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Does this mean that Ubuntu supports GPU Hardware acceleration drivers? I am not an expert on the matter, but it seems that most Linux distributions used to lac

by kelvin0 14y ago

Does this mean that Ubuntu supports GPU Hardware acceleration drivers? I am not an expert on the matter, but it seems that most Linux distributions used to lack this, unless you had a specific Card that had drivers for it under yer distro .. Please feel free to correct me. This is one of the issues which prevents me from 'jumping' completely onto Ubuntu. Thanks

lucian1900 14y ago
The official proprietary drivers for nvidia and amd gpus tend to work pretty well, and Ubuntu will prompt you to install them. The open source ones are generally not suitable for games yet. Most Intel gpus just have open source drivers.
- kelvin0 14y ago
  Thank you for that clarification!
- csense 14y ago
  Mobile nvidia cards with nvidia's Optimus technology require two steps to work: 1. Install Bumblebee (requires a PPA) and possibly x-swat PPA as well. [1] 2. Launch video programs through optirun. For example: java -Xmx1024m -jar minecraft.jar # non-Bumblebee users optirun java -Xmx1024m -jar minecraft.jar # Bumblebee users If you run the first command but have an Optimus card, the program will still run, but it will use the weak Intel GPU instead of the powerful nvidia GPU -- which is plenty powerful enough for "normal" desktop usage like web browsing, email, word processing, or video players, but a recent 3D game will likely turn into a slideshow. Hopefully the Steam client will make it easy for people to use Bumblebee by giving a GUI to install the PPA and automatically invoking 3D games with optirun. [1] http://bumblebee-project.org/install.html#Ubuntu http://bumblebee-project.org/install.html#Ubuntu
shock 14y ago
Accelerated GPU drivers have existed for linux for ages. I was playing Counter Strike and Quake on linux in 2000 or so. I speak mostly about nvidia cards as I've only owned those. Maybe others can chime in about ATI/AMD but even those have had accelerated support for a good long while. The nvidia driver quality is on par or better with the windows one: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE1MjI http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE1M... & http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_r310_linux&num=1 http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidi...

by kelvin0 14y ago

lucian1900 14y ago

The official proprietary drivers for nvidia and amd gpus tend to work pretty well, and Ubuntu will prompt you to install them. The open source ones are generally not suitable for games yet. Most Intel gpus just have open source drivers.

kelvin0 14y ago
Thank you for that clarification!
csense 14y ago
Mobile nvidia cards with nvidia's Optimus technology require two steps to work: 1. Install Bumblebee (requires a PPA) and possibly x-swat PPA as well. [1] 2. Launch video programs through optirun. For example: java -Xmx1024m -jar minecraft.jar # non-Bumblebee users optirun java -Xmx1024m -jar minecraft.jar # Bumblebee users If you run the first command but have an Optimus card, the program will still run, but it will use the weak Intel GPU instead of the powerful nvidia GPU -- which is plenty powerful enough for "normal" desktop usage like web browsing, email, word processing, or video players, but a recent 3D game will likely turn into a slideshow. Hopefully the Steam client will make it easy for people to use Bumblebee by giving a GUI to install the PPA and automatically invoking 3D games with optirun. [1] http://bumblebee-project.org/install.html#Ubuntu http://bumblebee-project.org/install.html#Ubuntu

shock 14y ago

Accelerated GPU drivers have existed for linux for ages. I was playing Counter Strike and Quake on linux in 2000 or so. I speak mostly about nvidia cards as I've only owned those. Maybe others can chime in about ATI/AMD but even those have had accelerated support for a good long while. The nvidia driver quality is on par or better with the windows one: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE1MjI http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTE1M... & http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_r310_linux&num=1 http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidi...