Ubuntu is the recommended Linux OS on Steam

Jan 24, 2017 14:46 GMT  ·  By

Ubuntu gamers with older AMD Radeon or Intel graphics cards know by now that they have to install a third-party PPA (Personal Package Archive) that contains the latest open-source graphics drivers to enjoy a much better gaming experience.

You know it! The best PPAs for Ubuntu gaming right now are Padoka and Oibaf, created and maintained by Paulo Miguel Dias and Fabio Pedretti, respectively. They offer us bleeding-edge Mesa 3D Graphics Library from Git, compiled against the latest development versions of LLVM 5.0 (Padoka) and LLVM 4.0 (Oibaf) compilers.

Both of them are currently available for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) and Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) operating systems, they are updated two or three times per week, and provide us with some special features and optimized graphics drivers for our Ubuntu gaming needs, including OpenCL and AMDGCN/R600 support, and OpenGL 4.5 support for Intel Haswell.

Which one do you use, with what GPU, and why?

Padoka PPA also provides Vulkan support for both Radeon (RADV) and Intel (ANV) drivers (needed for some games), but while the Oibaf PPA tends to offer us a more stable experience, it would appear that many are using Padoka for its bleeding-edge features. After all, they both are considered "unstable."

We are currently experimenting with the Padoka PPA on our Ubuntu machines, but we'd like to know which one you are using. Which games do you play on your Ubuntu computers with either of these advanced PPAs, and why do you prefer Oibaf over Padoka, or vice versa?

We would also love if you could tell us which AMD Radeon or Intel graphics cards you're using right now for Ubuntu gaming and if you prefer to stay on the stable channel using the latest Mesa 13.0.3 3D Graphics Library (coming soon to Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS and Ubuntu 16.10) from the Padoka Stable PPA.