If you are running the open source graphics drivers on Ubuntu then this guide will allow you to get the latest drivers as well as increase your performance due to bug fixed and the constant advancements of the open source driver stack. This guide will work on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander; both 32 and 64 bit x86 versions. I will update this guide when newer kernel versions are released as they will implement/enable/improve features that are work at a kernel level (like HDMI audio for example). This will work on all spins of Ubuntu that are based off of 13.10.
Step 1
The first step to get the latest kernel version. The guys over at Canonical do provide the latest Linux kernel with their patches/hotfixes but they do not appear in the main repository of the release.
32 bit users need to run these commands in a terminal window
mkdir ~/kernel && cd ~/kernel && wget http://kernel.ubuntu...031935_i386.deb && wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.12-saucy/linux-headers-3.12.0-031200-generic_3.12.0-031200.201311031935_i386.deb && wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.12-saucy/linux-headers-3.12.0-031200_3.12.0-031200.201311031935_all.deb
64 bit users need to run these commands in a terminal window
mkdir ~/kernel && cd~/kernel && wget http://kernel.ubuntu...31935_amd64.deb && wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.12-saucy/linux-headers-3.12.0-031200-generic_3.12.0-031200.201311031935_amd64.deb && wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.12-saucy/linux-headers-3.12.0-031200_3.12.0-031200.201311031935_all.deb
Step 2
After the downloads have complete leave the terminal window open. Then run these commands
sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.12.0- .deb linux-image-3.12.0- .deb
It is highly recommended that you reboot at this stage
Step 3
After rebooting you can now get to installing the latest open source graphics drivers. Firstly we need to add the PPA (or Personal Package Repository). This needs to be run in a terminal window.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
This command will add the repository, update the package cache and whatever else so their isn't a conflict with package managers and the update manage and then it will continue to upgrade all system packages that need to be upgraded... THIS INCLUDES THE GRAPHICS DRIVERS
Thank you for reading my short guide. Like I have stated I will update this guide for newer kernel versions as well as other Ubuntu releases (version not spins, so 14.04 and not Kubuntu). If you have any problems just comment below.