(The updated version of this series can be found here (gone).)
The folks who make computer hardware aren’t always on good terms with the folks who develop Linux. You’ll hear both sides blame the other and it really doesn’t matter if what you need is simply to use the hardware you happen to have. Most of the time, Linux will work fine with what you have, but we’ve already seen during installation how it’s not always that simple.
This is particularly the case with graphics hardware made by ATI (Radeon) and NVIDIA. Most of the older hardware by these two giant companies is already going to work as well as it can. Some of the newer stuff requires a little extra work. Fortunately, the folks who make the hardware do provide special drivers for Linux, but the Linux folks aren’t entirely happy with it. Different kinds of Linux can make it hard or easy to use. Debian folks have made it pretty easy.
There are two paths for your Radeon graphics on Debian. First: It’s possible to get a reasonable performance by installing the special package firmware-linux-nonfree and rebooting. This is simply another case of Debian’s internal politics of development that these drivers aren’t already installed by default. You can find an explanation here with links to some of the different hardware drivers covered by this policy. Still, this is the recommended way for most systems.
Second: If you really must have the latest and greatest, AMD/ATI Radeon is covered with its own page on the Debian Wiki. If you followed the installation instructions at the beginning of these lessons, you shouldn’t have to worry about changing the sources.list file as noted on that page. Follow the instructions for discerning which version of the Radeon cards you have and which version of the Catalyst drivers you need. We are using Wheezy, so that’s the section you use. This page will ask you to use a different tool for installing, so you’ll learn something new. Just open your terminal window, use the same method for obtaining your root credentials as in the previous lesson. Then use your mouse to scrape and paste those commands into your terminal and watch it all go to work.
You’ll need to reboot your computer when it’s all done, so surrender root and exit the terminal and all your other open applications and click the other button next to the XFCE main menu to loguot of your system. One of the options that pops up in the window is “restart” which is what we want to do here.
The instructions for NVIDA drivers are just as easy as for NVIDIA.
Despite claims to the contrary, most folks do notice a difference once the special drivers are installed. Most things on your display will “paint” more quickly onto the screen, and videos run more smoothly. If you are a serious gamer and start trying to run things like the Linux version of Valve’s Steam engine games, you’ll need to do a lot of research, but one of the first things you’ll learn is the necessity of having the latest and greatest video drivers.
The point to remember is that, because the Debian user community is so very large and so used to DIY computer use, you are quite likely to find at least someone offering useful instructions. Often they will make them simple enough that just about anyone who has gotten this far in these lessons can make it work. Depending on what you try to do, you’ll find yourself learning how to compile from the source code your own specialized version of some software.
Part of the reason was hinted at above: the politics of Linux software and how the rest of the world likes to do things. The one greatest strength of Debian is the sheer numerical size of the community, but that is also its greatest weakness because it is also one of the most political branches of Linux development. There is no escaping it, so get used to it. The good part is that there are enough folks who don’t care about the politics that they will help make it possible for you to get what you need.
In the next lesson we’ll look at installing something you simply won’t get from Debian because of software politics, and in the process we’ll use the CLI some more.
