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I'm kinda a new user of Ubuntu and I have a Laptop that I just dualbooted Ubuntu. I was wondering if I'd need to install any kind of software for my Nvidia graphics card. I read about this Bumblebee but I'm not quite sure how it works. I'm not using my laptop for gaming recently, just for studies, so the only reason for me to be looking at this is because I want the best of my battery. Thanks! :)

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    Bumblebee is for hybrid GPU laptops (Nvidia and intel, known as optimus) and allows you to switch between the two easily without driver re installation. You need to provide the specs of this laptop for any one to help.
    – Mark Kirby
    Apr 5, 2015 at 7:16
  • Well then I think I'll need it, my laptop has an Nvidia Geforce 730m and an I5 3337U with intel HD graphics (can't remember the model). Apr 5, 2015 at 16:54
  • sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia primus linux-headers-generic - in a terminal wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee
    – Mark Kirby
    Apr 5, 2015 at 17:32
  • So I did what the tutorial said to do but nothing changed... Did I miss something? I double checked to see if it installed. Apr 5, 2015 at 18:36
  • Did it install ?
    – Mark Kirby
    Apr 5, 2015 at 18:44

1 Answer 1

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This should cover any Bumblebee / optiumus questions you have, but for more information you can see the wiki https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee

Installation

12.04

You need to open your terminal and enter the commands below.

If on 12.04.3, replace linux-headers-generic with linux-headers-generic-lts-raring

Enable the Universe and Multiverse repositories - you need to do this to allow the bumblebee and nvidia packages respectively to be installed.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
sudo apt-get update

Install Bumblebee using the default proprietary nvidia driver for 12.04 - 13.04 :

sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia virtualgl linux-headers-generic

Reboot

Basic Setup for 13.10 and later

You need to open your terminal and enter the commands below.

Enable the Universe and Multiverse repositories - you need to do this to allow the bumblebee and nvidia packages respectively to be installed.

sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia primus linux-headers-generic

Reboot

Advanced Setups

For advanced users, if you do not want to use the proprietary nvidia driver or 32-bit libraries (for example, if you are only interested in power savings), you can do your custom installation.

Minimal setup : sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends bumblebee

Depending on your needs, add to this line:

bumblebee-nvidia: proprietary nvidia driver support (if installed, become default over nouveau)

virtualgl: VirtualGL as backend

virtualgl-libs-ia32: 32bit support for VirtualGL on 64bit system, necessary to run 32bit app through optirun

primus: primus/primusrun as backend (virtualgl Stays default, you need to run optirun -b primus )

primus-libs-ia32: 32bit support for primus/primurun on 64bit system, necessary to run 32bit app through optirun

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 

Normally you do not use optirun for your window manager, installations or other non graphic heavy demanding programs. The optirun command is mainly used for graphic demanding programs or for games.

Power Management

A primary goal of this project is to not only enable use of the discrete GPU for rendering, but also to enable smart power management of the dGPU when it's not in use. We're using either bbswitch (a module) or vga_switcheroo (kernel module, experimental) to do this in Bumblebee.

Since Bumblebee 3.0, this feature is enabled by default, using bbswitch. This allow automatic power management, without any configuration needs.

If Power Management doesn't work on your laptop, please go to this Power Management (PM) page and help to improve Bumblebee.

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  • What Power Management page??? ;-) (Drop me a note @Fabby afterwards, so I can upvote! Good answer except the forgotten link...)
    – Fabby
    Apr 10, 2015 at 18:36
  • Perfect answer! Too bad it's got only 1 upvote! I would upvote more, but alas... ;-)
    – Fabby
    Apr 11, 2015 at 7:08
  • So if I want to run Google Chrome with intel HD graphics instead my Nvidia graphics card i should configure Bumblebee to do so? Apr 28, 2015 at 5:16
  • No, just start it as normal to use your intel graphics or to run google chrome on nvidia open a terminal and type optirun google chrome, any app started normally will use the intel GPU and any app started from a terminal using the "optirun" prefix will use the nvidia GPU. The only time you should need to "optirun" is when you need more graphics power ie, games, video rendering etc, apart from that you can still use your intel GPU as you did before.
    – Mark Kirby
    Apr 30, 2015 at 7:43
  • Glad to help, please accept the answer if this is satisfactory for you.
    – Mark Kirby
    May 7, 2015 at 12:05

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