How to update your video card drivers in Linux

If you have not specifically updated the video drivers on your system in the last 3-6 months, they may now be outdated and semi-broken. This guide will show you how to update the drivers.

Step 1: Find the manufacturer and type of your video card

Normally you can find this information in the manual of your computer (look for technical specifications) or by issuing the following command in a shell:

su -c "lspci | grep VGA"
		

After giving the root password, the command will return a line of the following format:

(some numbers) VGA compatible controller: (manufacturer) [(model)]
		

Step 2: Get the latest drivers for your video card

Download and install the latest drivers for your type of video card:

Laptop computers

If your computer is a laptop, we highly recommend that you visit the manufacturer's support/driver download page as they often provide specialized drivers for your system. Also, it is not uncommon that the official drivers from the video card manufacturer do not support your graphics chipset.

Dell computers

If you are using a Dell system, you need to download the latest video card drivers for your computer from the Dell support site instead of the video card manufacturer's website.

HP or Compaq computers

If you are using an HP or Compaq system, you need to download the latest video card drivers for your computer from the HP Support & Drivers page instead of the video card manufacturer's website. Enter your computer name or product number, select the "Software & Driver downloads" section and locate the video drivers.

NVIDIA cards

» NVIDIA driver download page
Select your type of video card, select Linux, and press Search. Download and install the latest driver.

ATI cards

» ATI driver download page

Select the appropriate Linux platform and driver depending on your processor architecture and video card model. Download the latest driver and follow the installation instructions.

Intel cards

» Intel driver download page

Select your Intel video card chipset from the Graphics entry in the Download Center menu, select your version of Linux and download and install the latest driver according to the instructions. 

VIA cards

» VIA Arena driver download page
Select your operating system and integrated graphics adapter and download and install the latest driver according to the instructions.

Please note that not all VIA video card drivers fully support OpenGL 1.2 which is a requirement for Alice to run.  

Other video cards

If your video card manufacturer is not on this list, email Support for assistance.

Updating Video Drivers for Mac OS X

Updating Video Drivers for Windows  

Return to Updating Video Drivers 

Go to Alice.org home page