New open source drivers have been released to support ATI TV Out.

Instructions on their installation are included here: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=806&num=1

These instructions should be necessary until they are included in a new X.org release and a KnoppMyth release.

Previous R5D1 Instructions

Here is how I got my ATI TV Out (9200SE) to work with R5D1.

These steps also work with the following

• ATI All in Wonder 9800
• Sapphire Radeon 9700
• OEM ATI Radeon 8500
• Please add your card

Have a clean copy of R5D1. You MUST NOT have installed the drivers that came with the system in the /usr/src directory. If you have, get your boot disc out, because you need to wipe your drive. This had me stumped for a while.

With a clean copy of R5D1, issue these commands as root:

wget
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/fglrx_4_3_0-8.20.8-1.i386.rpm
--no-check-certificate

alien -d fglrx_4_3_0-8.20.8-1.i386.rpm

dpkg -i --force-overwrite fglrx-4-3-0_8.20.8-2_i386.deb

aticonfig --initial --overlay-type=Xv

Optional:

aticonfig --resolution=800x600

My tv needs that last setting. Yours may or may not. Unplug your monitor, leaving your tv plugged in and reboot your machine.

Alternatively, you can run fglrxconfig to get a completely new XF86Config-4. But the aticonfig commands will generate a config file without it. For other driver options for the XF86Config-4 file you can type aticonfig byitself for help.

Notes: I got the error "no screens found" and had the X server fail to start when I had installed and uninstalled the drivers that came in /usr/src/ATi before trying the drivers listed above. Personally, I did an Auto Install and those commands directly afterwards. If you try any other video drivers first, you'll probably have to reinstall all of KnoppMyth to get it working.

The version of ATI drivers installed are 8.20.8. This is the last version of the driver that don't have a bug crippling the TV out. The last version of the driver to support ATI 8500-9250 cards is 8.28.8, which still has this bug, so 8.20.8 will be the last driver that can be used by these cards.

If you want to run with a monitor plugged in, then I think this command should do the trick: aticonfig --desktop-setup=clone --overlay-on=1 but I would test everything else out before trying to get that working.

The overlay-on sets where you want the video to be played, 1 is for the secondary (tv), 0 is for the primary (monitor). But of course, if you do this, and then unplug the monitor, your tv is now the primary and the video will not be shown on it. Then your best bet would be to run fglrxconfig, setup dual monitor support, clone mode, and set the tv as primary and autodetect the second monitor.

Or just don't do any of this extra stuff, and leave your monitor unplugged and reboot/restart x when you want to watch video on your tv. That's what I do.

Unfortunately, overscan does not seem to be enabled with this version of the drivers. It is implemented in later, broken versions which does no good for those needing TV-out.

Outdated

Please note that these instructions will fail on the current R5E50 release of KnoppMyth. I'm trying to build a system with a Radeon 9250 and can't seem to get TV output working. I tried downloading the msot current drivers for this card (8.28.8 I believe) and they installed fine, but then MythTV started up in terminal mode on my TV while setting my monitor to a bad resolution.

I then downloaded the 8.20.8 drivers as recommended above. These do not support X releases greater than X.org 6.9.x.