[resolved] Crisis in Ubuntu land

[halbe]

I'd suggest trying Cinnamon. It's fantastic.

I got mad crazy memory leaks when I used Cinnamon on Linux Mint 18.1 a couple months ago, switched to XFCE and everything has been fine. Like the OP I also really like unity (mainly the vertical bar thing) so here's how I tricked out XFCE to make it more to my liking: https://i.imgur.com/713p34z.png

I do use Ubuntu + Unity on my laptop though since Unity is better than XFCE for touchpads

[raevol]

here's how I tricked out XFCE to make it more to my liking: https://i.imgur.com/713p34z.png

What WM theme are you using?

Also Xubuntu is cool, but there's no reason for me not to run Debian Sid.

[halbe]

here's how I tricked out XFCE to make it more to my liking: https://i.imgur.com/713p34z.png

What WM theme are you using?

Also Xubuntu is cool, but there's no reason for me not to run Debian Sid.

style: Adwaita
icons: GNOME
font: URW Gothic L
WM: Greybird

[raevol]

So here's what I did.

I got an RX 480. The AMDGPU drivers are super good now, so I don't need proprietary drivers any more.

I tried to run Debian Sid. It was awesome, but it had an older Mesa than 17.04 (!?!?!) and I goofed up Steam somehow.

So I switched back to Ubuntu, but used the minimal CD to install a minimal Xubuntu session.

Viola: http://imgur.com/a/iRP7Q

Also I got a liquid cooler, a corsair H100i v2, but that's unrelated.

[psi29a]

A lot of colleagues use Xubuntu. They swear by it. A few even use OpenMW without knowing I'm apart of the project.

[raevol]

It's way better than it used to be. I switched off it years ago because so many pieces didn't work together.

I guess the same could be said for the whole of Linux. And I think we have Ubuntu to thank for that.

[Greywander]

So here's what I did.

I got an RX 480. The AMDGPU drivers are super good now, so I don't need proprietary drivers any more.

This interests me because I've been wanting to build a new PC for a while now (going to have to wait a little longer as taxes just cleaned me out), and one of the things I was considering was whether to get an AMD or NVidia GPU. I upgraded somewhat recently from a Radeon HD 6870 to a GTX 970, as I'd heard that NVidia was the way to go for Linux, but I have to say the drivers where kind of a pain to install.

However, it seems things have changed a lot. AMD's open source drivers seem to work fairly well, but I'm not sure they work well enough. First, consider that an RX 480 would be somewhat equivalent to a GTX 970 or 1060 (RX 480 vs GTX 970, RX 480 vs GTX 1060-6GB). Now look at how the RX 480 compares to the 970 and 1060 in these test run by Phoronix. Looks like it's comparable for some games while for others the AMD cards lag behind. I'm curious how AMD's Vega cards will hold up.

(Also, the Ryzen 7 looks interesting. I'd also heard that AMD CPU's didn't fair as well on Linux as Intel CPU's, but I guess that's changed, too. I'd better consult a few different forums before actually building a new PC, just to make sure I'm all up to date on this sort of thing.)

On a slightly more on-topic note, one thing I read was that AMD cards generally fit better with distros that have a rolling release (like LMDE), while NVidia cards are a little better for distros with a point release (like Ubuntu). I am currently using a rolling release distro (SolydXK) with an NVidia card, go figure. Maybe I should give Ubuntu another whirl.

[raevol]

I can't speak to all of the info you bring up, but my 4GB RX480 on the AMDGPU driver beats the pants off my 4GB GTX 960 on the nvidia proprietary driver. My only real benchmarks are CS:GO and Tomb Raider 2013. CS:GO runs at over 100 fps on almost max settings at 1080p on the RX 480, which is better than it did on the 960. Tomb Raider runs at over 100 fps with dips down to 80 fps (though it chugs when steaming in new areas for a second or two) on the RX 480, again 1080p at almost max settings, where it struggled to get over 60 fps on medium settings on my 960. I know the 480 is a step over the 960, but it is a *really big* step because of the drivers.

Hopefully I can get my hands on some other intensive games to test, though I won't be putting my 960 back in to compare, haha.

[AnyOldName3]

The 580 has been released now, which, while just a rebadged 480, does come with a bit of an overclock, so can keep up with the 1060 in more situations. There's not much point getting the 480 right now, as something marginally better has been released for what should be the same price.