How to install AMD private driver in Ubuntu?

If you have AMD or nVidia graphics on your computer, you will have great graphics processing capabilities. However, these graphics providers do not like to disclose their product secrets, including their proprietary drivers.

Ubuntu and other Linux distributions use open-source drivers. So what is the difference between the two? How to install a proprietary driver in Ubuntu?

Differences

Deciding whether to use an open-source driver or a proprietary driver may be more important than you think. First, the performance of the proprietary driver is much higher than that of the former, because the proprietary driver is developed by AMD, rather than a group of open-source developers who can obtain the graphics card structure. Second, the power management of the proprietary driver is much better.

However, if the driver has a problem, the Ubuntu developer can easily fix the problem and update the computer. If it is AMD proprietary graphics driver, you can only wait for AMD to respond to your problem again. In most cases, if you want to achieve the best performance and save the most energy, proprietary drivers are definitely the best choice, especially when you are a crazy player or have other high performance needs.

There are several different ways to install a VPC driver. Here I provide a simple and a slightly difficult method. The former cannot ensure that the latest version is installed, the latter allows you to run the latest driver.

Simple Method

In Raring Ringtail, the latest Ubuntu version, you can take a few more steps to get to the "additional driver" place, where you can easily find all the available proprietary drivers for the system from the Ubuntu source. Open Dash now, type "Software & Updates", click the application icon that appears, and then click the "add driver" tab.

In addition to your own video card information, you can also see three options: open-source driver, fglrx proprietary driver, and fglrx-updates proprietary driver. The difference between the two is that the fglrx driver was the latest version when Ubuntu13.04 was released. The fglrx-updates driver will be upgraded to the latest version as long as AMD releases a new version.

You can choose one of the two. Click the application. After the installation is complete, restart the application. Now you have used the proprietary driver to experience 3D performance improvement!

Slightly difficult method

When AMD releases a new version, the fglrx-updates driver will automatically upgrade, but this is not always the case, because updates to the Ubuntu source will always be delayed. Therefore, you can install the specified version of the proprietary driver.

Run the following command on the terminal:

sudo apt-get install build-essential cdbs dh-make dkms execstack dh-modaliases linux-heade

If your Ubuntu is a 64-bit version, you also need this command:

sudo apt-get install lib32gcc1

These two commands deploy the necessary environment for the next step to create a driver package.

Then, go to the AMD driver page and download the driver for your video card and the Ubuntu version that is 32 or 64-bit. After the download is complete, extract the. run file from the. zip file, open the properties of the. run file, and set it to executable.

Next, open the terminal, run the cd command to enter the folder where the. run file is located (such as cd Downloads/), and then run the following command:

sudo sh ./amd-catalyst-version-here-and-such.run –buildpkg Ubuntu/raring

Of course, you have to replace the corresponding file name. If you are not using Ubuntu13.04, You need to replace raring with an appropriate name.

When this command is complete, you will get several. deb files. Run

sudo dpkg -i fglrx*.deb

This command will install all the packages created. After the installation is complete, you must run a command to correctly install the new driver:

sudo amdconfig –initial -f

Restart your computer now. Everything is done! If you want to upgrade the driver, just repeat the above steps, starting from downloading the driver to sudo dpkg-I fglrx *. deb.

Summary

In the long run, the proprietary driver is indeed better, But AMD's Linux driver has been a little troublesome. However, these skills are sufficient to install and make them useful. Since games are getting more and more popular in Linux, it is also important to know how to install a proprietary driver. If you are using another release, such as Fedora, you may have to look at the old one.

If you are new to Ubuntu, take a look at our new Ubuntu tutorials!

Have you ever used a proprietary driver in Linux? If not, why do you still stick to the open-source driver? Leave a message in the comment!

Original article: Danny Stieben

Http://www.geekfan.net/2611/.

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