switching graphic card

[Alexandre CONFIANT-LATOUR]

On 30/04/2012 07:29, xpol wrote:
> I would like to start X of my opensuse 12.1 on lenovo z570, using the
> nvidia graphic card rather than intel
> BIOS is set by 'optimus', that uses both graphic cards, but is not
> clear which criterion system is adopting to switch from one card to the
> other

On Windows, a specific software can do the switch depending on load and 
battery. The idea is that a 'small' graphic card is sufficient for web, 
mail and office. The 'big' card is turned on when you want to play a 3D 
game.

On 30/04/2012 07:29, xpol wrote:
> I guess fixing the appropriate script in /etc would do the trick. Any
> hints?

Unfortunately, Nvidia Optimus is not well supported in GNU/Linux. You 
can't boot directly using the "big" card, you can only switch from the 
"small to big" and back.

To do so, you can use Bumblebee 
<https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee>. It allows to switch 
between the 2 graphic cards. But It's drawback is that the switch is 
made "by hand" for each application. For instance, to run glxgears with 
the "big" card, you have to run by hand 'optirun glxgears'.

The trick uses 2 Xservers, one with each card. Apps launched with 
optirun are rendered on the server using the big card and passed to the 
other one.

Good luck.

-- 
Alexandre Confiant-Latour
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