Umeaboy wrote:I did those commands & it hasn't frozen..........YET.
Right, then what we've shown is that your graphics driver fails to properly support some of the graphical features used in the higher settings. I would suggest that it is OpenGL 2.0 shaders. Try applying some of the higher settings in Options > Effects and Options > Video but leaving OpenGL 2.0 off.
ATi's propreitary drivers are unlikely to fair much better and my previous experiences with the free Xorg driver aren't bad with a Radeon 9000 so I'd suggest you stick with the driver, just change the game settings.
Remember it is a 7 year old card so don't expect miracles. The 'Medium' preset setting may be your best bet.