Graphics Card problem leads me to Xubuntu

[3Miro]

I am not using any proprietary drivers. I am simply using what comes with the kernel at install. I've thought I need to understand drivers n better in linux, so I may not be answering your question correctly.

No crashes so far this morning (yes, it is still morning here).

PS. Phiilinux, thanks for changing the title of the thread. I appreciate it.

Only open drivers are included in the kernel, some companies make additional proprietary drivers that you have to get separately (from Additional Drivers).

Intel has only open drivers and hence Intel video cards work very well out of the box. Too bad that the Intel video cards are just not as powerful as the Nvidia or ATI.

ATI and Nvidia have both open and closed drivers. Before AMD took over, ATI wouldn't do drivers for Linux at all. Since AMD is in charge, both the open and closed drivers have seen great improvement, however, their main focus is the newer cards. What is bad for you is that you have an older video card, the prop drivers just dropped the support and the old open drivers for ATI were never good anyway.

Nvidia also has bad open drivers. They have made improvements lately, but the open Nvidia drivers are still lacking. The advantage of Nvidia is that they have excellent proprietary drivers, hence Nvidia + proprietary drivers gives you the best video performance on Linux. Just make sure to stay away from Optimus.

[forrestcupp]

Intel has only open drivers and hence Intel video cards work very well out of the box. Too bad that the Intel video cards are just not as powerful as the Nvidia or ATI.

The good thing is that Intel Graphics are getting better. The newest GPUs are better than AMD's low end stuff that comes in most computers, and I hear the next generation is going to step it up even more.

Before AMD took over, ATI wouldn't do drivers for Linux at all.

That's not true. We were using ATI's proprietary drivers well before they sold to AMD. They just wouldn't open up their specs for the open source drivers until AMD bought them. It is true that things got much better for open source and proprietary drivers after they became AMD, though.

[mips]

I am not using any proprietary drivers. I am simply using what comes with the kernel at install.

I would try the proprietary drivers if I was you, from the little bit I have read that chipset is supported, R600 and newer (as of Catalyst 9.4)

https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates
https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

[3Miro]

That's not true. We were using ATI's proprietary drivers well before they sold to AMD. They just wouldn't open up their specs for the open source drivers until AMD bought them. It is true that things got much better for open source and proprietary drivers after they became AMD, though.

I know there was a period when ATI wouldn't provide Linux drivers at all. They probably started supporting Linux before AMD, but as you said AMD made the big difference.

[BrokenKingpin]

I switched to Xubuntu just because I liked Xfce far more than Unity.