<p>No there is not. The ATI Catalyst driver implements OpenCL, which is what GPU miners use to accelerate the SHA256 hashing used in mining. The open source driver does not implement OpenCL. There are experimental projects that aim to implement OpenCL in the open source driver (<a href="http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/log/?h=gallium-compute" rel="nofollow">Clover</a> is an example) - as a Gallium3D state tracker - but so far these only run on the CPU.</p>

<p>GPU drivers are very complex pieces of software. Even if an open source implementation of OpenCL, that runs on the GPU, were to become available, it would likely be orders of magnitude slower than ATI's proprietary implementation, which basically undermines the whole purpose of using the GPU in the first place -- to gain speed.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-11-02T00:44:12.350Z
2012-11-02T00:44:12.350Z
runeks
<p>The question pretty much says it all. Any way to install a GPU miner (ATI) without</p>

<p>A) Installing fglrx (which is a very bad driver for everyday use, and breaks my dual-monitor setup)</p>

<p>B) Installing stream app sdk (which, if I understand correctly, requires fglrx)</p>

<p>Please? Anyway? I would like to start mining bitcoins...</p>

<gpu-mining><miner-configuration><mining-software>
Is there any way to install a GPU miner on ubuntu without using the proprietary drivers?
JXPheonix
# Is there any way to install a GPU miner on ubuntu without using the proprietary drivers?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-07-20)

The question pretty much says it all. Any way to install a GPU miner (ATI) without

A) Installing fglrx (which is a very bad driver for everyday use, and breaks my dual-monitor setup)

B) Installing stream app sdk (which, if I understand correctly, requires fglrx)

Please? Anyway? I would like to start mining bitcoins...

**Tags:** gpu-mining, miner-configuration, mining-software


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2012-11-02. Score: 3

No there is not. The ATI Catalyst driver implements OpenCL, which is what GPU miners use to accelerate the SHA256 hashing used in mining. The open source driver does not implement OpenCL. There are experimental projects that aim to implement OpenCL in the open source driver ([Clover](http://cgit.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/log/?h=gallium-compute) is an example) - as a Gallium3D state tracker - but so far these only run on the CPU.

GPU drivers are very complex pieces of software. Even if an open source implementation of OpenCL, that runs on the GPU, were to become available, it would likely be orders of magnitude slower than ATI's proprietary implementation, which basically undermines the whole purpose of using the GPU in the first place -- to gain speed.


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