To get the graphics card model, install mesa-utils .Remember the graphics card model won't be nvidia one. It will be intel, because in nvidia optimus the nvidia card isn't exposed directly. Nvidia card is wired via the intel one
--no-install-recommends
prevent certain packages from being installed, mainly the nvidia driver.
You need to follow the instruction for getting it worked. If you don't install the correct driver, it may fail while loading. What is the problem in installing the driver? the driver won't be used unless you use optirun
Regarding, 2nd question. I really don't know the exact answer.
After installation, my fan noise went down, battery life increased very much. I think that is the indication that powersaving is working.
You can use dmesg
to know what is happening. On reboot try
dmesg | grep bbswitch
you will see somthing like below
[ 25.305974] bbswitch: version 0.4.2
[ 25.305983] bbswitch: Found integrated VGA device 0000:00:02.0: \_SB_.PCI0.GFX0
[ 25.305991] bbswitch: Found discrete VGA device 0000:01:00.0: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP
[ 25.306182] bbswitch: detected an Optimus _DSM function
[ 25.306192] bbswitch: Succesfully loaded. Discrete card 0000:01:00.0 is on
[ 25.325482] bbswitch: disabling discrete graphics
[ 25.325620] bbswitch: Result of Optimus _DSM call: 11000059
As I can see, in your previous question, Lekensteyn assures you about power management. He is the developer of bumblebee