I have noticed that on Windows, Minecraft runs a lot smoother than on Ubuntu 11.10. What can I do to make it run smoother on here?
I have a ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Graphics card. I don't know which driver I am using, but I'm not using the Proprietary Drivers that it asks you to download and install. And I believe I'm using the newest Java. I always keep my system updated.
Open source drivers are great because they are open, allow very good support of most hardware on them and have a better history when we are talking about desktop environment glitches, but they are not known for their speed when playing games.
If you really want to compare probably Windows will still get the upper coin in the end but you can have a better idea of how good the game will run in Linux using the closed proprietary drivers from ATI.
Have a look at this post for more information on how to install, switch, go back, forwards with your graphics card driver.
If you find your self in trouble (I believe not, just follow the not so simple but well written instructions ;)) you can always drop another question and some one will help you restore your system. I recommend the version you get by downloading from ATI
You're going to need to download two different things. One is the MCPatcher (Found Here). It allows you to install mods. The other is the Optifine under the heading "OptiFine 1.0.0_HD_S_B2" or "OptiFine 1.0.0_HD_MT_B2" depending on what you want(Found Here).
Clean Installation Start the launcher, click "Options" and click "Force Update". Then log in. After the game menu loads, close it.
Installing The Patch 1: Open the MCPatcher (be sure to allow execution) and click Mods" in the toolbar. There should be an option to add a mod. Choose that and point it to the directory that you downloaded Optifine to. 2: Uncheck everything except "Optifine" and "HD Font". Click patch.
Once it is finished patching, launch the game. It should load fairly quickly. If it doesn't, you're going to want to retake the steps that I told you (from "Clean Installation") If it loads the game menu, click "Options" and then "Video Settings". You should see a whole load of new settings. Click around, and see what you like. It shouldn't take you long to figure it out. If you hover your mouse over any option, it will give you a description of what it does (I recommend doing this for every option). Hope this helps!