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Message #127375
[Bug 770685] Re: there is no optimus support in linux
** Description changed:
Over a year after its release, there is still no Optimus support in
Linux, either in nvidia-current or in the nouveau driver. Unless there
is a BIOS setting that allows you to turn off the Intel iGPU, the only
workaround is to use the Intel iGPU and, if possible, save power by
turning off the nvidia card via an ACPI call. It appears that in most
cases, to cut costs, the manufacturers don't supply the hardware MUX
that allows you to select nvidia graphics, so there is no such BIOS
option. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1657660 has a summary
of the issue.
Apart from being a great annoyance to people who buy a laptop with an
nvidia card and discovering it just doesn't work in Linux, this is a big
problem because other basic functions like running an external monitor
via HDMI will most likely not work (eg see https://lists.launchpad.net
/hybrid-graphics-linux/msg00701.html - HDMI is attached via the non-
working nvidia card).
I don't mind so much about only being able to use the Intel graphics
(even despite the driver being less stable than nvidia-current), but not
being able to connect an external monitor is a show-stopper for me.
Last year it was possible to get a laptop with an i7-series CPU and a
working nvidia card, because it the i7 CPU last year didn't have an
iGPU. But Sandy Bridge CPUs all come with internal graphics and are now
the norm (and if you are buying a performance laptop, why wouldn't you
want a SB CPU?), so it is almost impossible now to buy a performance
laptop with a working nvidia card (ie working HDMI).
Will this slow the future uptake of Ubuntu? I would suspect that it must
do at least for users who have performance laptops, since Ubuntu now
can't drive external monitors on a reasonably large portion of new
laptops. Will people stop using Ubuntu on performance laptops because of
this? By the same logic, there must be current Ubuntu users who will be
forced to use Windoze just so they can get external monitors working.
(Sadly, it looks like I might fall into this category when my company
upgrades its laptops soon.)
nvidia has stated that they have no plans to support optimus on Linux,
but that one day they might have to. Is there a way to give them an
incentive to do so, other than by moaning on the nvidia forums (eg
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=144750).
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: nvidia-current 270.41.06-0ubuntu1
Uname: Linux 2.6.39-rc4-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
- NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 270.41.06 Mon Apr 18 14:53:56 PDT 2011
- GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-8ubuntu4)
+ NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 270.41.06 Mon Apr 18 14:53:56 PDT 2011
+ GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-8ubuntu4)
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: 1bd8e90541d49b96c13cbfcc9baf103b
CheckboxSystem: d00f84de8a555815fa1c4660280da308
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,imgjpeg,compiztoolbox,maximumize,decor,grid,place,imgpng,session,mousepoll,resize,vpswitch,move,wall,snap,gnomecompat,regex,text,thumbnail,imgsvg,extrawm,animation,workarounds,expo,ezoom,staticswitcher,fade,scale,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Tue Apr 26 12:51:11 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-03-20 09:19:31.967259
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
- nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.39-rc4-generic, x86_64: installed
- nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38.3-generic, x86_64: installed
- nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38.4-generic, x86_64: installed
- vboxhost, 4.0.6, 2.6.39-rc4-generic, x86_64: installed
+ nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.39-rc4-generic, x86_64: installed
+ nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38.3-generic, x86_64: installed
+ nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38.4-generic, x86_64: installed
+ vboxhost, 4.0.6, 2.6.39-rc4-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
- nVidia Corporation G84 [GeForce 8600M GT] [10de:0407] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
- Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022e]
+ nVidia Corporation G84 [GeForce 8600M GT] [10de:0407] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
+ Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022e]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha amd64 (20100224.1)
JockeyStatus:
- xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
- xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, Not in use)
+ xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
+ xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, Not in use)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS M1530
ProcEnviron:
- LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
- LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
- SHELL=/bin/bash
+ LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
+ LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
+ SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-rc4-generic root=UUID=776cd2eb-157e-4c4b-b37f-9d074a6802e9 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-22 (4 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/19/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A12
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA12:bd11/19/2008:svnDellInc.:pnXPSM1530:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: XPS M1530
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7
** Description changed:
Over a year after its release, there is still no Optimus support in
Linux, either in nvidia-current or in the nouveau driver. Unless there
is a BIOS setting that allows you to turn off the Intel iGPU, the only
workaround is to use the Intel iGPU and, if possible, save power by
turning off the nvidia card via an ACPI call. It appears that in most
cases, to cut costs, the manufacturers don't supply the hardware MUX
that allows you to select nvidia graphics, so there is no such BIOS
option. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1657660 has a summary
of the issue.
Apart from being a great annoyance to people who buy a laptop with an
nvidia card and discovering it just doesn't work in Linux, this is a big
problem because other basic functions like running an external monitor
via HDMI will most likely not work (eg see https://lists.launchpad.net
/hybrid-graphics-linux/msg00701.html - HDMI is attached via the non-
working nvidia card).
I don't mind so much about only being able to use the Intel graphics
(even despite the driver being less stable than nvidia-current), but not
being able to connect an external monitor is a show-stopper for me.
Last year it was possible to get a laptop with an i7-series CPU and a
working nvidia card, because it the i7 CPU last year didn't have an
iGPU. But Sandy Bridge CPUs all come with internal graphics and are now
the norm (and if you are buying a performance laptop, why wouldn't you
want a SB CPU?), so it is almost impossible now to buy a performance
laptop with a working nvidia card (ie working HDMI).
Will this slow the future uptake of Ubuntu? I would suspect that it must
do at least for users who have performance laptops, since Ubuntu now
can't drive external monitors on a reasonably large portion of new
laptops. Will people stop using Ubuntu on performance laptops because of
this? By the same logic, there must be current Ubuntu users who will be
forced to use Windoze just so they can get external monitors working.
(Sadly, it looks like I might fall into this category when my company
upgrades its laptops soon.)
nvidia has stated that they have no plans to support optimus on Linux,
but that one day they might have to. Is there a way to give them an
incentive to do so, other than by moaning on the nvidia forums (eg
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=144750).
+
+
+ Update: See Martin Juhl's page for a workaround for the first issue (not being able to use nvidia acceleration on the laptop screen): https://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee
+
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: nvidia-current 270.41.06-0ubuntu1
Uname: Linux 2.6.39-rc4-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 270.41.06 Mon Apr 18 14:53:56 PDT 2011
GCC version: gcc version 4.5.2 (Ubuntu/Linaro 4.5.2-8ubuntu4)
Architecture: amd64
CheckboxSubmission: 1bd8e90541d49b96c13cbfcc9baf103b
CheckboxSystem: d00f84de8a555815fa1c4660280da308
CompizPlugins: [core,bailer,detection,composite,opengl,imgjpeg,compiztoolbox,maximumize,decor,grid,place,imgpng,session,mousepoll,resize,vpswitch,move,wall,snap,gnomecompat,regex,text,thumbnail,imgsvg,extrawm,animation,workarounds,expo,ezoom,staticswitcher,fade,scale,unityshell]
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Tue Apr 26 12:51:11 2011
DistUpgraded: Log time: 2011-03-20 09:19:31.967259
DistroCodename: natty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.39-rc4-generic, x86_64: installed
nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38.3-generic, x86_64: installed
nvidia-current, 270.41.06, 2.6.38.4-generic, x86_64: installed
vboxhost, 4.0.6, 2.6.39-rc4-generic, x86_64: installed
GraphicsCard:
nVidia Corporation G84 [GeForce 8600M GT] [10de:0407] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:022e]
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha amd64 (20100224.1)
JockeyStatus:
xorg:nvidia_173 - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Disabled, Not in use)
xorg:nvidia_current - NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver (Proprietary, Enabled, Not in use)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS M1530
ProcEnviron:
LANGUAGE=en_AU:en
LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-rc4-generic root=UUID=776cd2eb-157e-4c4b-b37f-9d074a6802e9 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Renderer: Unknown
SourcePackage: nvidia-graphics-drivers
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-22 (4 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/19/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A12
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA12:bd11/19/2008:svnDellInc.:pnXPSM1530:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: XPS M1530
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.4+bzr20110415-0ubuntu2
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs 20090808ubuntu13
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.23-1ubuntu6
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 7.10.2-0ubuntu2
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg: xserver-xorg 1:7.6+4ubuntu3
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.14.0-0ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.14.0-4ubuntu7
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:0.0.16+git20110107+b795ca6e-0ubuntu7
--
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu-X,
which is subscribed to nvidia-graphics-drivers in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/770685
Title:
there is no optimus support in linux
References
