Help File Library: Getting your ATI Rage 128 Card Working

While the ATI Rage 128/128 Pro series of graphics cards are supported by XFree 86, the xf86config and XF86Setup utilities both fail to recognize the chipset and driver for this series. In order to use your ATI Rage 128-based card to its fullest potential, you need to edit your /etc/X11/XF86config file by hand after configuring it with either of the afore mentioned xf86config or XF86Setup.

Those with cards based on the Rage 128 chipset should add the lines:

Chipset "ATI Rage 128"
Driver "r128"

to your /etc/X11/XF86Config file in the same format as detailed below.

Those with cards based on the Rage 128 Pro chipset should add lines detailed below to their /etc/X11/XF86Config file:

##**********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

# Device configured by xf86config:

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "ATI Rage 128 Pro"
    Chipset     "ATI Rage 128 Pro PF (AGP)"
    Driver      "r128"

    #VideoRam    32768
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

I'm using an ATI All-In-Wonder 128 Pro AGP 4x and this is the only way I was able to configure X. According to http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/Status6.html#6, the Rage 128-based cards have accelerated support in XF86 3.3.6 and 4.0. However, I have only tried to configure XF86 4.0 on my All-In-Wonder.

http://thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/xfree86401/6.shtml

thedukeofurl has this to say about XF86 4.0.1 for ATI Rage 128-based card users:

So is 4.0.1 right for you? NVidia users shouldn't exactly feel a huge need to jump, unless they'd like to gain a few FPS. 3dfx Voodoo3 users may be split, depending on what you use and how intensively you use your 3dfx card's 3D capabilities. On the other hand, Voodoo5 users have no other choice than version 4.0.1, since Voodoo5 was just recently introduced. ATI Rage 128 users will definitely want to jump at 4.x, just as Matrox users will.