Nvidia 319 drivers with Optimus support finally here!

[Teisei]

Good news!

Nvidia just released graphics drivers with a support for Optimus technology. This means that there is now a native support for swapping between two graphics cards (one being Nvidia, in most cases the other one being Intel).

Information about Optimus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

This is how you update your Nvidia drivers to version 319.12 (the current version at the time of writing) (NOTE: for Ubuntu-based distros):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-319 nvidia-settings-319

The new drivers seem to bring other changes as well. You can read the release highlights at http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-display-amd64-319.12-driver.html .

[[Linux] timopm]

Nguyên văn bởi ⠀:

This means that there is now a native support for swapping between two graphics cards (one being Nvidia, in most cases the other one being Intel).

I don't know where you get your information, but this isn't true.

[Teisei]

Nguyên văn bởi Linux timopm:

Nguyên văn bởi ⠀:

This means that there is now a native support for swapping between two graphics cards (one being Nvidia, in most cases the other one being Intel).

I don't know where you get your information, but this isn't true.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTM0NzE

" With RandR 1.4 it allows NVIDIA to now render a game or other application on a dedicated NVIDIA GPU and to then pass the scan-out buffer to another GPU for displaying to the screen"

[[Linux] timopm]

Maybe I'm misreading the changelog, but it doesn't mention anything about switching. It will do all the work on the NVidia GPU *all the time*, not be able to switch depending on workload.

[Teisei]

Nguyên văn bởi Linux timopm:

Maybe I'm misreading the changelog, but it doesn't mention anything about switching. It will do all the work on the NVidia GPU *all the time*, not be able to switch depending on workload.

I actually tested this on a laptop with Optimus technology. Nvidia settings will complain about drivers not being installed (or enabled at least), so you can't really tweak your settings from there. Glxinfo will also reveal that the active driver is Intel. However, I was able to launch Team Fortress 2 that generally doesn't support Intel graphics.

This behaviour suggests that the Nvidia driver is only used when playing games, such as Team Fortress 2. In normal desktop use, there's no trace of Nvidia.

If you have ideas how I could test this even further, please let me know and I'll report my findings.

[76561198082211087]

Saw this {ĐƯỜNG DẪN BỊ XÓA} news item. Not clear and am unsure if we can completely do away with bumblebee.

[Teisei]

Nguyên văn bởi anandrkris:

Saw this news[www.h-online.com] item. Not clear and am unsure if we can completely do away with bumblebee.

I have to admit the laptop I tested has bumblebee installed.

[UnkendTech]

Optimus Support is only part way here

[Temet Nosce]

Full support will be with Kernel 3.9.

[Teisei]

Nguyên văn bởi Deader H'ghar:

Full support will be with Kernel 3.9.

I guess so, but this driver is still better than nothing. I love how Linux is finally getting some attention.

[Federal-Foe]

I get an error with the 319, it says it could not find glColorIndexedEXT or something. It works with the 310 though, any idea why this is?

[Teisei]

Nguyên văn bởi Federal-Foe @Linux @newsens:

I get an error with the 319, it says it could not find glColorIndexedEXT or something. It works with the 310 though, any idea why this is?

Where do you get this error? Are you able to access the desktop? Is it just Steam, or a specific game?

[SUSEd]

Somebody tested it? I mean optimus.

[Teisei]

Nguyên văn bởi SUSEd:

Somebody tested it? I mean optimus.

I did. The new drivers are great :)

[Л0ш4рик]

After the installing of drivers, how you use them? With bumblebee or...? Can you explain me? (If it isn't difficult)

[Teisei]

Nguyên văn bởi nia40m:

After the installing of drivers, how you use them? With bumblebee or...? Can you explain me? (If it isn't difficult)

Just install bumblebee, bumblebee-nvidia, nvidia-319 and nvidia-settings-319 ... that should be enough. I don't recall having done anything else.