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I plan on buying a new laptop and found a nice one that has the mentioned graphics card included.

  1. Does the current kernel used by Ubuntu 14.04 LTS / elementary 0.3.2 support that card?
  2. If not, will support be included in the future?
  3. If not, will the system work properly without the graphics card?

Thanks!

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It actually is compatible, but not with the open source xorg drivers that are activated by default. You have to use the proprietary drivers (called fglrx) which are included in the repositories. You can choose between fglrx and the open source xorg drivers in the additional drivers tab of the update settings.

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Ubuntu / Linux supports most graphics cards. Even if it doesn't you can use your integrated Intel graphics which always works (although there isn't as good performance for very intensive 3d but if you have HD 5000 or higher it should be good enough). If you encounter any problems try enabling to closed-source driver which can be turned on by opening the software center and Edit > Software Sources and click the Additional Drivers tab and enable the closed source driver

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  • Thank you. At least I know now that I won't have a serious problem if the card isn't supported. For the rest, it didn't really answer my question - which essentially was IF there are closed source drivers by AMD if the out-of-the-box support is not satisfactory. :) Doing some research I couldn't really find a clear answer, even on the official AMD support page there is no explicit statement. – deesnook Jan 17 '16 at 15:23
  • I would like to know the model of your pc and what cpu it has . Also I have heard about the open source drivers causing overheating. Intel releases the source code for their drivers so if your pc has an Intel integrated card it should work out of the box (i didn't have to install anything to get Intel HD 3000 graphics working on freya) – Suici Doga Jan 18 '16 at 1:54
  • It would be a new Dell Inspiron 15 (5559) Laptop with an Intel i7-6500U CPU. At least that's what the description says, I haven't bought the machine yet – deesnook Jan 18 '16 at 20:23
  • I have bought the machine. Using the integrated Intel Skylake graphics chipset works, but with the current driver there are problems that can be fixed like this: elementaryos.stackexchange.com/questions/4281/… – deesnook Feb 11 '16 at 21:36

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