this post was submitted on 09 Nov 2023
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Linux 101 stuff. Questions are encouraged, noobs are welcome!

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Where are the GPU drivers? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Ex windows user here. I really like my Linux installation, but I don’t know where the drivers are at, or if I should worry about it.

It feels great to have one less thing to worry about (I use an AMD GPU), but GPU drivers in Windows seem to have their own release cycle, fixing game compatibility and bugs, while in Linux it also feels like we have to wait for a next kernel release to get that fix.

Or maybe it’s mesa? I don’t really understand that.

TL;DR: where are the open source drivers at? Mesa or the kernel? And also, is the release cycle the same or close to Windows counterpart? Or it just doesn’t matter?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm mentioning the distro as Arch has a very different update path than Debian. Different package managers handle drivers differently. Also there are different Security decisions between say Rocky and Mandriva. All of this will affect drivers. Linux is just the kernel your distro is your OS it's not just a DE there are a lot of decisions being made that aren't just GUI.

Valve uses Arch for a reason keep to that. Stay up with Proton reporting and update your whole system regularly and read patch notes. However if you want the latest and most stable experience just mirror whatever Valve is calling Steam OS these days

For Arch and AMD you can just use the AUR as it'll grab whatever is best for your setup. Most linux games and bug fixes are focused on the community drivers. However if you're seeing somewhere that the proprietary drivers will give you benefit you can install the amdgpu_pro driver.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/AMDGPU_PRO