[How-To] Easily install the latest ATI open source video drivers under Ubuntu

This is a little guide on how to get development (unstable) versions of your drivers so you can enjoy more advanced functionality and system breakage. This guide will work for all open source drivers (ATI, Intel, nvidia, VIA, mesa, etc.) as well. The guide targets (K)(X)Ubuntu; it won't work for other distros (Ubuntu children should be fine, but be careful).

*Disclaimer:
The following install "experimental" software, meaning that you *will* encounter problems.

Xorg-edgers:

Step 1
Make sure the open source driver is working correctly for your device. If you need to, check my respective guide on my sig.

Step 2
Get yourself the latest kernel available (don't fear using the RC kernels either). You can either compile it on your own, or you can simply use pre-compiled packages from here.
You will need the headers (amd64 for 64bit and i386 for 32bit) and image packages. You also need the linux-headers-all package. Download the 3 packages to a folder somewhere and install them:

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If you get complaints during installation about missing firmware you may need to install additional files. Download the R600_rlc.bin and R700_rlc.bin files from the bottom of this page and copy then to the appropriate folder:

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2.6.33xxxxx corresponds to the name of the kernel you installed. To check you can navigate to /lib/firmware with Dolphin/Konqueror/Nautilus.
After you copy the files, because of a weird bug/quirk, you will have to reinstall the kernel packages. If you compiled your own kernel you don't need to do this.

Step 3
Get updated drivers from xorg-edgers. These are already compiled packages using the latest snapshot from git (so they are rather current). Add the repository and key:

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Open up your Update Manager, reload, and update everything.

Step 4
Reboot your machine. From the grub2 menu select the new kernel. Ubuntu should load by default the radeon driver. Once inside your session, confirm that you got 3D acceleration:

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The above command should return with a confirmation on the driver being used. If it says something like software rasterizer then the driver failed to load and you should check your /var/log/Xorg.0.log for clues as to why it's not working.

Reverting to default drivers
If you get scared, you may revert to your original distro driver versions. Simply install the following package:

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... and run the following command:

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Answer 'yes' to everything and the system will roll back the drivers. This will also disable the xorg-edgers repositories in Synaptic, so make sure to enable them again if you want to try these drivers in the future. It would be prudent if you install this package before doing anything on this guide and learn the purge command, just in case you totally axe your system.

Oibaf ppa:

This is another ppa based on the xorg-edgers one. The main differences are that it only provides drivers for certain devices (ATI, Intel, and Nvidia), it has several performance tweaks compared to the more "vanilla" drivers in the xorg-edgers ppa (manly for the radeon driver), and that mesa isn't updated that frequently. In my experience they work a bit better as far as rendering bugs are concerned.

Step 1 & 2
The same as the previous method.

Step 3
Add the repository and key to your system:

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Open your update manager, reload, and update everything.

Step 4
Reboot and confirm that you got working drivers. Note that if using this ppa you will have a custom string in glxinfo to let you know that you are using these specific drivers.

Reverting to default drivers
Same as the previous method:

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Other Notes

1) I recommend you start your own xorg.conf file. This is mainly to ease manipulation of the driver and for troubleshooting. Check my guide on how to install the open source driver for details. Do this *before* updating your drivers.

2) Always check the driver wiki (linked to below) so you know what your driver supports. Since you will be using bleeding edge code, new features may be available for your card.

Links:
xorg-edgers
Updated and optimized graphics drivers ppa
Radeon wiki
Radeon Feature Matrix
Radeon Program Matrix
*Comparison benchmarks coming soon...