What are proprietary drivers?

Most of the devices (hardware) attached to your computer should function properly in Ubuntu. These devices are likely to have open source drivers, which means that the drivers can be modified by the Ubuntu developers and problems with them can be fixed.

Alcuni componenti hardware non dispongono di driver open source, solitamente perché il produttore non ha rilasciato i dettagli che renderebbero possibile creare un tale driver. Tali dispositivi potrebbero presentare funzionalità limitate o potrebbero non funzionare affatto.

If a proprietary driver is available for a certain device, you can install it in order to allow your device to function properly, or to add new features. For example, installing a proprietary driver for certain graphics cards may allow you to use more advanced visual effects.

Many computers do not need proprietary drivers at all because the open source drivers fully support the hardware.

Most problems with proprietary drivers cannot be fixed by Ubuntu developers.