First of all, the article linked to is fairly old in Linux terms and AMD regards.
Ubuntu works very well with AMD hardware, but your use should determine which Ubuntu version you need.
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Long Term Support) is primarily for you if you are going to use professional software such as CAD, OpenCL and similar software. AMD provides their own closes-source proprietary graphics driver on their website http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/AMDGPU-PRO-Driver-for-Linux-Release-Notes.aspx
However, if you don't know what any of this is, you might as well go with 17.04, since it has a newer kernel and therefore better hardware support - again, however, AMD's own closed source driver doesn't support this newer kernel, so you won't be able to install it on Ubuntu 17.04
Instead, you will be using the Open Source radeonsi
driver part of a project called MESA. radeonsi
is actually developed by AMD developers, and this is the driver you will be getting the best overall experience with.
The Open Source driver radeonsi
is the AMD driver with the best gaming support on Linux and also has no screen tearing. This is the recommended driver for most users.
The only downside of the radeonsi
driver, is that it is packaged alongside every major Ubuntu release (every six months). Therefore, you will not be getting the latest enhancements right away.
However, to that, there is a solution. If you want the latest drivers automatically, you can add something called a repository. There is a repository that will automatically update your open source radeonsi
driver everytime a new update arrives.
You can do that by opening a terminal ctrl+alt+t
(after installing Ubuntu), and enter:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paulo-miguel-dias/pkppa
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa
press yes to add it and then:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
Lastly, reboot your computer and you will have the latest stable graphics driver installed.
There is only one caveat with adding this repository, which might be that you need to remove it before upgrading Ubuntu to let's say Ubuntu 17.10 when that arrives.
You can remove the repository by writing this in the terminal:
sudo apt install ppa-purge
sudo ppa-purge ppa:paulo-miguel-dias/pkppa
sudo ppa-purge ppa:ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
s
When the new Ubuntu has been installed, simply add the repository again to automatically get the newest updates again. BTW, this repository also works on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
*radeonsi
is also referred to as AMDGPU
** The closed source driver is referred to as AMDGPU-PRO
You can download Ubuntu and try it out on your computer without installing it. You only need a USB Dongle and put a Ubuntu Live-Preview on it.
You can get this here:
https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop
fglrx
that was ditched by AMD in favor of the open sourceradeon
. This open driver is included with the installation DVD and it usually supports ATI graphics quite well. Before installing Ubuntu I recommend however you try it out as a live system (which will useradeon
) to see how you GPU performs there. – Takkat Oct 02 '17 at 14:56amdgpu
notradeon
. Theradeon
driver may be necessary for some older cards, butamdgpu
is what's used for newer GPUs. – dobey Oct 02 '17 at 16:40