Forums » General
An unlikely trio: Ubuntu 16.04, AMD Radeon, and VO
I've never liked Windows, really... but for some time I was forced to use it. Now I'm back to where I belong, to the open source side of things. I grabbed that latest LTS from Canonical and installed it. Made it look nice and all that jazz.
Now I ran into the issue - which I only learned of after the install... so if any of you guys are using AMD/ATI Radeon cards sold within the last 5-6 years + you are using any Linux distro, I got some sobering news for you: AMD decided to drop proprietary driver support for Linux (Catalyst / fglrx). I needed to let that sink in for a while since the card was quite expensive at the time (HD 7770), and I wanted to use it.
So... what to do? My funky card only runs on a stock Xorg driver. Damn.
I learned of possible options: go back to a two-year old release (14.04), which still has Catalyst support. Not really viable. Go to 16.10 with the chance of there being another driver. I didn't want to take that risk.
BUT!
Then I found out about something interesting. AMD themselves are actually developing an open-source variant for their cards, especially for Linux. One is simply called "radeon", and there is a second "add-on" or "plug-in" driver, whose name depends on the architecture of your card. In my case it's a HD7770, which carried the code name "Southern Islands", so my driver would be "radeonsi" - which offers nearly everything having to do with acceleration, shaders, EyeFinity, and so on.
Nice stuff. How to get it?
Well... this is the tricky part. For some reason Canonical decided to ship with a "placeholder" driver instead of the actual Radeon driver complement. But fear not... the show's not over yet.
I then found a really cool repository, named Oibaf. Can be found here: Updated and Optimized Open Graphics Drivers.
Note: these drivers are compatible with 16.04 AND 16.10 .
So all you really need to do in the end is to fire up the terminal of your choice, and perform these commands, in this order:
$> sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
$> sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
And then.... reboot!
You should still have graphics and be able to use your machine as normal
To verify the driver, open the "Details" pane from System Settings, which should now tell you it's using the hybrid driver in the Graphics section.
So here's a list of what's implemented in the different architectures of the open source driver, created by AMD themselves: Xorg Radeon Feature Matrix by architecture
If any of you lads is using Ubuntu (please don't start a flame war of the Windows-Is-Better-No-Linux-Is-Better-No-Mac-Is-Better kind, this is not the post for that), I suggest you find out which architecture your Radeon card is (useful list), and then head over to the matrix to see what the driver is currently capable of doing for you on Linux.
In my case it turns out it does almost everything out of the box, so I was delighted to hear that.
Quickly fired up VO and put everything to the max (except space junk detail, I find that rather disturbing), and saw that it runs smoothly at 60 FPS without issues. Even glow and shader effects are there, which is, as Steve Jobs would say, cutting like a knife through butter.
So there you have it :) There is yet hope for AMD/ATI Radeon owners on Ubuntu or any other Linux distro. I hope this helped some of you.
Fly safe.
Now I ran into the issue - which I only learned of after the install... so if any of you guys are using AMD/ATI Radeon cards sold within the last 5-6 years + you are using any Linux distro, I got some sobering news for you: AMD decided to drop proprietary driver support for Linux (Catalyst / fglrx). I needed to let that sink in for a while since the card was quite expensive at the time (HD 7770), and I wanted to use it.
So... what to do? My funky card only runs on a stock Xorg driver. Damn.
I learned of possible options: go back to a two-year old release (14.04), which still has Catalyst support. Not really viable. Go to 16.10 with the chance of there being another driver. I didn't want to take that risk.
BUT!
Then I found out about something interesting. AMD themselves are actually developing an open-source variant for their cards, especially for Linux. One is simply called "radeon", and there is a second "add-on" or "plug-in" driver, whose name depends on the architecture of your card. In my case it's a HD7770, which carried the code name "Southern Islands", so my driver would be "radeonsi" - which offers nearly everything having to do with acceleration, shaders, EyeFinity, and so on.
Nice stuff. How to get it?
Well... this is the tricky part. For some reason Canonical decided to ship with a "placeholder" driver instead of the actual Radeon driver complement. But fear not... the show's not over yet.
I then found a really cool repository, named Oibaf. Can be found here: Updated and Optimized Open Graphics Drivers.
Note: these drivers are compatible with 16.04 AND 16.10 .
So all you really need to do in the end is to fire up the terminal of your choice, and perform these commands, in this order:
$> sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
$> sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
And then.... reboot!
You should still have graphics and be able to use your machine as normal
To verify the driver, open the "Details" pane from System Settings, which should now tell you it's using the hybrid driver in the Graphics section.
So here's a list of what's implemented in the different architectures of the open source driver, created by AMD themselves: Xorg Radeon Feature Matrix by architecture
If any of you lads is using Ubuntu (please don't start a flame war of the Windows-Is-Better-No-Linux-Is-Better-No-Mac-Is-Better kind, this is not the post for that), I suggest you find out which architecture your Radeon card is (useful list), and then head over to the matrix to see what the driver is currently capable of doing for you on Linux.
In my case it turns out it does almost everything out of the box, so I was delighted to hear that.
Quickly fired up VO and put everything to the max (except space junk detail, I find that rather disturbing), and saw that it runs smoothly at 60 FPS without issues. Even glow and shader effects are there, which is, as Steve Jobs would say, cutting like a knife through butter.
So there you have it :) There is yet hope for AMD/ATI Radeon owners on Ubuntu or any other Linux distro. I hope this helped some of you.
Fly safe.
Probably belongs in the Linux sub-forum, but yeah good info. It's been a while since I've used AMD hardware but knew for some time that AMD were leaning more towards the open side of things since they posted the full tech specs for their Linux FGLRX driver.
ARF did a good writeup on using MesaGL too, see https://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/6/27555
ARF did a good writeup on using MesaGL too, see https://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/6/27555
I use ubuntu too but lmfao you shoulda bought a nvidia.
Not to be an arse or anything joyless and I know I'm feeding you here, but nVidia's Linux support is fully closed (and not very stable) and the open source driver is dodgy at its best.
I use ubuntu too but lmfao you shoulda bought a nvidia.
I do own an NVIDIA card, so thanks for that input.
I do own an NVIDIA card, so thanks for that input.
I do own an NVIDIA card, so thanks for that input.
So, why are you insisting on using radeon, knowing fully that it would be a pain in the ass?
nVidia's Linux support is fully closed (and not very stable)
I don't mind the closed-ness, because it's plenty stable to me. My card never crashed or failed on me. Not sure what prompted you to add "not very stable," what world are you from?
Besides overwhelmingly better driver, here's the reason I'm using nvidia:
So, why are you insisting on using radeon, knowing fully that it would be a pain in the ass?
nVidia's Linux support is fully closed (and not very stable)
I don't mind the closed-ness, because it's plenty stable to me. My card never crashed or failed on me. Not sure what prompted you to add "not very stable," what world are you from?
Besides overwhelmingly better driver, here's the reason I'm using nvidia:
I'm not saying the closed AMD driver was any better, but I have had odd issues with the nVidia driver, especially on Optimus devices. But anyway a broken image link isn't really any reason to use nVidia! :P (hotlinking is disabled on warosu.org so although you might see the image, nobody else will)
So, why are you insisting on using radeon, knowing fully that it would be a pain in the ass?
...
I use a Radeon because, you know, back in 2011 or so when I bought it, AMD did not have plans to, you know, abandon driver support for Linux. This basically just happened, in case you missed it that bit of news.
I am fully aware of complete NVIDIA support for Linux, being in IT for around 20 years - so I really don't need you telling me what I should own or not.
Oh... and PS:
I don't give a f-ing damn about FPS as long as I have fun at a game and it looks reasonably okay.
...
I use a Radeon because, you know, back in 2011 or so when I bought it, AMD did not have plans to, you know, abandon driver support for Linux. This basically just happened, in case you missed it that bit of news.
I am fully aware of complete NVIDIA support for Linux, being in IT for around 20 years - so I really don't need you telling me what I should own or not.
Oh... and PS:
I don't give a f-ing damn about FPS as long as I have fun at a game and it looks reasonably okay.
I use a Radeon because, you know, back in 2011 or so when I bought it, AMD did not have plans to, you know, abandon driver support for Linux. This basically just happened, in case you missed it that bit of news.
So? It doesn't mean you're married to it forever. If you're going to game on linux, for most serious gamers, a far cleaner, simpler solution is to suck it up, SELL your radeon, and use the damn money to buy a nvidia card. Lots of people on ebay and craiglist are happy to take it off your hands for a reasonable price.
I don't give a f-ing damn about FPS as long as I have fun at a game and it looks reasonably okay.
Basically you jumped through quite a few hoops, for what, subpar performance? lol. Whatever, as long as you're happy, all is good. If your intention is to help people, see my advice above instead of making others waste time and jump through silly hoops like you have.
So? It doesn't mean you're married to it forever. If you're going to game on linux, for most serious gamers, a far cleaner, simpler solution is to suck it up, SELL your radeon, and use the damn money to buy a nvidia card. Lots of people on ebay and craiglist are happy to take it off your hands for a reasonable price.
I don't give a f-ing damn about FPS as long as I have fun at a game and it looks reasonably okay.
Basically you jumped through quite a few hoops, for what, subpar performance? lol. Whatever, as long as you're happy, all is good. If your intention is to help people, see my advice above instead of making others waste time and jump through silly hoops like you have.
So? It doesn't mean you're married to it forever.
True... but I'm currently not in a position to afford something better.
If you're going to game on linux, for most serious gamers, a far cleaner, simpler solution is to suck it up, SELL your radeon, and use the damn money to buy a nvidia card. Lots of people on ebay and craiglist are happy to take it off your hands for a reasonable price.
Subpar is always in the eye of the beholder, and I can imagine there are some people out there who are in the same situation, which, incidentally, go through the same hoops to get a comparable performance.
Besides, I did mention it does look as good as it does on Windows with proprietary drivers, so I don't think I actually lost something.
// EDIT:
Running two commands in a terminal + reboot isn't that much of a hassle as you might think it is.
True... but I'm currently not in a position to afford something better.
If you're going to game on linux, for most serious gamers, a far cleaner, simpler solution is to suck it up, SELL your radeon, and use the damn money to buy a nvidia card. Lots of people on ebay and craiglist are happy to take it off your hands for a reasonable price.
Subpar is always in the eye of the beholder, and I can imagine there are some people out there who are in the same situation, which, incidentally, go through the same hoops to get a comparable performance.
Besides, I did mention it does look as good as it does on Windows with proprietary drivers, so I don't think I actually lost something.
// EDIT:
Running two commands in a terminal + reboot isn't that much of a hassle as you might think it is.
Thanks for tracking all this down. VO really can be made to work on a startling array of computers. Maybe I'll dig out my Timex/Sinclaire ZX80.
The AMD open source crew have been doing a fantastic job the last few years and Obiaf's PPA makes it easy to run the latest and greatest.
Switch to the GL4 driver if you haven't already. Fancy lights and shadows make the game look a lot less dated. :)
Switch to the GL4 driver if you haven't already. Fancy lights and shadows make the game look a lot less dated. :)
It is impressive how versatile this game is. I originally started playing VO on a $50 Thai netbook running Ubuntu. I've since upgraded:
Lmao
Anyway what's with this straight bashing of AMD, they make great budget gpus
Anyway what's with this straight bashing of AMD, they make great budget gpus
AMD has historically not been Linux friendly in the GPU department. That is no longer the case but old prejudices die hard.
They make great GPUs period. Their drivers have been somewhat of a sore spot, even on Windows, but the new work on the open source side has been fantastic.
i like how being in IT for 20 years somehow means automatic knowledge of fringe linux gaming support