
kextcache -k /System/Library/Extensions/
then you're done!!!
reboot system




After that you should have decent 3d acceleration and a higher resolution with no mouse tearing or artifacts.
Again, if someone notices that I screwed something up, please don't hesitate to correct me.

Edit: Aperture runs OK (even w/o CI), a bit sluggish but very usable, also DVDs can play back using VLC (also a bit sluggish, but its a step in the right direction).

Thanks for this post man, I'll try it on my Inspiron 600m see what happens. I've pretty much given up getting OSX to really work on that machine. Works great on my desktop though.....

Thanks again for the post.

will try this later tonight. thanks

i tried and it doesn't work for me

Anyone try this with the 9250?

Hello everyone,

I've been doing MONTHS of research for getting QE/CI working on my mobility radeon 9000. At this point in time, I'm fairly confident that we can't get QE/CI working on anything lower than the 9550 (if I'm wrong please correct me).

..........................

After that you should have decent 3d acceleration and a higher resolution with no mouse tearing or artifacts.
Again, if someone notices that I screwed something up, please don't hesitate to correct me.

Edit: Aperture runs OK (even w/o CI), a bit sluggish but very usable, also DVDs can play back using VLC (also a bit sluggish, but its a step in the right direction).

Can this method apply also to 9550 ?

I tried in on my Inspiron 600m last night. I got the Callisto driver's installed correctly by using a guide in a different thread, which allowed me to see all my different support resolutions, which was nice. All the way to my native 1,400x1,050 resolution.

Still, Quartz Extreme and Core Image was still not supported using this method.

The graphics card is ATI Mobility Radeon 9000. (Device ID: 4c66) Without QE and CI; OSX is pretty much worthless to use. (No iLife products, heck even the screen savers are sloooow....)

Needless to say, I reinstalled XP for the time being until someone knows how to get QE and CI enabled for Mobility Radeon 9000.

Does Radeon X600 runs smoothly?

Tried this method with my 9200SE on 10.4.6 and the message I get is:

sudo kextload -t Ati.kext
kextload: extension Ati.kext appears to be valid
kextload: notice: extension Ati.kext has debug properties set
14ATIAccelerator is not compatible with its superclass, 13IOAccelerator superclass changed?
kextload: a link/load error occured for kernel extension Ati.kext
load failed for extension Ati.kext
(run kextload with -t for diagnostic output)

Is there any fix for that?

Sorry for the long break! I was away camping for little over a week

arthurson - what isn't working for you? did you do all the steps and... it just didn't get anywhere?

BaselineAce and ernando - No I havn't tried this with the 9250 or the 9550, but it should work as the kext matches the ATI vendor ID. Same with callisto.

JustBrowsing - Unfortunately this guide will not help you get CI/QE running. This is only for people who want to get some basic 3D acceleration (OpenGL) so you can do things like iPhoto, Chess, screensavers, etc. with decent speed. Sorry.

Darkstad - I have no idea if this will work on a X600. I'd imagine it would, but I've seen fixes out there that will get you CI/QE. Don't use my guide for now. Mine is more or les... a last resort.

Java Duke - One of my friends ran into that issue too. Right now he's in the process of figuring out why it doesn't work. This guide has worked for most of my friends however. Because I don't know exactly whats causing this, here are a couple silly things to try...

1) Open Disk Utility (Applications/Utilites)
2) Click the repair permissions button (or if you prefer do the chowning root:wheel, etc. yourself)
3) Delete the kextcache


I've been surfing the forums and so far everyone who got that error wasn't able to fix it. I'll do some research on this and see what I can find.

Sorry for the long break! I was away camping for little over a week

arthurson - what isn't working for you? did you do all the steps and... it just didn't get anywhere?

BaselineAce and ernando - No I havn't tried this with the 9250 or the 9550, but it should work as the kext matches the ATI vendor ID. Same with callisto.

JustBrowsing - Unfortunately this guide will not help you get CI/QE running. This is only for people who want to get some basic 3D acceleration (OpenGL) so you can do things like iPhoto, Chess, screensavers, etc. with decent speed. Sorry.

Darkstad - I have no idea if this will work on a X600. I'd imagine it would, but I've seen fixes out there that will get you CI/QE. Don't use my guide for now. Mine is more or les... a last resort.

Java Duke - One of my friends ran into that issue too. Right now he's in the process of figuring out why it doesn't work. This guide has worked for most of my friends however. Because I don't know exactly whats causing this, here are a couple silly things to try...

1) Remove the ati.kext from the /system/library/extensions/folder
2) Delete the kextcache --> Go to Terminal, type the following...

cd /System/Library
rm Extensions.kextcache
rm Extensions.mkext

3) Reboot
4) Copy the ati.kext folder into extensions
5) Open Disk Utility (Applications/Utilites)
6) Click the repair permissions button (or if you prefer do the chowning root:wheel, etc. yourself)
7) Try doing the ati.kext procedure again


I've been surfing the forums and so far everyone who got that error wasn't able to fix it. I'll do some research on this and see what I can find.

Holy #%! That's awesome! It's a helluva step in the right direction for me, Dell Latitude d600 with the radeon 9000 32 Meg. I get resolution options! Chess! Well, the stuff that works isn't nearly impressive as it is to know that it's working. Helluva start man. If you ever figure out how to get CI/QE working PLEASE let me know. I've had enough of fouling up my installation for a few days... Stupid ALPS touchpad not sidescrolling!! Every driver I've found jacks my mouse, keyboard, or both. It's frustrating.

Anyway. thanks man..

What baffles me is I've got a 9700pro, and the actual kext is called 9700pro...yet I cannot get any resolution other than 1024x768. CI/QE works great right off the bat, so it's recognizing it....but I have no idea why the resolutions are limited.

Thanks to the first callisto part of your guide I got my native resolution of 1400x1050 running on my Mobility Radeon 9700 without any artifacts (it went crazy when moving windows) and without any mouse artifacts for the first time ever. Thanks!

However, as great as that is now, all 3d acceleration is gone (or so I think). The screensavers stopped running at usual speed, instead they move 1 frame per second or so. I wasn't able to get the Ati.kext driver to load, same problem as Java Duke.

So now I wonder, does it mean I'm stuck with either artifacts + acceleration or no artifacts + no acceleration? I'm a bit confused here about what callisto actually does. Is it a driver replacing the standard vesa driver, but with only 2d capabilities and hence the additional Ati.kext for 3d? Wouldn't it be possible to get the obvious benefits of callisto, but have the 3d still use vesa?

Thanks for the help and your guide.

Oh and while I'm at it: being new to OS X, and due to no luck finding documentation about the technologies, just what is QE/CI at all?

Hello everyone,

I've been doing MONTHS of research for getting QE/CI working on my mobility radeon 9000. At this point in time, I'm fairly confident that we can't get QE/CI working on anything lower than the 9550 (if I'm wrong please correct me).

Thanks for the writeup. This works on the mobility radeon 9000 in my dell latitude d600. No QE/CI as you said but otherwise, no issues found yet. Thanks again.

What type of speeds are you getting on OpenGL via Xbench?

What type of speeds are you getting on OpenGL via Xbench?

I'd like to see some evidence that is ATI.kext gives 3D Acceleration or Hardware OpenGL support.

I tried this ATI.kext and it crashes my Compaq X1000.

YMMV

Tried this method with my 9200SE on 10.4.6 and the message I get is:

sudo kextload -t Ati.kext
kextload: extension Ati.kext appears to be valid
kextload: notice: extension Ati.kext has debug properties set
14ATIAccelerator is not compatible with its superclass, 13IOAccelerator superclass changed?
kextload: a link/load error occured for kernel extension Ati.kext
load failed for extension Ati.kext
(run kextload with -t for diagnostic output)

Is there any fix for that?

Having the exact same issues. Tried the fixes listed below with no luck. When I try the manual load of the kext I get the EXACT same message as JavaDuke

Have anybody try this one with the X850XTPE card (AGP)?
How does it work?

Anyone try this with the 9250?

I'm with the exact same card and so far i can't find any info anywhere I'll try this right now.
Edit:Great!Fibnaly i can use iChat(for gtalk) at last it opens without error!Also i managed to finaly disable the screensaver(before applying this it used to hang my pc,now it works slow but at least i can disable it,before when i tryed to do so when i clicked the screen saver tab it was giving me an error closing the System preferences!).
THANKS again
Confirmd basic OpenGL working on ASUS A9250/GE

I'm with the exact same card and so far i can't find any info anywhere I'll try this right now.
Edit:Great!Fibnaly i can use iChat(for gtalk) at last it opens without error!Also i managed to finaly disable the screensaver(before applying this it used to hang my pc,now it works slow but at least i can disable it,before when i tryed to do so when i clicked the screen saver tab it was giving me an error closing the System preferences!).
THANKS again
Confirmd basic OpenGL working on ASUS A9250/GE

Basic OpenGL? Did you mean software rendering OpenGL?