This normie (myself) has some questions regarding AMD GPU’s in Linux environment.
For AMD Radeon VII drivers, is it better to install amdradeon-pro installer from AMD or leave it to the Kernel?
My distro of choice is Mint, but it seems that the kernel does not have the driver for Radeon VII. An alert shows telling me that there is no graphics accelerator installed. Then, I go to run the AMD script and it tells me that the OS is not supported . Is there a work around for Mint? Later, I installed Ubuntu and seems to work fine.
My current setup includes 3 monitors, is there a way to enable eyefinity for the 3 monitors? Want to use them as one, for gaming and science.
Is there a graphical interface to tweak settings on AMD (like NVIDIA)?
For a first timer linux user, how do I know which kernel has the drivers I need and how do I update it?
Background:
-Yes, I am a normie .
-Got new Graphics card Asus Radeon VII.
-My experience on windows is horrible, that why I am trying to move 100% to linux. Big challenge for me, but motivated.
-Going all team red for my current build. Ryzen 1700x.
To me the mesa drivers have become so good I don’t even think of installing AMD’s driver. According to this article the mesa drivers seem pretty stable and performant:
Only thing I don’t know about is what kernel and mesa package you are running. Might be a good idea to update your kernel to something newer and maybe the oibaf repository for a newer stable mesa.
The mesa driver is definitely the way to go. There has been an amazing amount of work contributed by the developers over the past couple of years. So many improvements have been merged so frequently, in fact, that unless you need a hobby (constantly upgrading to the latest kernel, in order to enjoy all of the new improvements), a rolling release is typically desirable when running new-ish AMD hardware.
Manjaro is available with Cinnamon as well as most other popular DE’s. Personally, I like Solus, but there are other good rolling distros from which to choose.
If your stuck with installing the necessary support for R7/AMDGPU then i would seriously consider a more upto date distro. That said, i think @wendell guide should probably work for you. I think mint is even behind Ubuntu in some regards… stable though. Ubuntu 19.04-beta is compatible, the final release is out very soon.
Secondly even AMD recommend you use the AMDGPU. Don’t use the pro unless your doing pro computational workflow like @Dynamic_Gravity said.
I have tried several kernels. I cannot go greater than 4.20. Ubuntu and Mint does not detect the card. Installing the drivers with current kernel also do not work.
I am stucked. Perhaps will need to wait Ubuntu 19.04 as you suggested.
You need to install a recent mesa as well, not just the kernel. Look for version 19.0 or newer. I’m sure there is a ppa somewhere that you can add, otherwise go to a more up to date distro.
I second the recommendation for Solus, the latest iso 4.0 comes with kernel 4.20 and mesa 19.0. And it is optimized for steam out of the box, plug and play really.
The Ubuntu 19.04 beta will update itself to be identical with the release version.
If you’d prefer a more Mint-like interface, try Ubuntu MATE or Ubuntu Budgie (clean and minimalistic; based on cinnamon, like Mint, but with a different ‘skin’). Full list of ISO images at betanews (bottom of the article).
Edit: note also that the Ubuntu 19.04 beta includes mesa 19.0.1, so no additional steps should be necessary for your setup. Some notes on performance over at phoronix if you’re curious.
Your system is running with LLVM pipe instead of your gpu directly. Your OS probably has a bug/dependancy issue, question is if it’s worth the hassle to try and fix it on Mint. You have very new hardware and old software. Might be easier to run something newer.
Assuming you’re on a recent distro with recent kernel, for sure.
That too.
If you care about blender / other application rocm gpu-compute acceleration, as far as I am aware (and someone, please prove me wrong, i’d love this to work without the pro driver), you need to install the amdgpu-pro driver.
If you don’t need that and are on something fairly up to date (e.g., Fedora), then don’t bother.
Given you’re on radeon VII (but by your admission a normie/noob), i’d take the plunge and run with Fedora. At least give it a shot.
Why? It has kernel 5.0.x already, recent versions of everything and is rolling release but still fairly well tested. Out of the rolling-release/bleeding edge distros, it is probably the most user-friendly and one of the larger user-bases/developer teams behind it.
I’m on Vega 64 (and an rx550 at work) and Fedora 29 has been the most hassle-free distro for me so far, because there’s mostly no need to go for obscure out-of-distro packages for up to date hardware support. Just add a couple of well-known and semi-offical repos for third party stuff (not related to hardware - but EPEL for enterprise stuff for example for work) and you’re good.
YMMV but i suspect it is recent enough that Radeon VII should “just work” if you download a recent build of Fedora 29 or later and run with it.
Unless you need GPU compute, then you’d be better off with ubuntu (as the pro driver will work).
can I use multiple display adapters each with it’s own monitor in Ubuntu 18.10? works fine in Windows.
I have my Vega 64 and it’s monitor working but my new Radeon VII and it’s monitor is not coming on.
Ubuntu 18.10 with kernel 5.05
has some questions regarding AMD GPU’s in Linux environment.
. Is there a work around for Mint? Later, I installed Ubuntu and seems to work fine.
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