- Troubleshooting Post-Installation Configuration Problems
- The sudo command
- First Update
- Configuring Software Repositories
- Installing Graphics Drivers
- Changing Ubuntu's Look and Feel
- Preferred Behaviors
- Input Devices
- Detecting and Configuring a Modem
- Configuring Power Management in Ubuntu
- Resetting the Date and Time
- Configuring and Using CD, DVD, and CD-RW Drives
- Configuring Wireless Networks
- Configuring Firestarter
- Reference
Installing Graphics Drivers
Ubuntu is extremely good at detecting and configuring graphics cards. By default it ships with a number of proprietary drivers to allow graphics cards to work and will alert you to this by using the Restricted Drivers Manager. You can then choose to enable or disable the drivers as appropriate, depending on your personal preference. (See the "Open-Source Versus Proprietary" note earlier in this chapter.)
You can find the Restricted Drivers Manager under the System, Administration menu, and it is shown in Figure 2.4.
Figure 2.4 Toggle the usage of restricted drivers with a simple point-and-click interface. Here you can see that an Intel network driver has been enabled for use.
If you elect to use a listed proprietary driver, Ubuntu will first confirm that you are happy to proceed and then automatically download and install the driver. This may require you to log out and back in again in order for the driver to take effect.
For the most part, Ubuntu will detect and configure the majority of graphics cards from the start, and even if it has problems, it will attempt to give you a display of some sort. This feature is known as BulletProof X.