AMD Catalyst (formerly ATI Radeon Linux Display Drivers) is a free project that tries to distribute proprietary drivers for all ATI and AMD Radeon graphics cards on Linux-based operating systems.
Features at a glance
It provides support for TV output on AMD graphics cards that support TV-out functionality. In addition, it allows for the following monitor arrangements: Laptop Mode, Clone Mode, Big Desktop, and Dual Head. While the Laptop mode lets users to toggle between internal or external screen of a laptop, the Clone mode will display the same content on both monitors. Furthermore, the Big Desktop option will stretch a single desktop across two screens, and Dual Head separates instances of X running on each screen.
Supports 32-bit and 64-bit distributions
The drivers suite provides native graphical installers for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures, and it is known to work well with the major Linux operating systems, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise, openSUSE and Ubuntu.
Supported GPUs
For years, users of AMD GPUs struggled to make their graphics cards work on Linux-based operating systems. Some graphics cards work well, but many are quite buggy with major open source projects, such as the GNOME desktop environment.
Almost all desktop AMD Radeon graphics cards series are supported by this driver, including R9 290/280X/270X/260X/, R7 250/240, and HD 8000/7000/6000/5000. Also, it supports the AMD Radeon HD 7600A/7450A/6600A/6350A all-in-one desktop products, AMD Radeon E6760 and E6460 embedded product family, as well as the AMD Radeon R7, HD 8000D/7000D/6000D/8000G/7000G/6000G APU product family.
In addition, AMD Catalyst is compatible with the following AMD mobility product family GPUs: AMD Radeon HD 8000M, 7000M, 6000M and 5000. X.Org 7.4 and above, X.Org Server up to 1.15 and Linux kernel 2.6 or above (up to 3.13) are also supported.
