Help Installing AMD Drivers

[gigi522]

Hello, can somebody help me how to install AMD drivers on Ubuntu 13.10 ? Im new to linux and i dont know how to do this properly. And i should install the AMD drivers or the Open Source drivers ? Thank you !

[Benjamin]

Depends on which card you have! The previous generation cards (and pre-Kaveri APUs) tend to work better overall with the Open Source drivers. If your card is newer, you'll have to use the proprietary driver.

[Armenek]

As Benjamin said, it depends on what card you have. You must also consider that using open source drivers only will give you the possibility of playing games up to OpenGL 3. If you want to use OpenGL 4 games (for example, Metro Last Light with higher quality) then you are forced to use the proprietary drivers.

Even if you don't need OpenGL4, the closed source drivers are preferred for Radeon HD 7000 and up in terms of 3D performance.
Also I should mention that the new AMD cards (R9 290) don't play well with GNU Linux, no matter open source or closed source drivers.

[gigi522]

I got a Richland A10 6800. What drivers do you suggest me to install ? I want to play Dota 2, L4D2, and some Indie titles. And how can I install the Open Source drivers ? Because i only know how to install the proprietary drivers.

[Letalis Sonus]

The free drivers are preinstalled on pretty much every system. Remove any proprietary ones and they'll automatically take over.

[Armenek]

Цитата допису CrappyNukem:

I got a Richland A10 6800. What drivers do you suggest me to install ? I want to play Dota 2, L4D2, and some Indie titles. And how can I install the Open Source drivers ? Because i only know how to install the proprietary drivers.

Libre drivers are used by default as the module comes standard with X.Org. So now you're using the open source drivers (free/libre, free as in free speech).
The AMD Richland A10 6800 uses a Radeon HD7000 I think. If you don't have any problems now, then I'd recommend sticking with your current configuration.
Should you experience any graphics related problem (poor performance, glitches ...), then install the closed/proprietary drivers. To install those drivers just use the already installed application named "Additional Drivers".

If Ubuntu continues to use the libre drivers, then you have to "blacklist" the libre driver.

[gigi522]

Ok, thank you all for the help. Im going to use the open source drivers because with the closed drivers L4D is stuttering like hell.

[Armenek]

Ok. You can always try newer drivers but installation is more cumbersome: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/AMD#Installing_upstream_drivers_directly_from_AMD.27s_website
Also I think here in the forums there're also instructions.

[Benjamin]

I have an a10-5800k, so it's basically the same as your a10-6800k. The Open Source drivers work WAAAAY better on these APUs than the proprietary driver.

The Open Source driver just got Dynamic Power Management (DPM) recently, so it's not yet enabled by default. If you enable it, it will allow your APU to scale up to the maximum power/performance profiles automatically. This will give you a significant performance boost. A nice guide for Ubuntu is here:
http://www.webupd8.org/2014/01/how-to-enable-amd-radeon-dynamic-power.html

[Letalis Sonus]

Цитата допису Benjamin:

The Open Source driver just got Dynamic Power Management (DPM) recently, so it's not yet enabled by default.

It is, but not with 13.10's kernel. Installing kernel 3.13 manually takes care of that as well, and it might provide a few other improvements as well.

[Benjamin]

Yes, you can enable DPM in Ubuntu 13.10. It's just not on by default. The link I posted explains this.

I have done this myself.

[MasterGeek]

The drivers in the ubuntu repositories are fine, but generally I like to use the latest drivers. The best way to get those is to use the xorg-edgers launchpad ppa, which has the latest drivers for both nvidia and amd. You can use the ppa like this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fglrx-installer

Because the graphics card is proprietary, the proprietary drivers usually work the best, especially when it comes to graphics that heavily uses the card.

[Akaii Panda]

Цитата допису MasterGeek:

The drivers in the ubuntu repositories are fine, but generally I like to use the latest drivers. The best way to get those is to use the xorg-edgers launchpad ppa, which has the latest drivers for both nvidia and amd. You can use the ppa like this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fglrx-installer

Because the graphics card is proprietary, the proprietary drivers usually work the best, especially when it comes to graphics that heavily uses the card.

Can I use them with LMDE aswell?

[Benjamin]

Цитата допису MasterGeek:

Because the graphics card is proprietary, the proprietary drivers usually work the best, especially when it comes to graphics that heavily uses the card.

No, you're completely wrong in this case. The Open Source driver is much better for his APU (providing he has a new enough kernel, which he does).

[MasterGeek]

Well, I use discrete graphics on my desktop, so you may be right for an APU. I'd still try them, though. Eventually, they will be better than the open source drivers as AMD puts more work into them.

Also, Linux Mint Debian Edition should be completely compatible with repositories made for Ubuntu and Debian, since it's based off of both of those.

[Benjamin]

Exactly the opposite has happened. The Proprietary driver for his APU has been out for two years now. It's always been "OK" but is plagued with small issues, and It's not getting any better. I know - I ran it for a long time. The Open Source driver surpassed it about 5-6 months ago, and is only limited by max OpenGL level.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but AMD actually does most of the development on the Open Source driver these days. The internal Open Source team used to be small, but it has greatly increased in size.