ATI on Linux... Installing

Ah, you are one of those confused Linux users who happen to posses an ATI raedon graphics card, eh? You look at your friend's PC, where the Gutsy Gibbon [Ubuntu 7.10] runs on full graphics mode, and you swell with jealousy, eh?

Anyway, Ubuntu 7.10 's driver pack for ATI raedon is somewhat errant. You may be getting a message such as 'Desktop effects could not be enabled' or some other one. Well, here is a possible solution [At least it worked for me].
(Please make sure you follow everything correctly. We dont want to mess up the system.)

1) Go to System > Administration > Restricted Drivers Manager, and tick the 'Enabled' check box and close and restart system. (If you are doin this for the first time, the system will probably download the standard drivers for the card. Let the downloading proceed, and restart the PC after completion).

2) Now, go to terminal and type in:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
(This is the configuration file for the hardware on the PC)

3) Scroll down to the end and add these lines:
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "1"
EndSection

4) Save the file and close.

5) Try enabling effects from System>Preferences>Appearance>Visual Effects.

6) If you get an error, 'Dektop effects could not be enabled', proceed as follows.

7) In terminal, type:
sudo gedit /usr/bin/compiz

8) Press ctrl+F to open Find. Search for '# blacklist'.

9) You will get something like this:

# blacklist based on the pci ids
# See http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for details
T=" 1002:5954 1002:5854 1002:5955" # ati rs480
T="$T 1002:4153" # ATI Rv350
T="$T 8086:2982 8086:2992 8086:29a2 8086:2a02 8086:2a12" # intel 965
T="$T 8086:2972" # i965 (x3000)
T="$T 1002:3152 1002:3150 1002:5462 1002:5653 " # ati X300 X600,X600 X700

10) Replace the lines with this code:
# blacklist based on the pci ids
# See http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist for details
# T=" 1002:5954 1002:5854 1002:5955" # ati rs480
# T="$T 1002:4153" # ATI Rv350
T="$T 8086:2982 8086:2992 8086:29a2 8086:2a02 8086:2a12" # intel 965
T="$T 8086:2972" # i965 (x3000)
# T="$T 1002:3152 1002:3150 1002:5462 1002:5653 " # ati X300 X600,X600 X700

11) Save the file and quit. Type ctrl+alt+backspace to refresh X.

12) Try enabling effects again. If it still doesnt work, proceed.

13) In the terminal, type:
sudo apt-get install xserver-xgl
(This will download non-default drivers for your ATI card).

14)Restart your PC.

This will work in 90% of cases. If it still doesn't, then the drivers are probably bugged. Bad luck :(.

-Cancer