How to install AMD Catalyst 12.8 in Ubuntu

By
Panos Georgiadis

First off, this is the proprietary driver for AMD Radeon HD owners, version AMD Catalyst 12.8. So far, there is not solution for GNOME 3 tearing problem… just minor bugfixes included though.

Download Catalyst 12.8

If this is your first install, you need these

sudo apt-get install build-essential cdbs dh-make dkms
sudo apt-get install execstack dh-modaliases fakeroot libqtgui4

In case of are 64 bit Operating System, install these too

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-multiarch:i386
sudo apt-get install lib32gcc1 libc6-i386
cd /usr ; sudo ln -svT lib /usr/lib64

Then browse intoyour Downloads folder where is the driver located and run the executable

chmod +x amd-driver-installer-8.982-x86.x86_64.run

Create and install deb packages

sudo sh ./amd-driver-installer-8.982-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/precise
sudo dpkg -i fglrx*.deb

Warning, if you are upgrading from an older Catalyst version, you should run:

sudo sh ./amd-driver-installer-8.982-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/precise
sudo dpkg --force-overwrite -i *.deb

Now, please Enable new settings

sudo aticonfig --initial -f

Reboot you PC and you are ready to go 😉

 — Otherwise —, if you are not into building deb packages and such stuff, then you are advised to to insert the xorg-edgers PPA and search for the new fglrx package

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install fglrx-installer

If this is the case, just be sure you have purged the PPA before upgrading to the next version of Ubuntu (such as Ubuntu 12.10).