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#1 2016-09-17 21:50:22

julesm
Member
Registered: 2014-07-29
Posts: 70

[SOLVED] Should I switch my video driver? If so, best way?

Just installed Arch on a new pc and it's up and running with no problems. BUT I realised that I installed the ATI video driver when my AMD Radeon R3 should probably use AMDGPU.

So, I'm now scratching my head:

1) Should I switch from the ATI driver to the AMDGPU?

2) If I should, what's the best way to do so - never changed a video driver once xfce installed and set up?

I imagine I would have to do something like this due to dependencies?

# pacman -Rdd xf86-video-ati
# pacman -S xf86-video-amdgpu

Again, is this a *stupid/dangerous* thing to do if everything seems to be working? Or is changing the video driver not a big deal and worthwhile to do it right???

Many thanks for the advice before I make my next move...

Cheers,
Jules

Last edited by julesm (2016-09-18 16:33:25)

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#2 2016-09-17 21:56:14

tehabe
Member
Registered: 2008-10-14
Posts: 82

Re: [SOLVED] Should I switch my video driver? If so, best way?

You could install both and see which driver X is actually using.

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#3 2016-09-18 07:02:12

alive4ever
Member
Registered: 2016-07-10
Posts: 65

Re: [SOLVED] Should I switch my video driver? If so, best way?

Your best bet is wait till the official kernel support amdgpu on SE cards or you can do it yourself

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#4 2016-09-18 07:15:23

TheChickenMan
Member
From: United States
Registered: 2015-07-25
Posts: 354

Re: [SOLVED] Should I switch my video driver? If so, best way?

julesm wrote:

Again, is this a *stupid/dangerous* thing to do if everything seems to be working? Or is changing the video driver not a big deal and worthwhile to do it right???

How could it be so dangerous? Worst case scenario it doesn't work and you end up at a console with X not working and just use pacman to put it back the way it was.


If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.
Niels Bohr

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#5 2016-09-18 16:39:12

julesm
Member
Registered: 2014-07-29
Posts: 70

Re: [SOLVED] Should I switch my video driver? If so, best way?

Thanks for the advice and input. You know how it is - if you've not done something before then you wonder how it could all go wrong. Been using linux now for several years and have no fear of most things but there's something about X and video drivers in particular that I've never managed to feel comfortable with...probably because of how tricky it was when I first started out - but again that was now about 8 years ago...it's weird because I'm fine compiling custom kernels but when it comes to video and I start shaking...but no need - it's all working - it's all good!

Again, thanks and much appreciated!

Cheers,
Jules

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#6 2016-09-18 22:57:25

HiImTye
Member
From: Halifax, NS, Canada
Registered: 2012-05-09
Posts: 1,072

Re: [SOLVED] Should I switch my video driver? If so, best way?

the dedicated driver hasn't been working on my laptop for some time with recent versions of X, so I've been waiting for the dedicated driver integration in AMDGPU. the open source driver in AMDGPU works about as well as the other way, so as I don't have the inclination to work with old kernels (since recent kernels patch a bunch of recent security holes), this way at least is mostly to the target.

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