ATI mobility radeon 7500 drivers?

[DeadPanFlea]

Ok.... So I think I finally have everything working on my Ubuntu 9.04 desktop. However, I keep seeing posts about video drivers. And wonder if I need to update my driver as well. My question is, how do I know if my driver for an integrated ATI mobility radeon 7500 is current? and if not, how do I update it?

By the way, I still haven't figured out why my trendnet wireless card connects with no problems, but my new netgear wireless N usb adapter doesn't even register... but, I know that's another post...

[Tsarevich]

In Linux, graphic drivers are not make specific, they are manufacturer specific. You have a standard driver for ATI cards, called ati. A separate one for Radeon is called radeon. For nVidia is simply nvidia.

If you want to update your driver, you have to recompile your kernel (and of course, first download a new one). If you find out that the driver is still not most recent in the new one, then you can patch your kernel by a patch which updates that specific module in your kernel, and that also has to be done before compiling.

If you are getting the optimal resolution of your monitor with this driver, then there is no need to go for the most recent one, because Ubuntu 9.04 is the April release of this year. They also update most of the software contained in it. And Ubuntu is renowned because of the fact that "it just works". Hardware support is perfect in Ubuntu already.

[Tsarevich]

I made a mistake there =D
I confused make with model!

[reed9]

My question is, how do I know if my driver for an integrated ATI mobility radeon 7500 is current? and if not, how do I update it?

Unless you're having problems, you should just use the drivers included in the distribution and not try to upgrade to latest version.

Go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers to manage restricted (proprietary 3rd party) drivers in Ubuntu. It will show you there which version of the driver you're using.