I have a Samsung NP-QX411. It has two graphics cards, Intel and nVidia. The Intel drivers were quickly found and is fully functional. But nVidia, I have tried installing several drivers in different ways. But I can not run it without success. I do not understand how Ubuntu has by default the switch Hybrid Graphics option. What should I do?
3 Answers
Try ironhide (forked from bumblebee) for simultaneously using the intel and nvidia cards:
For ironhide (Ubuntu Natty/Oneiric instructions):
sudo apt-get remove bumblebee
reboot
sudo apt-get install dialog
or
sudo apt-get install cdialog
then
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mj-casalogic/ironhide
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ironhide
For a WebGL benchmark, install google-chrome or use a
WebGL-enabled browser and can try it with/without optirun and
report the FPS values on the mailing list:
optirun google-chrome http://webglsamples.googlecode.com/hg/aquarium/aquarium.html
# close window
google-chrome http://webglsamples.googlecode.com/hg/aquarium/aquarium.html
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1the drivers will be installed automatically by ironhide, as well as acpi_call for switching on/off the card and improve battery life.– 719016Sep 1, 2011 at 17:47
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https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee The installation has been updated on 26/04/2013.
Bumblebee aims to provide support for NVIDIA Optimus laptops for GNU/Linux distributions. Using Bumblebee, you can use your NVIDIA card for rendering graphics which will be displayed using the Intel card.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bumblebee virtualgl linux-headers-generic
Reboot
Usage
To run your application with the discrete NVIDIA card run in the terminal:
optirun [options] <application> [application-parameters]
Example:
optirun firefox
For a list of options for optirun run:
optirun --help
Your nVidia card is not functioning as a GPU but it surely is ON all the time you are on Ubuntu ( hence, the battery life shown would be half of what it should have been). All the steps can be found here . Please make sure you follow the instructions corresponding to your current Ubuntu version.
Once you have Bumblebee up and running, your nVidia card would ALWAYS be off until you use the optirun
command. Consult the Bumblebee wiki at all times.
This answers your question of switching between the cards. You might also find this blog post helpful.