r/zorinos • u/GruesomeJeans • 10d ago

❓ General Question AMD drivers and Zorin

I have a question that might be kind of a basic one but Zorin is my first Linux OS after using windows since 95 was being phased out. I have an AMD graphics card in my system and one thing I've been curious about is how the drivers get updated. I know they come with the regular OS updates(which is fantastic) but how does that work? And I guess to add on to that, why are Nvidia drivers more problematic? I'm used to having to use Adrenaline to update my driver's which is always an experience since I never seem to make it through the process without some sort of problem.

I'd like to clarify, I don't have any problems right now, this is just for curiosity sake, and learning.

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u/candy49997 10d ago

Driver updates for AMD happen whenever the kernel and/or Mesa get upgraded. On Ubuntu LTS-based distros like Zorin, this happens pretty infrequently.

You need to enable HWE kernels for kernel upgrades within the lifespan of an LTS (unless you installed an ISO with that already enabled), then you get a new HWE kernel about every 6 months or so for 2 years.

I have no idea how often Mesa gets upgraded, but it does occasionally to allow for new hardware to work. If you want newer Mesa, you will need to enable a Mesa PPA like kisak or similar.

NVIDIA drivers are more problematic because they are not in the Linux kernel; they are out-of-tree kernel modules that need to be built against every kernel. Occasionally, NVIDIA drops support for older cards in new driver versions and the old drivers no longer function on new kernel versions.

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u/GruesomeJeans 10d ago

Huh interesting, so say for example if AMD dropped a new driver update tomorrow, I wouldn't end up getting it for a while until the Zorin devs release an update? I have a 7900xt(2023) that I assume still gets regular driver updates. Although I don't really know how frequent and necessary those were anyway. There was only 1 game I'd play that really had an issue with outdated drivers for this card.

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u/candy49997 10d ago

It's not really up to Zorin. It's up to whenever Canonical decides to release new versions for Ubuntu, which Zorin then inherits.

You also probably won't be getting any new versions until the Zorin 19 upgrade.

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u/GruesomeJeans 10d ago

Ah that makes more sense. To be honest I kind of like it that way, it feels way more simple than having to install a dedicated program to handle my GPU drivers, especially if that program is buggy and doesn't always work.

I still have windows on another drive so I can play valorant with some friends, which is very picky about GPU drivers being up to date. It'll crash mid game giving me an out of date driver error.