I'm running ezquake on linux using the ATI open-source drivers. I get 30 fps on 1280x1024 and am forced to run 640x480 to get 60 fps. Anyone know a fix for this? QuakeLive runs fine on very high resolutions

ati proprietary driver is no option, as open-source delivers better 2d and switching of monitors.

Anyone on linux which is familiar with this problem?

I guess no one really has much experience with the OSS drivers as the binary ones usually show better 3D performance. Might be worth to contact the driver's authors and provide them with information on the issue. If someone - they might be able to provide a fix for show us that something fundameental is wrong with the OpenGL calls in ezQuake. Have you tried other Quake engines and compared if they show similar performance (FodQuake?).

The OSS has better display switchting, which I like on my laptop I might contact them. I've been doing some more tests (including fodquake). All are capped at 60 on low resolution, even with vid_vsync = 0 and starting the game like "vblank_mode=0 ./ezquake-gl.glx".

Changing to 1024x768 gives max 30 fps. This limit is very weird as it is stable at 30. So looks like capped....

In windowed mode I can reach 170 fps when facing the wall, but it gets around 90 when just playing. This aint right.

When I got more I will report as it might be useful. Any more tips are welcome!

What ATI GPU is that anyway? Or what about the other specs? Is this an older type of machine or is it recent-ish?

Pretty recent (dutch page, couldn't find English):
http://nl.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/product/Satellite-R850-153/1109784/toshibaShop/false/

Intel® Core™ i5-2410M Processor
AMD Radeon™ HD 6450M 1024MB

Drivers are not tested with quakeworld. Hmm predictable ;-)
http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/RadeonProgram

For the record. I tried something on my 2007 Macbook (Intel X3100). On OSX: 230 fps. On Linux: 40 fps. Both in 640x480 OpenGL windowed mode. On Linux "glxinfo" claims that direct rendering is enabled and also something with LLVM pipes and Gallium 4.0. I guess you see where this is leading.. good luck fixing it.

Same here:
direct rendering: Yes
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on AMD CAICOS

It's frustrating a game like quakelive runs very fast and a game from 96 does not.

Anyway, when I have a fix I'll post it. Thanks for your time!

Ok I gave up the battle. Installed the fglrx driver and getting 500 - 1400 fps now. 2d performance is horrible in gnome 3, but its quite easy to switch by editing xorg. Happy gaming now