Ubuntu
fglrx-installer package

Top panel in 11.10 gnome 3 badly distorted

Asked by Geoff Smith

Following the installation of 11.10 Unity I installed Proprietary driver for Radeon HD5770 HDMI Graphics card. Then installed gnome fallback without a hitch. However when I tried to install gnome 3 the top panel was very badly distorted. I then tried to rectify by uninstalling driver. Gnome 3 was then found to work flawlessly. When I went back into Unity, I found that it was virtually wrecked. As I didn't wish to waste my time searching for a possible fix, I did a new install of Unity but this time did not install the proprietary driver. As a result I have the situation that the three systems operate very well.
My main question then is, should I concern myself with looking for a better alternative fix? Will Unity perform O.K. now and in the future with 12.04 without the Proprietary driver installed?
Thanking you for a great service that you provide to us Ubuntu users.

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Ubuntu fglrx-installer Edit question
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Geoff Smith
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Geoff Smith (taurusone) said : 		#1

I apologize for taking up your valuable time but it has now come to my attention that the problem with the proprietary driver depends on AMD supplying a fix. Until that happens, it is my understanding that I will need to make do with the default driver. Thanking you for your time.
Regards - Geoff Smith

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Eliah Kagan (degeneracypressure) said : 		#2

You might want to post a new question about how to efficiently switch between the free open source and the proprietary ATi video drivers, without having to install and uninstall anything. (I don't know whether or not you can do it also without rebooting.) This would make it possible for you sometimes use Unity (and have it sometimes look right), and for you to sometimes use GNOME 3 (and have it look right), with relative ease.

If you post such a question, please post a link to it here.

Also, you might consider just using the free open source driver, with which GNOME 3 works, and using unity-2d (select Ubuntu 2D as your session type) for a very Unity-like desktop that should also look right (though you won't have advanced visual effects).