ATi Radeon HD3450 driver problem

[scotrev]

On my openSUSE 11.0/KDE 3.5 system I installed the ATi driver from the ATI Repository to get a PNY Radeon HD3450 PCIe graphic card working. However, this driver made Google Earth hang on start and consequently crashed the whole KDE session. Repeatedly & version independent.

Solution:
+ go to AMD/ATi website (Video Cards | Graphics Cards | ATI Products and Technology), find your graphic card, and download the Catalyst Linux Edition for it;
+ also download the Linux Installer Note and R-E-A-D I-T F-I-R-S-T !! ;
+ uninstall any installed ATi driver using YaST Software Management;
+ *EITHER*: make a neat openSUSE RPM package and install that using YaST Software Management (need to add a Local Directory in the Repository Manager first, of course);
+ *OR*: install the ATi driver using the built-in installer;
+ finally reboot your computer (sorry for this Windoze ending, but the kernel module needs to be loaded to make the driver work).

Finishing touch:
+ add an entry for Catalyst Control Center to your KDE Menu, using kmenuedit (the command for Catalyst Control Center is amdcccle, and an icon can be found under 'Others')

Result:
+ suddenly graphics run much smoother & nicer;
+ Catalyst Control Center enables easy configuration;
+ Google Earth works!