ATI Driver and Catalyst tool on OpenSuse 11.3 64 bits (x86_64)

Getting Catalyst 10.9 to Run on openSuSE 64 bits (x86_64)

see http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:AMD_fglrx#Supported_Hardware

Preconditions:
1. Fresh standard install of openSuSE x86_64, with KDE Graphical Desktop Environment.
2. You have already verified that your graphics card is supported by ATI's Catalyst drivers.

Prep Stage
1. Determine your installed kernel flavor.
Issue this command from the terminal: 'uname -r'
Output is something like: 2.6.x.y-pae or 2.6.x.y-smp or 2.6.x.y-desktop depending on your system. Let's call this your kernel flavor. You will need this info when you get to Step 3 below.
Note the default video drivers loaded/used by KDE.
Click on "My Computer" on the default plasma folder. Note the details provided in the 'Display Info' section, particularly the 2D and 3D drivers currently used by X.
2. Get needed packages.
Make sure the following packages are available: {gcc, make, patch, kernel-devel, kernel-flavor-devel,kernel-source, kernel-syms, module-init-tools, glibc, glib-devel, zlib*, libstdc++, libgcc}
3. Update your openSuSE system to install all NEEDED patches.
You will be asked to reboot, and your kernel will become 2.6.34.7-0.3-flavor or something similar.
4.Get the latest Catalyst Display Driver (Rev 10.9) from ATI's website.
5. Remove any pre-existing fglrx modules running on your system.
Ignore this step if no fglrx modules are running and loaded in your system.
(Command to list existing fglrx modules) rpm -qa | grep -E 'fglrxG01|fglrxG02'
(Command to remove existing fglrx modules) zypper rm 'rpm -qa | grep -E 'fglrxG01|fglrxG02' '
(You can also use YaST to remove the existing fglrx modules if you want, instead of zypper)

Install Stage
6. Go to runlevel 3, log-in and become the superuser. (init 3 / telinit 3)
7. Get Sebastian Siebert's script.
This script will simplify and automate patching of compat_alloc_user_space() which if not done will break the compile process for ATI's Catayst Display Driver with kernel 2.6.34.7-0.3.
This script will also check for needed packages and get them for you automatically. It then runs ATI's installer to automagically set things up for you! (Thanks and credit to Mr. Sebastian Siebert).

wget http://www.sebastian-siebert.de/downloads/makerpm-ati-10.9.sh
8. Get download checksum and verify integrity of downloaded file.
wget http://www.sebastian-siebert.de/downloads/make-rpm-ati-10.9.sh.sha1
sha1sum -c makerpm-ati-10.9.sh.sha1
Screen output should be like: makerpm-ati-10.9.sh: OK
9. Change file ownership and permission of downloaded script file.
chown root:root makerpm-ati-10.9.sh
chmod 744 makrpm-ati-10.9.sh
10. Finally, run the script.
./makerpm-ati-10.9.sh -i
That's it. Reboot your machine and check the display drivers loaded by KDE in 'My Computer'.


Sebastian Siebert offers an optional but highly recommended step to ensure that the system will build the fglrx kernel module before starting the desktop GUI environment in case another kernel update becomes necessary. (./makerpm-ati-10.9.sh -irs)
[Thanks to Google Translate which allowed me to understand Mr. Siebert's instructions in his website]

I hope this information is helpful to someone. Let's hear of your experience.