How to Update AMD GPU Drivers on Linux (Simple Guide to Linux Update Command for GPU AMD)

Yesterday I got a task to deal with my Linux computer. My machine is using an AMD GPU and I need to update the driver. The thing is, I’ve been using Windows for a while, so I’m a little rusty on this whole Linux driver update thing. It seems like it’s a whole different ball game compared to Windows.

So, I started by digging around online. I found out that AMD drivers are basically part of the Linux operating system. This means that whenever you update your system, you’re also updating the drivers. Sounds simple enough, right?

I then tried the usual command I remembered:

• sudo apt update

This command checks for available updates.

• sudo apt upgrade

And this one installs them. After running these commands, I thought I was golden.

But my friend, who is a Linux guru, told me there might be more to it. He mentioned something about a “PPA” for AMD drivers. This made me do some more digging.

Turns out, there’s this thing called a Personal Package Archive (PPA) where you can get updated or third-party drivers. I found a PPA specifically for AMD Radeon drivers. To add this to my system, I used these commands:

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
• sudo apt-get update

This adds the PPA to my system and updates the package list. And I noticed that the package list have some new packages related to AMD graphics.

After that, I did another round of updates with sudo apt update and sudo apt upgrade. This time, it actually installed some new stuff related to the AMD driver.

To be honest, I’m not 100% sure if I did everything correctly. There’s a lot of different information out there, and some of it is pretty confusing. But my system seems to be running fine, and the graphics seem to be working as they should.

I think I will check that AMD Auto-detect and install tool next time, maybe it can be easier.

Anyway, that’s my little adventure with updating AMD GPU drivers on Linux. It wasn’t as straightforward as I initially thought, but I managed to figure it out. Hopefully, this helps someone else who’s in the same boat!