So you've just installed Ubuntu Linux and now you need to install your video card's driver, be it either Nvidia or ATI. This guide will teach you the easiest ways to achieve that.

Nvidia installation

First of all, you need to add some repositories to the /etc/apt/sources.list file.

Go to System -> Administration -> Software Sources and click on the "Third Party" tab, then on the "Add" button and enter the following code:


After you've added the code above, click "Close" button. It will ask you to reload the information about available software, so click on the "Reload" button and wait until the window disappears.

Now open up a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and type the following code:


In Terminal, type the following commands, one by one, in order to install the Nvidia driver:


All you need to do now is type the code below in the Terminal, so you can activate your Compositing options in the xorg.conf file:


Now reboot your computer and your new Nvidia drivers should be installed.

ATI installation

First of all, make sure all the repositories are active, so go to System -> Administration -> Software Sources and check all the 5 repositories in the first tab (Ubuntu 6.10). Click the "Close" button and you'll be asked if you want to reload the information about available software; click on the "Reload" button and wait until the window disappears.

Open a terminal (Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal) and type the following command:


Now scroll down till the end of the file and modify the last Section (Extensions) to look like this:


In Terminal, type now the following commands, one by one, in order to install the ATI driver:


Now you need to activate and configure the driver you've just installed; please type the following command in a terminal:


and then type:


Now reboot your computer and your new ATI drivers should be installed.