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Generally speaking, I like an idea of using Open Source drivers, not only for AMD graphics.

However, I'm unable to run application which requires OpenGl 4. fglrx is deprecated for Ubuntu 16.04, so I am unable to install it through an apt install in.

Is there any derivative of the latest LTS edition of Ubuntu which supports by default AMD proprietary drivers?

matandked
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No. It's because fglrx doesn't support Xorg 1.18, which is what comes with Ubuntu 16.04 (thanks Wilf). AMD isn't planning on upgrading it to work, and Canonical doesn't want to have to maintain a driver for the next five years by itself.

If you have a supported card, try the AMD GPU-PRO driver beta.

Otherwise, you have to downgrade to 15.10 or settle for open source drivers.

TheWanderer
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  • I thought that dropping proprietary AMD GPU driver was Ubuntu choice, not caused by the kernel: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-16.04-Dropping-fglrx In such case will it be wise to have simply two systems on my disk Ubuntu 16.04 LTS for everyday use and Ubuntu 14.04 (or maybe I should use 12.04???) to use proprietary fglrx? Or should use different solution? – matandked May 27 '16 at 06:42
  • @matandked Kernel doesn't make much sense thinking about it, but I think Ubuntu had no choice but to deprecate the driver since AMD had stopped supporting it. If you need the performance, get 14.04 or 15.10. 12.04 is supported, yes, but it's losing support from third-party developers quickly. – TheWanderer May 27 '16 at 13:12
  • @matandked and others, support has been dropped: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/03/ubuntu-drops-amd-catalyst-fglrx-driver-16-04 . BTW some third party developers still only support 12.04 :/ – Wilf May 31 '16 at 22:40
  • From the looks the AMDGPU PRO driver is much better :) :) :) https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd-gpu-pro&num=1 – Wilf May 31 '16 at 22:45
  • @Wilf yeah, but it's barely compatible with any cards (in AMD's usual fashion). – TheWanderer May 31 '16 at 23:12
  • What about other distros? I'm thinking about dual boot: Ubuntu 16.04 and another diatro which supports fglrx (or more precisely Intel/ATI hybrid card). Will Manjaro meet my cryteria? http://manjaro.github.io/download/ – matandked Jun 06 '16 at 16:56
  • If it uses Xorg 1.18, no. – TheWanderer Jun 06 '16 at 16:57
  • Thanks. I checked in Virtual Machine and seems that they use old X.Org:

    [manjaro@manjaro ~]$ uname -a Linux manjaro 4.4.12-1-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Jun 2 16:45:18 UTC 2016 x86_64 GNU/Linux [manjaro@manjaro ~]$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | head -2 [ 31.561] X.Org X Server 1.17.4

    Obviously it doesn't mean that I can use it, since I have Broadcom Wi-Fi BCM43142 (don't know if it will work properly).

     – matandked Jun 07 '16 at 19:36
  • is Manjaro Ubuntu-based? – TheWanderer Jun 08 '16 at 14:21
  • No, but as you said there's no option to use current Ubuntu or Ubuntu-derivative. Manjaro is Arch based – matandked Jun 09 '16 at 11:02
  • The link in this answer is now archived. Should it be replaced with this one instead? – Carolus Aug 25 '16 at 09:30