Hardware Requirements for using Unity GUI

run:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-173

then reboot, you simply need 3D acceleration from your video hardware.

Hello actionparsnip,

THANKS for this, I've uninstalled & reinstalled graphics drivers in windows many times but in Linux its a rather different ball game.

a) will the nvidia-173 driver just install & replace the exsiting one or will I need to actually uninstall the exsisting driver?

b) will Ubuntu know where to source this driver? does Natty come will driver liberaries and just install from there?

c) once the driver is correctly installed will 3D acceleration just be automatically enabled? or does it require settings or configuration changes to work.

d) Once the correct driver is installed will the Unity interface become an option by default? or again will I have to manually tweak settings to enable it at start up?

**Hoping to have a go and this tomorrow the 5th May so will get back to you on this but any further help would be appreciated very much, Ta!! Ivan

Yes it should remove the original one. The OS will install what is needed nd where. That is one of the beauties of packaged based distros.

Unity should load by default if you select the Ubuntu session, it won't load (by default) if you boot to gnome classic.

Hello Actionparsnip,

Hay!! Problem fully solved,

Heres how for anyone else: Ran a full update session before anything else was done here. No.1 ran additional drivers utility, it found the 3D driver for my Nvidia card and asked me to activate the driver, I was able to activate the driver by authenticating it with my password.

No.2 Then had to install the 2D Unity interface from the software center and then rebooted. Unity now appears to load now with the ribbon menu/icons down the left hand side of the screen. It does this automatically now after I login.

I'm very happy now THANKS for all you help, nice one. Ivan

I have a similar problem with a Dell Dimension 2400 with on-board graphics.

Is it possible to upgrade(?) the video drivers to enable me to run Unity? or
I have a spare Radeon 9600 graphics card with 256Mb on board. Could I possibly use that? If so, how do I go about it and what would I have to do after it was fitted.

As you can see, I'm a newbie

In hope, Adrian

You need 3D acceleration for the user interface!?!? I think I must be from a different planet.

3D accelleration is given by your driver so it can perform 3D rendering. Not all video chips do this under Linux. Once (and if) you get this running you can use Unity. If you cannot, but want to use Unity then you can use unity2d and get the same panels just without acceleration from the video hardware

I have same problem on Fujitsu S6210. I thought you could help based on this forum post.

Joachim Ante Joachim Ante is offline
Unity CTO

Location
    Unity Technologies HQ, Copenhagen
Posts
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Posted: 11:28 AM 06-24-2005

    We are going to make unity work on everything down to rage 128 cards.

    If you have low video memory (16 mb), you might want to use sucky texture quality. (In the preferences)
    You also want to use only one scene view or game view.

    If you have a case where unity does not work as expected on older graphics cards, Please report a bug. Use the submit bug application for that. It would be helpful if you can attach screenshots in this case.

    Joachim Ante

...
 The graphics card is a
Intel 82852/855GM Int. Graphics Dev (rev 02) (prog-if 00 VGA)
Subsystem: Fujitsu Device 126b

FWIW, the Unity quote in #8 is about "Unity" as game engine, not the desktop environment.