This is a re-edit of my previous post about using and configuring an Optimus enabled laptop in Fedora 20/21. It should work on other distributions as well.
My laptop at work is a Dell Latitude E6430. Comes loaded with features and I really like it. Among the various features there’s the fact that this is an Nvidia Optimus enabled laptop, sporting both an Intel video card and an Nvidia one:
$ lspci | grep -i vga
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108GLM [NVS 5200M] (rev a1)
This one is a muxless laptop of the worst kind: video outputs are connected only to specific chips!
Update 23rd May 2014: UEFI console (using efifb) on external monitors has been fixed with bios update version “A14”. Now the UEFI console is also rendered on external monitors if the lid is closed; so I’ve updated the guide.
| LVDS (Internal panel) | Intel |
| VGA (not usable along with the docking station one) | Intel |
| VGA (Docking station) | Intel |
| DVI | Nvidia |
| DVI (Docking station) | Nvidia |
| DisplayPort (Docking station) | Nvidia |
| HDMI | Nvidia |
So to use an external HDMI connection at home you need to drive it through the Nvidia card, it doesn’t matter if Optimus is enabled or not. I regularly use it docked with the lid closed, external keyboard and mouse and 2 external monitors connected to the VGA and DVI outputs of the docking station. Basically while I’m at the office it looks like a normal desktop computer; but sometime I need to disconnect it to go on a meeting; and sometimes I use it at home to play games as well.
Guess what? Free drivers, proprietary drivers, UEFI, UEFI secure boot, multi monitor, outputs changing on the fly… all sorts of fun! I’m impressed by the fact that it all works together.
There are four modes on which I can operate the system:
- Optimus enabled, free drivers for both Intel and Nvidia cards (implementation is called “Prime”)
- Optimus enabled, free driver for Intel and proprietary driver for the Nvidia card
- Optimus disabled, free driver for the Nvidia card
- Optimus disabled, proprietary driver for the Nvidia card
Each one has its drawbacks, so let’s explain each setup a bit. At the end of the post I’ve made a table with all the pros and cons of each solution.
My current setup is:
- Fedora 20 x86_64
- Kernel 3.14.4 (stock Fedora)
- Nouveau DDX 1.0.9 (stock Fedora)
- Intel DDX 2.21.15 (stock Fedora)
- Nvidia proprietary drivers 337.19 (from my repository)
- VDPAU library 0.7 (stock Fedora)
- Mesa libraries 10.1.3 (20140509 prerelease, stock Fedora)
UEFI / legacy bios
If secure boot is enabled; there’s no way to use the proprietary Nvidia driver without fiddling with UEFI keys. The module is built separately from the kernel package; so there’s no way for it to have the same signature as the kernel.
When UEFI is enabled, the free drivers work fine and replace the efifb framebuffer driver with their own; thus giving proper modesetting at the correct resolution and a speedy and responsive terminal.
With the proprietary Nvidia driver, the efifb is not replaced; so the console still operates with it and the Nvidia driver only operates the X part. Unfortunately, using this method, the framebuffer console is really slow, the resolution is not optimal, and the EFI framebuffer is exposed onto external monitors only from bios version “A14”. Before the update, pressing CTRL+ALT+Fx jumped me to the console that is shown in the closed laptop lid on the docking station; making it pretty useless.
What UEFI could bring you is the Intel Rapid Start Technology which has been included in kernel 3.11; so make your choices depending on what you need.
Optimus disabled (Nouveau or Nvidia)
When Optimus is disabled, I can freely use the proprietary Nvidia driver or the free Nouveau driver.
Both solutions work; unfortunately performance and feature wise Nouveau cannot compete with the proprietary Nvidia driver.
My main issue is power management; with the Nvidia driver the battery lasts a lot more and the performance difference is abysmal. Nouveau performance is really poor with 3D games (especially Steam commercial ones, with Doom 3 it works fine) and there’s absolutely no power management; at least on my laptop. By playing with performance levels I was only able to overheat the card.
Another thing that does not work with Nouveau is the docking station removal. With the Nvidia proprietary driver I’m able to do the following:
– Disconnect from the docking station: output goes from the external VGA and DVI monitors to the internal LVDS display.
– Reconnect to the docking station: internal LVDS display gets shut off and output goes to VGA and DVI monitors as they were before; one next to the other. I can even close the lid and the computer doesn’t go in standby.
With Nouveau, I’m able to disconnect from the docking station but when reconnecting I need to reconfigure the monitors in their place; and after this, when closing the lid I need to wake up again the computer because it goes on standby.
With the recent Xrandr support to the proprietary drivers I don’t even need to edit che X.org configuration file. Whether I use nvidia-settings or Gnome Displays panel the result is reflected in both implementations and preserved across boots.
Optimus enabled (Nvidia)
To configure Optimus with proprietary drivers perform the following. First of all install the proprietary driver as normal. Now edit the /etc/grub2.cfg file and remove some parameters from the kernel command line. This is required because the Intel driver still need to operate with its KMS driver. So, from this:
nouveau.modeset=0 rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau nomodeset gfxpayload=vga=normal
you should go to this:
nouveau.modeset=0 rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau
After this, edit/recreate the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file with the following contents:
Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "DPI" "96 x 96"
# Specify Nvidia PCI device
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
# Make sure X starts also when no outputs are connected to the Nvidia chip
Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration"
EndSection
# Slave device
Section "Device"
Identifier "intel"
# Simple output, no full Intel driver
Driver "modesetting"
# BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "intel"
Device "intel"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "nvidia"
Device "nvidia"
EndSection
# Make sure the Nvidia device is the first in the server
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout"
Screen 0 "nvidia"
Inactive "intel"
EndSection
Make sure to set the correct bus ID for the Nvidia card; for instructions look in the Nvidia documentation. Make sure the integrated Intel card is using modesetting driver and not the native one.
The AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration directive in the Nvidia section is required to let X start with the Nvidia driver without any output attached to the chip, for example while using the internal LVDS monitor.
Upon reboot, you will see KMS running for the Intel card (Plymouth screen) and then the login manager appears on the Nvidia attached panels, while the Intel outputs shut off.
After logging in, you can also check that both drivers are running with the following commands:
$ lsmod | egrep "i915|nvidia"
nvidia 10411255 41
i915 796218 2
i2c_algo_bit 13257 1 i915
drm_kms_helper 50652 1 i915
drm 283747 5 i915,drm_kms_helper,nvidia
i2c_core 38656 7 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,nvidia,videodev
video 19261 1 i915
To light up the other display some xrandr command is required:
$ xrandr --setprovideroutputsource Intel NVIDIA-0
$ xrandr --auto
Your Intel monitor should now have an extended desktop managed by the Nvidia card. Move windows around, and launch some commands to see that wherever you go you’re using the Nvidia accelerated driver:
$ glxinfo| grep "OpenGL version string"
OpenGL version string: 4.4.0 NVIDIA 337.19
$ vdpauinfo | grep -i string
Information string: NVIDIA VDPAU Driver Shared Library 337.19 Tue Apr 29 19:51:41 PDT 2014
Everything seems to work, except output manipulation. Xrandr, Gnome and Nvidia drivers have a different view.
Xrandr view:
$ xrandr -q | grep conn
VGA-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 connected primary 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 474mm x 296mm panning 3360x1050+0+0
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS-1-0 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-1-0 connected 1680x1050+1680+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 474mm x 296mm
This is what I have in the Nvidia settings panel and in the Gnome Displays panel for the monitors; in one case I see only one of the external monitors, in the other one I have all monitors:
Primary monitor assignment does not work as well. I usally have the Gnome panel on the left monitor. If I try to move it from the Nvidia output I get this feedback:
$ xrandr --output VGA-1-0 --primary
X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request: 139 (RANDR)
Minor opcode of failed request: 30 (RRSetOutputPrimary)
Serial number of failed request: 51
Current serial number in output stream: 53
Putting monitor problems aside, running in this mode does not really give any benefit compared to running it with Optimus disabled and the proprietary Nvidia driver installed. Both cards are running with power management, but the Nvidia card is never shut off, so it doesn’t use less power than when running standalone.
There’s no way to turn off the card with vga_switcheroo, all libraries come from the Nvidia drivers and your desktop is being rendered by the Nvidia card.
GDM configuration for Optimus (Nvidia)
Let’s assume you want to create the above setup in GDM (Gnome Display Manager), making it run automatically the xrandr commands mentioned above.
You need to create a text file with the display name (usually “:0”) to start the commands upon Init time the appropriate GDM configuration directory:
$ cd /etc/gdm/Init/
$ cat \:0
#!/bin/sh
# Get the xrandr providers
output="$(xrandr --listproviders)"
src=$(echo "$output" | grep " Source" | head -n1 | awk '{print $NF}' | cut -d: -f2)
sink=$(echo -e "$output" | grep " Sink" | head -n1 | awk '{print $NF}' | cut -d: -f2)
# Pass provider or sink and source
xrandr --setprovideroutputsource "$sink" "$src"
# Make sure xrandr sees all the outputs
# xrandr --auto
# Do not move up. Only now xrandr shows the outputs
lvds=$(xrandr | grep -i "lvds" | head -n1 |cut -d " " -f 1)
xrandr --output "$lvds" --off
xrandr --output "$lvds" --auto
The “–off” and then “–auto” is actually redundant, but it helped in a couple of cases.
Prime enabled (Nouveau)
The Open Source implementation of this is actually called “Prime” for obvious reasons.
Here comes the juicy part. With enough maturity on the Nouveau side this would be the perfect setup. To start with this implementation; nothing is required, just install Fedora and everything should be already set up by default. Booting it shows the Plymouth logo on both outputs.
Login in the system, and check that both drivers are running:
$ lsmod | egrep "i915|nouveau"
nouveau 943445 1
i915 651861 4
mxm_wmi 12865 1 nouveau
ttm 79865 1 nouveau
i2c_algo_bit 13257 2 i915,nouveau
drm_kms_helper 50239 2 i915,nouveau
drm 274480 8 ttm,i915,drm_kms_helper,nouveau
i2c_core 34242 7 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,nouveau,videodev
wmi 18697 3 dell_wmi,mxm_wmi,nouveau
video 19104 2 i915,nouveau
Poking around with xrandr will give you totally different outputs from the Nvidia driver:
$ xrandr -q | grep conn
LVDS2 connected 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 309mm x 174mm
VGA2 connected 1680x1050+1600+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 474mm x 296mm
LVDS-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-2 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
But at least they’re consistent with the Gnome Displays panel:
For reasons I don’t understand the Nvidia card appears twice in 2 different but identical providers:
$ xrandr --listproviders
Providers: number : 3
Provider 0: id: 0x96 cap: 0xb, Source Output, Sink Output, Sink Offload crtcs: 3 outputs: 2 associated providers: 2 name:Intel
Provider 1: id: 0x66 cap: 0x7, Source Output, Sink Output, Source Offload crtcs: 2 outputs: 5 associated providers: 2 name:nouveau
Provider 2: id: 0x66 cap: 0x7, Source Output, Sink Output, Source Offload crtcs: 2 outputs: 5 associated providers: 2 name:nouveau
With the tests I made, there’s no apparent difference when using one or the other. Usage of one card or the other is driven by the DRI_PRIME environment variable. If it’s set to 0, commands run on the Intel card, if it’s set to 1 they will run on the Nvidia card. For example:
$ DRI_PRIME=1 vdpauinfo | grep -i string
Information string: G3DVL VDPAU Driver Shared Library version 1.0
Or even better, to check OpenGL status:
$ glxinfo | grep -e 'OpenGL.*string.*'
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 10.1.3
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.3
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
$ DRI_PRIME=1 glxinfo | grep -e 'OpenGL.*string.*'
OpenGL vendor string: nouveau
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on NVC1
OpenGL core profile version string: 3.3 (Core Profile) Mesa 10.1.3
OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 3.30
OpenGL version string: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.3
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.30
Unfortunately the desktop is very slow, it’s rendered by the Intel driver and put on the Nvidia card for display. I’ve tried changing priority in vga_switcheroo prior to starting X, setting the DRI_PRIME=1 variable at boot, use xrandr to change the provider output source etc. to no avail; the desktop can run only on the first card or it doesn’t work. Usually I get a black screen upon GDM start.
There’s no power management as well, so the Intel card runs normally but the Nvidia one is always on and stuck in an intermediate performance level.
When docking it; I get cloned outputs on all external displays at a very low resolution. Same issue with the Optimus disabled Nouveau driver; the outputs need to be rearranged, the lid closed and the computer needs to be woken up from standby.
Prime power management (Nouveau)
Power management for automatic powerup/shutdown of cards in Optimus systems and runtime management has been introduced in kernel 3.12. Is on by default on Optimus enabled laptops and is enabled by default.
The situation has improved a lot in 3.13 and 3.14, and at least on my system it works flawlessly:
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
0:IGD:+:Pwr:0000:00:02.0
1:DIS: :DynPwr:0000:01:00.0
As you can see the second card is dynamically powered. Try to undock the system and check the status again: the second output is no longer needed so the second card shuts off:
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
0:IGD:+:Pwr:0000:00:02.0
1:DIS: :DynOff:0000:01:00.0
Now, with the laptop undocked, launch a command on the second card:
# DRI_PRIME=1 vdpauinfo | grep -i string
Information string: G3DVL VDPAU Driver Shared Library version 1.0
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
0:IGD:+:Pwr:0000:00:02.0
1:DIS: :DynPwr:0000:01:00.0
You will notice a slight delay before the command output is returned, but the card is powered on again! This is awesome. Now, after 1 or 2 seconds look again at the card:
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
0:IGD:+:Pwr:0000:00:02.0
1:DIS: :DynOff:0000:01:00.0
It’s shut off! Dock the laptop again and the monitor should come up again.
Keep in mind that powering up and down cards is a totally different things than power managing and adjusting clocks etc. for a running card. This make the Nvidia card shutdown automatically, not regulate its power levels during usage.
Dual cards can be shut down or powered up on demand through vga_switcheroo. For example, login in your system as root without X running and no outputs connected to the Nvidia chip. Look at the card status with the following command:
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
0:IGD:+:Pwr:0000:00:02.0
1:DIS: :DynOff:0000:01:00.0
This will tell you that the Integrated Graphics Display (IGD) is powered up (Pwr) and that is the primary display (+), while Discrete one (DIS) is dynamically off. To turn on the secondary video card, a single command is required:
# echo > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
0:IGD:+:Pwr:0000:00:02.0
1:DIS: :On:0000:01:00.0
This will power on the Nvidia card. A look at the battery will tell you now that you have half the power because the Nvidia card sucks power along the integrated Intel one.
Turn off the integrated card (IGD), and switch the framebuffer console to the discrete one (DIS):
# echo DDIS > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
[ 879.436727] i915: switched off
# cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
0:IGD: :Off:0000:00:02.0
1:DIS:+:Pwr:0000:01:00.0
This will move the framebuffer and your shell to the other Nvidia driven monitor and shut down the Intel card. You will see the framebuffer console on the Nvidia output. Sweet, isn’t it?
Summary
A Prime enabled laptop with open source drivers does not have any configuration and does not require any manual configuration. The fact that the Nvidia card can power down itself is great and doubles my battery duration! On the screen I have KMS consoles without huge fonts and can have UEFI secure boot enabled! This is really awesome.
Unfortunately though, without proper Nouveau power management and performance improvements added to the fact that I need to reconfigure monitors everytime I move (sometime the output gets all black as well when docking); the experience is not that great. I don’t know why, but when I’m undocked and using only the LVDS internal panel, the Intel performance is fantastic. Problems arise only when it’s docked and Nouveau is enabled as well.
| Optimus | Disabled | Disabled | Enabled | Enabled (Prime) |
| Driver | Nvidia | Nouveau | Intel/Nvidia | Intel/Nouveau |
| Configuration | Very easy. | Already set up. | Very complex | Already set up. |
| Card power management | Perfect! | Poor performance, no power management. | Nvidia card always powered up, renders for all screens. | Dynamic video card switching works fine, Nouveau performance not. |
| Optimus card power management | N.A. | N.A. | Nvidia card can't power down. | Perfect! |
| Docking / Undocking | Perfect! | Manual intervention required | Manual intervention required, unreliable | Manual intervention required |
| Performance | Perfect! | Pretty bad. | Very good, some tearing when moving windows. | Bad when using the Nvidia card for output, otherwise perfect! |
| Bios Console | VGA, no KMS. | Perfect (KMS)! | Perfect (KMS on Intel). | Perfect (KMS)! |
| UEFI Console | Uses efifb. Somewhat slow. | Perfect (KMS)! | Perfect (KMS on Intel). | Perfect (KMS)! |
| UEFI secure boot | Can't work. | Perfect! | Can't work. | Perfect! |
Summing up, my current choice is for the Optimus disabled setup with Nvidia drivers. I can play games, dock, undock, power management works ok and I can drive all outputs easily. And if I need to go in a meeting I don’t need to be extra cautious in shutting down virtual machines, because the system might not go up again. It’s kinda retro style when booting with the text console and battery does not last more than 3 hours, but I can bear it.
If you’re not hunger for games or 3d stuff except the usual desktop compositing, just stick with the default OpenSource drivers and components, there is no setup required and everything works out of the box. My battery charge lasts usually 6 hours on a mixed usage case.
Nvidia has started contributing to the Nouveau driver with support for the GK20A (Nvidia K1) chip and it will be merged in kernel 3.16; let’s hope it will do the same for the other chips and components.
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