How to Install an ATI Driver in Ubuntu

Most ATI video cards work out of the box with the default open-source "ati" or "radon" drivers that come with Ubuntu. But special proprietary drivers must be installed for some cards to be able to use advanced graphics features such as 3-D acceleration and composite support. Ubuntu comes with an application that downloads, installs and activates proprietary drivers, and additional features for most ATI brand video cards.

Instructions

1. Click on the main Ubuntu menu, then "System" and "Administration," then click "Hardware Drivers." Ubuntu will initiate a hardware scan that will take up to one to two minutes, depending on the speed of your computer.

2. Select the "flgrx" video card driver entry that says "Recommended" after the scan is complete. Click the "Activate" button at the bottom of the window.

3. Enter your administrator password when prompted, then click "Authenticate." Ubuntu will download and install drivers for your ATI video card, and any additional dependencies or applications.

4. Click "Close" at the prompt to restart the computer. If your screen is black or distorted after you log in to Ubuntu, turn off the power for a few seconds, then restart the computer. Occasionally, new ATI video drivers do not load properly in Ubuntu until a second boot.

5. Repair any graphics problems caused by the new driver by restarting the computer, then select "Recovery Mode" from the GRUB boot menu. Select "xfix," then click "OK." After the process is complete, restart the computer.

Tips & Warnings

• If "No proprietary drivers are in use on this system" is displayed after the hardware scan is complete, there are no proprietary drivers available for your ATI card through Ubuntu. As an alternative, you might be able to download updated Linux drivers for your graphics card from the ATI website.

• Proprietary drivers sometimes cause conflicts in Ubuntu, especially after kernel or distribution upgrades. Because Ubuntu does not provide support for proprietary drivers, use the supplied open-source drivers if you encounter any problems.

References

• Ubuntu Documentation

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• AMD/ATI Graphics Drivers