Ubuntu’s Bleeding Edge Drivers

September 29, 2006 at 9:16 am (Ubuntu)

NOTE: this post is aimed at Ubuntu Dapper users only (at least for the moment).

I have started a community project thanks to which Ubuntu’s community can have the latest driver for ATI and Nvidia cards simply by adding a repository and performing an upgrade.

All the users who are interested to participate can install the drivers and share their experience on the following thread of ubuntuforums.org so that the drivers can be tested on as many machines as possible:
Feedback thread

The only problem is that I cannot test them on all the graphic cards on the market. I have used the drivers for a while with no problems whatsoever but I cannot assure you that they will work flawlessly on your computer.

Use the drivers at your own risk.

Only after proper testing they will be deemed stable.

2 kinds of repositories are currently supported:
* LEGACY REPOSITORIES: These repositories contain the following drivers: ATI 8.28.8, NVIDIA 8774 and 7184
their driver won’t be updated so as not to break the compatibility with older cards (especially as far as the ATI driver is concerned)

* NON-LEGACY REPOSITORIES: These repositories contain the following drivers: ATI 8.29.6, NVIDIA 8774 and 7184
their driver will always be the latest (stable) release.

I had to pay 105$ for the webspace for this project (which needs a certain amount of bandwidth) (actually it’s a gift from my parents since I don’t have a job) for a year.

I hope that Canonical will consider the possibility of providing me with some space and bandwidth for the repositories and integrate this project so that I (and all the testers on the forums) can collaborate with the developers.

Read more

18 Comments

  1. Paul Mellors said,

    September 29, 2006 at 10:21 am

    Hello Alberto

    If you decide you need webspace and band width, let me know i should be able to help you on that front

    Paul [VooDoo]

  2. mc said,

    September 29, 2006 at 11:21 am

    To make a request from Canonical try contacting Jane at jane.silber@ubuntu.com, perhaps with the support from a core dev explaning why it is A Good Thing

  3. Wam said,

    September 29, 2006 at 1:02 pm

    good idea.

    I hope it will not break eaverybody’s X server randomly while upgrading

  4. albertomilone said,

    September 29, 2006 at 1:12 pm

    Paul Mellors

    Thank you very much. I really appreciate your offer.

    I’ll let you know if I need a hand

  5. albertomilone said,

    September 29, 2006 at 1:15 pm

    mc

    Thanks for your suggestion

  6. albertomilone said,

    September 29, 2006 at 1:19 pm

    Wam

    I will try to keep up with the updates of the kernel (as I already did in the past, before making this official announcement). Of course this project is for testers only i.e. people who use the drivers at their own risk.

    If this project were officially supported there would not be such problems.

  7. Joshua Hesketh said,

    September 30, 2006 at 1:49 am

    Hey,

    I too am able to assist with web hosting. Contact me of you would like to discuss.

    Cheers,
    Josh

  8. albertomilone said,

    September 30, 2006 at 9:00 am

    Thank you very much, Josh

  9. cpradio said,

    September 30, 2006 at 1:31 pm

    I am kind of curious why nvidia need such an application in Ubuntu, as running sudo nvidia-installer –update will get the latest nVidia Driver and build it for you.

    I have little experience with ATI, but nvidia has always made my life easy.

  10. ozp said,

    September 30, 2006 at 4:11 pm

    please, we need openchrome packages for easy install!!

  11. pirast said,

    October 1, 2006 at 8:03 pm

  12. pirast said,

    October 1, 2006 at 8:03 pm

  13. The Linux Action Show! Podcast » Blog Archive » The Linux Action Show! - Episode 16 - MP3 said,

    October 2, 2006 at 12:45 am

    [...] Ubuntu’s Bleeding Edge Drivers [...]

  14. The Linux Action Show! Podcast » Blog Archive » The Linux Action Show! - Episode 16 - OGG said,

    October 2, 2006 at 1:22 am

    [...] Ubuntu’s Bleeding Edge Drivers [...]

  15. The Linux Action Show! Podcast » Blog Archive » This is a test post, with stuff on it. said,

    October 8, 2006 at 5:33 pm

    [...] Ubuntu’s Bleeding Edge Drivers [...]

  16. ehlo said,

    November 2, 2006 at 3:23 am

    Tseliot -well your envy broke -killed -crumbled my Nvidia system
    silly me
    now I have no xorg – i hate edgy eft

    i lost all opengl
    i lost X
    xorg -silly swiftfox

    going back to Windows XP

  17. apsog33 said,

    November 13, 2006 at 7:51 am

    just letting you know that the lastest nvidia drivers you have (9626 I believe) have a bug in it that crashes games while using a DFP. This is documented by nvidia and I advise you upgrade to the newest beta.

  18. ahqnfsi said,

    March 17, 2007 at 3:02 am

Comments are closed.