Linux optimus support, question for owners.

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

I am looking at a laptop that has it, just wondering how well it works from those who have it.
I know i have to get used to launching programs a bit differently with it.

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

Wow really? no one?
I know there are some people who are able to run it. I have looked at all the wiki stuff and the previous forum posts.
But no one wants to tell me their experiences with it?

szczerb · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 11:54 am Post subject:

I've got a dell E6540 with a Radeon HD 8790M. Didn't bother to try and configure it. I just use the built-in Intel graphics. Works like a charm

dweezil-n0xad · Posted: Mon Dec 15, 2014 1:39 pm Post subject:

I use bumblebee on my Asus N56VV laptop. I only use the nvidia card for gaming. I have to edit the game launch options in Steam to "primusrun %command%", or launch the game from a terminal with primusrun. I had no problems setting up bumblebee. Performance is great, I can stream games with Steam from my more powerful optimus laptop to my slower laptop.

There is only one downside: programs launched with nvidia card crash when I return from suspend.
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truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

dweezil-n0xad · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:07 am Post subject:

yes, this is in my /etc/portage/make.conf:

grot · n00b Joined: 17 Dec 2014 Posts: 33

Bumblebee works great for me on Arch in various wm's. I use the proprietary nvidia drivers. Performance seems to be better on linux for linux-native games than on windows, such as Dead Island - the random windows lag spikes seem to be more of background processing tasks than video lag, although they cause video lag. Also, multiple monitors don't seem to have a staggeringly negative impact like they do on windows, and not having to alt+tab is incredibly convenient.

Overall I'm really incredibly impressed with the project.

My biggest gripe is that switching X servers sometimes crashes my games. I'm curious if this will be the same after I get my -systemd -dbus install fully operational. IIRC, something with systemd is what makes bumblebeed crash during boot.

Bumblebeed has a command that lists how many programs are connected, which is a quick way to know if it's working.

for most programs: optirun or primusrun 'executable'. you might have seen it, but primusrun is generally regarded as faster for nvidia - which is true for me as well

optirun/primusrun vlc
optirun/primusrun wine game.exe
Playonlinux:
There's some random sort of registry setting you have to change... it was really a pain to find.. then you set primusrun/optirun as an argument, and launch as usual

edit: it doesn't crash the game - it freezes the entire system. I suspect I could ssh in to try and fix it, but I haven't tried yet and have just recently obtained a second computer

dweezil-n0xad · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2014 2:29 pm Post subject:

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

I am going to try the bumblebee config first.
Anyone have experience in setting it up how nvidia recommends?
like this.
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/NVIDIA_Driver_with_Optimus_Laptops
and this.
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/319.12/README/randr14.html

dweezil-n0xad · Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2014 7:52 am Post subject:

If you use bumblebee you do not need to set up native nvidia optimus support in X. X will be started with the intel drivers.
I do not need a xorg.conf and only have this file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
10-evdev.conf

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

dweezil-n0xad · Posted: Sun Dec 21, 2014 11:22 am Post subject:

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

dweezil-n0xad · Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2014 9:59 am Post subject:

I checked my dmesg and found the same trace! I never noticed that before. I searched the nvidia forums: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/796559/kernel-3-18-warning-no-drm_driver-set_busid-implementation-provided-by-nvidia_frontend_exit_modu/

drop this patch in /etc/portage/patches/x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers/ until the next driver update

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

dweezil-n0xad · Posted: Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:54 am Post subject:

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

nope. no luck. Still doesn't apply.

dweezil-n0xad · Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:27 am Post subject:

strange, it works on my machine™

Atmmac · Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2014 8:44 pm Post subject:

I have been getting those mismatch errors since I set up my Optimus laptop in August. Never had a problem. Bumblebee works excellent and is a great project.

truekaiser · l33t Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 801

Yamakuzure · Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2014 2:07 pm Post subject:

According to https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/bbswitch/issues/99 the mismatch warnings are harmless.

And according to the comments here, the warning is even wrong, caused by buggy BIOSes.
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