Just to answer the last question... The X swat repository is not needed anymore, as the drivers are included in the bumblebee ppa repo...
Martin Fra: "Albert Vilella" <avile...@gmail.com> Til: "Leonardo Morelli" <leo...@inbox.com>, hybrid-graphics-linux@lists.launchpad.net Sendt: fredag, 15. juli 2011 18:18:44 Emne: [Hybrid-graphics-linux] bumblebee Q&A Re: Bumblebee Questions Edited a bit: > 1. What is Bumblebee good for? Bumblebee offloads graphics processing from a graphics-intense application, for example, for 3D-accelerated applications or CUDA code to the discrete GPU. > 2. In what scenarios should I install Bumblebee? It can be used when you use the integrated card for day-to-day work, but want to execute GPU-intense applications every once in a while. In combination with a working acpi_call or switcheroo, you have the benefits of higher battery life and hot on/off switching the GPU card when needed. > 3. Is it currently only for testing? It's been used for quite a while. Lots of people use it every day. I do. > 4. I have a hybrid graphics card (without Optimus technology), can I use the > onboard and discrete card simultaneously or are they mutually exclusive? You will be using it simultaneously when you call one or more application with the "optirun" prefix. For example, you can call a WebGL-enabled browser like chrome with "optirun google-chrome", and the WebGL code will run through your GPU. You can simultaneously be using it for games or other 3D-accelerated applications. The rest of the applications, including the desktop windowing manager, will go through the integrated card. > 5. I have a hybrid graphics card (without Optimus technology), how do I > (easily) tell my machine to use either the onboard or the discrete card? > (i.e. Is there an applet to do this?) In that case, unless you've set up the BIOS to specifically point to the nvidia card, you will be using the integrated card as the main card and only use the nvidia card when called using optirun. If you want to use only the nvidia card, most successful cases involve telling your BIOS which card to use when rebooting. It's called cold switching via the BIOS. If your BIOS doesn't support it, you'll be using the integrated card for your desktop, and the discrete when called via optirun. For AMD pre-BACON cards, you can do login/logout switching in some cases, either with switcheroo or Catalyst. > 6. In order to use the HDMI and VGA ports, do I need to use the nVidia > driver? (this may not apply but anyway...) No, the Intel drivers can candle HDMI. That said, depending on your specific hardware, the intel drivers may be a bit limited in the different resolutions of supported external HDMI screens. If you have the option of choosing nVidia at BIOS time, then you'll be able to use the nVidia through HDMI, but it depends on the physical configuration of the laptop, AFAIK. > 7. What is the recommended way to install Bumblebee: git or PPA? or other? Both work fine. PPA is easier for Ubuntu 11.04, since it's only two lines. Copy+pasting the git instructions should always work in most Linux distros. The end result is the same. > 8. Do I need to run jockey and install the nVidia driver before installing > Bumblebee? Bumblebee takes care of it all. > 9. After installing Bumblebee, do I have to do anything else? If you don't have a working acpi_call method, submit your DSDT info to our launchpad bug report, as explained in the website. If you *do* have a working acpi_call method, then copy the bumblebee template from the /usr/share/doc/bumblebee directory to your /usr/local/bin. For example, for an Alienware M11xR2: sudo cp /usr/share/doc/bumblebee/bumblebee-disablecard.alienware.M11XR2 /usr/local/bin/bumblebee-disablecard sudo cp /usr/share/doc/bumblebee/bumblebee-enablecard.alienware.M11XR2 /usr/local/bin/bumblebee-enablecard The bumbleble-disablecard-on-powerup should do the rest. In that way, the card will be disabled up until the point when you call an application with optirun. It'll switch back off when the last remaining optirun application is closed. If you don't care about battery life, and acpi_call is not used, your discrete card will be always on, but only used when calling a program through optirun. > > [10. I read somewhere that I had to add an x-swat repository to get newer > nVidia drivers, is this necessary?] Not sure about this one. The nvidia drivers that are linked to bumblebee are the ones reported to work. _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux Post to : hybrid-graphics-linux@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
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