as you are using Ubuntu 7.10,may be the Ati drivers cannot be enabled due to lacking of 3D support.u have to install Ati driver from apt.make sure u can connect to internet for downloading drivers.
open a terminal(in menu Applications>Accssrs>terminal) and run below command to see whether ur card DRI or 3D is supported :
for Ati support,u have to edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to fit.
ATI users and Compiz
Some ATI cards don't need their proprietary drivers to work with Compiz as the open-sourced driver (radeon) also has support for 3D acceleration. However, the open-sourced driver isn't as fast as the closed-sourced (fglrx) one, so if you need the proprietary one you'll have to tinker around in the terminal a little.
1. After you've installed the driver, either through the proprietary manager or directly from ATI's site, you'll have to setup the Xorg configuration file to work with your new driver. Always remember to back up the original file before altering, in case something goes wrong. Open up a terminal and enter:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
sudo aticonfig --initial --input=/etc/X11/xorg.conf
This will disable the default radeon driver and replace it with ATI's own.
2. Now, let's tell Compiz not to care about drivers that are blacklisted:
echo SKIP_CHECKS="yes" >> $HOME/.config/compiz/compiz-manager
Alternatively, you could whitelist the driver, which is a much prettier solution. Run this command to edit the Compiz startup-script:
gksudo gedit /usr/bin/compiz
Search for Driver whitelist and add fglrx to the end of the line, like this:
# Driver whitelist
WHITELIST="nvidia intel ati radeon i810 fglrx"
3. Reboot your computer, login and enable Compiz as mentioned above et voilà! Behold Compiz and ATI hugging.
see below link:
*ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Gutsy#ATI_users_and_Compiz
just look at below thread in ubuntuforums:
*ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=654626&highlight=ATI
if ur new to Linux,u need to be "root"(synonymous to admininstrator in windows) to edit root permission files as is xorg.conf .
so press alt+f2 and in run dialog run:
Code:
gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and edit ur xorg.conf(which X(display server) relies on to identify ur hardware gfx card etc).when asked give ur "password" for current user while running gksudo.
also,make sure u have xserver-xorg-video-ati installed in via synaptic manager(in menu System>admin>synaptic)
if compiz fails after that also,post the contents of /var/log/Xorg.0.log in *pastebin.ca and give the link here.