A few days ago i've noticed ati has released version 8.42.3 of it's proprietary drivers package for radeon, http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/linux/linux-radeon.html
I was using previously the 8.40.* version on my Samsung R20 Notebook running Debian Etch, that has an integrated Ati radeon Xpress 1250. First time I have installed the drivers package I had to manually compile the kernel module (fglrx) as the ati auto-installer failed at some point when trying to install it.
After getting the latest 8.42.3 version, i was pleasantly impressed that it worked out-of-the box. Quick install:
[~] # wget https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run
[~] # chmod +x ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run
[~] # ./ati-driver-installer-8.42.3-x86.x86_64.run
[~] # aticonfig --initial
Well, to my surprise it automagically compiled the kernel module and after restarting the X server, i was running the new version already.
Quick test:
[~] # fglrxinfo[~] # fgl_glxgears