ATI Radeon HD5500 driver question

[Gary Aitken]

Trying to set up a new box 9.0-RELEASE w/ X; has ATI Radeon HD5500 card.

X.org -config says:
   Missing output drivers.  Configuration failed.

 From X.org I see one is supposed to get linux drivers from ati/amd,
but this info is over 2 years old and
   http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
only allows choices of drivers for windoze.

Can anyone point me to a useable driver, or if these cards are 
essentially unusable, make a suggestion for a reliable card suitable for 
non-gaming (2-D) X work?

Should one use an Nvidia card with the Linux 295.53 driver?

Thanks,

Gary