Is it "safe" for me to switch to Ubuntu?

[7nXwYdh]

Hello!

The title might seem odd to some of you, so let me explain a bit. When I say "is it 'safe'" to switch to Ubuntu, I ask because of the current situation with Mir. I myself have no opposition to the fact that Canonical has decided to use Mir as the default display server in Ubuntu 13.10, but the only thing I'm concerned about is proprietary driver support. I play some games on Steam, so proprietary drivers are a must for me. I know that I can fall back to X and use the current drivers in 13.10, but what about when 14.04 LTS comes along? Is it likely that AMD/Nvidia will put out Mir-compatible drivers when the time comes? I know there is no definite answer, but what's your opinion?

Also, I saw somewhere that if AMD/Nvidia were to put out a driver that uses EGL (not 100% sure what that is, but that's beside the point), that the driver would be compatible with both Mir and Wayland. Is that true? I don't have much knowledge when it comes to driver coding, so that could be completely wrong.

Thanks!

[deadflowr]

I have 13.10 installed, with absolutely no sign of mir.
Using nvidia's drivers.
Take it as you will
Here's some comments on the latest beta
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2177095

[cariboo]

If you have a high enough friend count, you can take part in the SteamOS Beta

[ssam]

I don't think there is much risk of Ubuntu taking away the option of using the closed graphics drivers.

[kostkon]

I know that I can fall back to X and use the current drivers in 13.10, but what about when 14.04 LTS comes along? Is it likely that AMD/Nvidia will put out Mir-compatible drivers when the time comes? I know there is no definite answer, but what's your opinion?

13.04 will automatically fallback to X if you are using the proprietary drivers from Nvidia or AMD, so don't worry.

Also, I saw somewhere that if AMD/Nvidia were to put out a driver that uses EGL (not 100% sure what that is, but that's beside the point), that the driver would be compatible with both Mir and Wayland. Is that true?

It is, yes. Nvidia and AMD are currently working on the EGL drivers. Check on Phoronix for some articles related to that.

Hope that helps.

[grahammechanical]

Xmir is part of Mir but not all there is to it. Xmir replaces the Xserver and the intention is to have it do this by default in the 13.10 release. Therefore it will also be default in 14.04. But, although 13.10 final beta is out Xmir is still not in 13.10 by default. At the moment the Xmir module will only load if we are running on Nouveau and if we are using Lightdm. For Lightdm manages the Xserver as well as the login screen and it has been patched to also manage Xmir. GDM has not been patched in this way so Xmir will not load on Ubuntu Gnome.

We are told that discussions are under way with the developers of proprietary video drivers for them to modify their drivers to run Mir. There is no rush for this to happen because it is not planned for Mir to be in 14.04 but in 14.10. By the way, Mir replaces not only the Xserver but also Lightdm and Compiz.

Think of it this way. If we are worried about Mir becoming the display server by 14.10 then we should also be worried about any Wayland compositor becoming the display server during the next 12 - 18 months. We will be in the same situation with a Wayland display server as we will be with the MIr display server and that is uncharted territory.

The one thing that I think is certain is that X is going to be replaced sometime during the next two years whether it be by a Wayland display server or by the MIr display server. So, I say expect a rocky ride and if you don't like ups and downs on the journey then stick to an LTS.

Regards.

[Bucky Ball]

Start with 12.04 LTS if you want safe. Perhaps try the newer releases as you get your feet wet and things get sorted with Mir, etc.

You are installing an unreleased version if you install 13.10 anyhow, regardless of Mir or anything else.

[buzzingrobot]

What Bucky said.

I can't imagine Canonical releasing an Ubuntu that can't use Nvidia/AMD drivers. They might slip a release date, change Mir's schedule, or make X the default with Mir optional, but not deliberately do a broken release.

The current LTS release is 12.04.03. Get it at releases.ubuntu.com. Supported until 2017.

[deadflowr]

What Bucky said.

I can't imagine Canonical releasing an Ubuntu that can't use Nvidia/AMD drivers. They might slip a release date, change Mir's schedule, or make X the default with Mir optional, but not deliberately do a broken release.

The current LTS release is 12.04.03. Get it at releases.ubuntu.com. Supported until 2017.

12.04.3 is what is currently available here
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

I think if you go to releases.ubuntu.com or old-releases.ubuntu.com you can get the older point releases of 12.04.
The older point releases have the older kernel versions and older X stacks.

[7nXwYdh]

Thanks everyone for the replies! I have actually been using Ubuntu for a while now (since 9.04) so I'm fairly experienced with it, just trying to get other people's opinions.

There is no rush for this to happen because it is not planned for Mir to be in 14.04 but in 14.10.

Thanks grahammechanical for the response, but isn't Mir supposed to become the default in 13.10 with an X fallback, and then that fallback will be removed in 14.04? I read that here(OMGUbuntu) and here (Softpedia), but perhaps I missed some more recent news? Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Thanks again everyone for the replies!