No support for NVIDIA Optimus on Linux

LOL cheers, but let's try to stay on topic, eh?

 

I'm planning to get an Asus G53-SW when it comes out in the near future - yes SNB + Optimus and Linux is the OS I use 99% of the time....

I just wanted to know if HDMI works in Linux on Optimus-based laptops.... The reason I'm asking is because I've seen in the past that when there are two graphics chips (like switchable graphics), the more powerful one is the one which controls HDMI output....

I searched on the internet for this, but couldn't find any info - so thought better to hear it from any of the Optimus-based laptop owners....

 

I think you can use HDMI with intel graphics on optimus systems. I'm not 100% positive though...

G53 won't have optimus anyway:

 

Even the SW version of G53 wont be having Optimus ? That is really something then... If the CPU (and the on-chip GPU) supports it by default and they're gonna put an nVidia Graphics chip - why wouldnt they enable it ?

If they dont enable it - good for Linux folks at least.... I heard that although the discrete GPU cant be used for display, it can still be used for GPGPU computations using CUDA when optimus is present....

 

I've seen that too but it isn't the case, a page or two back I quoted an nvidia employee saying cuda won't work on optimus systems with Linux...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/linux-compatibility-software/473915-no-support-nvidia-optimus-linux-4.html#post6963722

 

Damn - that is really bad news for linux folks

intel + nvidia can safely put the blame on Xorg framework for this and get away.... And say even if we do get the changes done as required in Xorg, nvidia should put effort in their proprietary driver to support Optimus - too much to expect in anytime soon....

 

cuda 3.0 works on Ubuntu 10.10 on my Sager 5130 which has 425M + Intel HD
However,
Opengl based applications do not work, as 425m is not being used as the Display Card.

 

@Vishfx that's really surprising, I haven't seen that before. Can you explain how you have your system set up a bit more? Does it have a BIOS setting or physical switch for optimus?

 

Yes I'd like to know that as well... Why do some systems with Optimus have a BIOS switch for the discrete graphics whereas others dont ?

 

There was no BIOS business here.
I installed the latest nvidia dev drivers, but did not allow it to modify xorg.conf file.
This basically will load the required nvidia modules for you.
Post that install CUDA 3.0 Toolkit + GPU Computing SDK code samples based on the instructions and compile the sample code.
I have tried cuda 3.0 on Ubuntu 10.10 on my Sager 5130 which has 425M + Intel HD
So basically you can use your GPU with CUDA for comuting based tasks.
However,
Opengl based applications do not work, as 425m is not being used as the Display Card.
The reason is your LCD is connected to iGPU and not dGPU.

I believe this support scenario will change soon, since Sandy Bridge + dGPU will be a similar scenario and NVIDIA will be forced to come out with a solution for this on UNI/Linux platform.

 

I doubt nvidia would address the opengl issue with Sandy Bridge either, at least I believe not anytime soon seeing their response till now.

The reason I say this is, server solutions from Intel based on Sandy Bridge are not going to have an integrated GPU and computing clusters based on Sandy Bridge mostly likely are gonna use these CPUs which wont be supporting Optimus - and GPGPU clusters are still gonna work as long as CUDA works... Also even if these server solutions were being used for opengl based applications (like at my univ's super computing cluster) they should work too because of lack of Optimus....

Why I said server based solutions was because nvidia would be more concerned about their *nix support on high end servers and clusters rather than on laptops and smaller workstations, as it is a market they're earning a lot of profit (at least in the *nix based ones)....

Laptop support for optimus might be last in their list - anyways let's see if nvidia comes out with any good news...

 

They just had a$1.5B deal.
Hope they put it to good use

 

My bad, I didnt word it properly... Laptop support for optimus under *nix might be last in their list

 

I have a Lenovo T510, and I can switch freely between Intel and nVidia chips by setting the BIOS. I disable Optimus as well.

 

Pics or it didn't happen!

Seriously though, I'd love pics of the BIOS setup screen if you can post them.

Thanks for the info.

 

Sure. Give me a couple of days to get them.

If I don't post back by Monday, post again. I'll get an email to remind me.

 

@gbr - pics plz

 

Taken by my iPhone and scaled, so quality isn't great.

 

OK so that thinkpad has a dual MUX in it. very nice. all I have seen show either integrated or optimus at the hardware level, and not all 3. thank you very much for the photos and update.

 

ASUS K52JC

BIOS Graphic Options:

- Windows7/Vista (NVIDIA + Intel) Optimus
- Reserved (Intel only)

Why? Can I upgrade BIOS or do something to change it to have BIOS as the one on the picture above?

 

I might be wrong, but I guess that BIOS-switchable graphics in the Thinkpad is not a pure Optimus solution. I think it's a traditional setup with 2 graphics cards that are able to work together the Optimus way. So it's not just a BIOS thing, but a question of the hardware design.

 

it has to be that Lenovo put in a MUX for the Nvidia card as well so it is actually switchable and not augmented.

no you cant, Lenovo appears to have implemented the graphics switching at the hardware level and installed a second MUX. this setup is more of a combination of Optimus and the old manual switching which would be fantastic if it was found in more laptops.

 

First... thanks to ALLurGroceries, debguy, and TuxDude... You have managed to turn one of the more confusing topics of the year into something relatively easy to follow.

I was wondering if there is a compilation of the various Switchable(MUX) and Hybrid(Optimus) laptops out there? Ideally I'd like to be able to identify which laptop models are truly Optimus (i.e no MUX, no soft-switch) and which ones are switchable in the sense that you can "turn off" the integrated GPU and use only the discrete.

I realize that the hardware design of Optimus has... hmmm, what would be the nice way of saying this... screwed linux users everywhere. (Way to go Nvidia). I am hoping that given the persistence and ingenuity of the FOSS community that we will... eventually... arrive at a method to switch between discrete and integrated (where possible). The vga_switcheroo project seems to be the beginnings of this...

The bottomline is that Optimus will likely not support Linux at all (who knows maybe in the new Wayland X project - Im not holding my breath though) and hardware specifications for these laptops are not very clear regarding switchable and hybrid. Hence... I just want to know, preferably from users, which laptops are working under linux... and what functionality is missing...

On a side note... I've sent emails off to Asus for some clarifications on this whole debacle... If I receive anything meaningful, I'll post back.

 

Just wanted to put AMD Power Express on everyone's radar. It's a competing technology from them that is similar to Optimus (apparently). The only real mention I've seen of it was here: HP's Business Notebook Hat Trick - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

I haven't found much of anything besides that, except for reposts of that article from places like softpedia, etc. If anyone finds anything substantial please post it.

Oops and I forgot to post here about some cheaphax for powering down certain optimus GPUs: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lin...e/553945-help-new-linux-user-out-m11x-r2.html

 

I hope it's okay to cross-post this so others will find it...they're looking for testers.

Linux Hybrid Graphics: Linux Nouveau intel/nvidia working with github.com/awilliam module for Asus UL30VT - Asus UL50VT - Asus UL80VT 1 0 - HP dm3 - HP SLIC-MPC - Lenovo T410 2516CTO - Lenovo T410s - Lenovo T510 - Sony Vaio VPCZ136GG - Sony Vaio VPCZ

"Linux Nouveau intel/nvidia working with github.com/awilliam module for Asus UL30VT - ..."

"There is a new module that provides hybrid graphics functionalities
using the nouveau drivers. Both the Intel and Nvidia cards can be used
with this method. It has been tested on an Asus UL30VT, but should
work for the following laptop models:

Asus.UL30VT
Asus.UL50VT
Asus.UL80VT.1.0
HP.dm3
HP.SLIC-MPC
Lenovo.T410.2516CTO
Lenovo.T410s
Lenovo.T510
Sony.Vaio.VPCZ136GG
Sony.Vaio.VPCZ13V9E
Sony.VGN-Z51XG
Sony.VPCZ12C5E
Acer 5742G
Acer 5935g
Acer Aspire 5935
Asus K42Jc
Asus K52Jc
Asus N53Jf
Asus N53Jf
Asus N53SN
Asus N53SV
Asus N61JV
Asus N71JV
Asus N73SV
Asus P52JC
Asus U30JC
Asus U33JC
Asus U35JC
Asus U35JC
Asus U36JC"

 

From the readme in git:

https://github.com/awilliam/asus-switcheroo/blob/master/README

UL30VT is software switchable, not Optimus.

 

Again, not quite on topic, since it's not Optimus, but maybe interesting to the people who want what Optimus offers:

The HP Envy 14 has what I think is switchable ATI MobilityRadeon HD 5650 graphics, and this gent got it working pretty well under Linux...

 

Then I'll provide you with fresh info - on ThinkPad W520 it is possible to enable/disable Optimus and force system to use either Intel HD IGP or nVidia Quadro 1000M dedicated GPU. With Optimus enabled my Debian setup defaults to IGP, though both nouveau and i915 modules are loaded. With IGP forced only i915 loads and 3D works fine. With Quadro forced only nouveau loads and no 3D works since apparently it's not supported yet for GF108GLM. I haven't yet tried to get it to switch since I got the laptop only yesterday.

 

@moonwalker.syrius thx but already confirmed a few pages back:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/lin...pport-nvidia-optimus-linux-7.html#post7092151

Those thinkpads are dual mux optimus systems. Pretty cool!

 

Yeah, I haven't finished reading the whole thread, my bad. Anyway, everything still appears to work without a single binary blob, all the way since my first ThinkPad A22m and through T23, T43p, T61p and now W520, if not out of the box then at least after some tweaking of pretty wide selection of BIOS options.

 

Definitely look up the hyrbrid graphics mailing list for linux. there's been a LOT of work on getting optimus working in the last few months, specifically the new bumblebee code...

 

Yeah this thread pretty much fell off until a second ago. Here's the link: https://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee/

 

Their is also a PPA for those that have *buntu or any derivatives.

‘Bumblebee’ Gets a PPA, Brings NVidia Optimus Graphics Switching to Ubuntu


PPA | launchpad.net/~mj-casalogic/+archive/bumblebee

 

Could someone please post the PCI ID of a Lenovo ThinkPad T510's Optimus-enabled Quadro device? I'm really hoping it's the same as the non-optimus version, I would be so happy if converting an early non-optimus model is as simple as flashing an EEPROM and possibly changing a model number with a modified BIOS.

 

As far as I know, what Optimus do is to determine and automatically switch between IGP and nVIDIA chip such that non graphic-intensive job to IGP but graphic-intensive job to nVidia. For the sake of saving battery life. It seems most Optimus-enable laptop has BIOS option to disable Optimus (not checking enable Optimus). If you disable Optimus, you are using you laptop with just nVidia. So, instead of having so many hassles, I would just disable Optimus in BIOS.

 

Actually most Optimus laptops do NOT have this ability, as the way Optimus works is that the Nvidia card uses the output frame buffer of the IGP for output. Without a MUX the BIOS can't put just the NVidia in the line of fire. Lenovo W520 is a notable exception that allows you to switch to just the NVidia.

Newer AMDs with the BACON switching tech also don't allow you to pick just the discrete card in the BIOS either.