Finally!!! An almost stable (96%) catalyst version 12.3 available for GNOME 3...

no more lagging during the transition between working and activity mode

windows 7 aero effect working perfectly under vmware

catalyst version 12.3

virtual desktop movement is quite smooth

Update (13/04/2012)
Solved laggs/slow windows movement in GNOME3 by adding this line

export CLUTTER_VBLANK=none

into ~/.profile or into /etc/profile file. Restart X server or reboot system.

ref: ATI Catalyst - ArchWiki.

Fixes for common issues on Linux Mint 12...

System: Dell Studio XPS 16 - 1647
OS: Linux Mint 12 - Lisa 64-bit

Problem 1:
Broadcom BCM43224 (0596) Wifi card not working out of box (bug #873511).

Solution:
Install driver from Jockey and then edit config file

    $ sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

to blacklist the drivers (for my case I need to blacklist both bcma and brcmsmac) by adding the text below at the end of the file

    blacklist bcma
    blacklist brcmsmac

and then reboot.

Problem 2:
Unable to pair devices, send, receive and browse files via bluetooth.

Solution:
System update fixed pair devices issue, however sending file only works one way (PC to device). Browsing files in device is still not working (bug #879923).

Problem 3:
No sound from headphone jack.

Solution:
An old issue since Julia.

Worth to highlight:

• ATI proprietary driver ver 11.12 performance still sluggish on GNOME 3
• A nice shell extensions from ppa:webupd8team/gnome3
  • gnome-shell-extensions-pidgin
  • gnome-shell-extensions-workspace-indicator
• AWN works great on GNOME 3

My Linux Mint 12 hiccup experienced...

Laptop Model: Dell Studio XPS 16 - 1647

1) Issues when using ATI proprietary FGLRX driver (via Additional Drivers or manual download)

• Sluggish performance on windows movement and mode switching between desktop and activity
• Windows 7 guest OS under VMWare with Aero effect enable crashed even when I'm not using a fullscreen mode

2) No sound from headphone jack (old issue since Julia)

3) Unable to pair, send file and browse other devices via bluetooth

4) Broadcom STA wireless driver not working, tried solutions found on forums yet I'm still stuck with it (working fine on Julia and openSUSE 12.1)

At the end of the day, I've revert back to Julia with ATI proprietary FGLRX driver version 10.10. A combination that works perfectly for my laptop. ATI sucks!!! I wish I could have change my graphic card to NVIDIA, unfortunately it's not easy and almost impossible for laptop.

Installing latest ATI display driver on Ubuntu...

Before start, please uninstall the previous version driver if there's any because the installer doesn't have the capability to auto uninstall. Otherwise proceed to installation step.

To uninstall, open terminal and run this command:

$ cd /usr/share/ati
    $ sudo sh ./fglrx-uninstall.sh

Then restart your machine.

To install, open terminal, go to the installer location and run this command:

$ sudo sh ./ati-driver-installer-.run

Follow the instruction. Once completed run this command:

$ sudo /usr/bin/aticonfig --initial

Restart your machine.

Note:
I did the installation process in "recovery mode". That's the only way the correct driver will get install. Otherwise it'll use the previous existing driver (sucks!!!).

Honestly, I hate ATI graphic card. The only reason I'm using it is because I urgently need a laptop and Dell doesn't have an option other than Mobility Radeon HD 4xxx series for it Studio XPS product line.

It's a shame that my ATI card with 1 GB memory can't even get the effects below to work but my NVidia 7600 GS with 256 MB memory perfectly can. ATI driver for Linux really sucks!!!!

1) Win 7 virtual machine on VMWare Player with Accelerate 3D graphics option on, is not working in fullscreen mode
2) Compiz Blur effect not working
3) Compiz Water effect not working
4) Compiz Fire effect not working

Update (28/03/2011)
I've been using CCC version 10.10 with driver packaging version 8.783 on Linux Mint 10 64-bit. So far it's the best driver. All the effect mentioned above working as expected (especially Gaussian blur). For VMWare machine with Aero effect to work on fullscreen, need to disable Compiz.

Update (11/10/2011)
For 64-bit installer to work, you must install the 32-bit library (ia32-libs).