How can I enable Unity 3D with hybrid graphics Radeon 7970M?

Question

When I log into Ubuntu 12.04, I don't get Unity 3D, even though I think I am seeing 3D acceleration at the login screen. I don't want to use the FGLRX drivers, the default one doesn't seem to work, and the "(post-release updates)" one refuses to even install.

My laptop has an integrated Intel card, which I would be happy to use exclusively (I boot into Windows when I want to do graphically intensive stuff). There is also an HD 7970M graphics card in the laptop, which I suppose would be nice to take advantage of sometimes, but I certainly don't want it running all the time.

Does anyone have any idea how to properly enable Unity 3D? Here is some debugging info:

unity_support_test:

$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
Error: GLX is not available on the system

glxinfo:

$ glxinfo
name of display: :0
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Error: couldn't find RGB GLX visual or fbconfig

Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".

lshw:

$ sudo lshw -c video
  *-display UNCLAIMED     
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI
       vendor: Hynix Semiconductor (Hyundai Electronics)
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:f7b00000-f7b3ffff ioport:e000(size=256) memory:f7b40000-f7b5ffff
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: Ivy Bridge Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:44 memory:f7400000-f77fffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:f000(size=64)

lspci:

$ lspci | grep VGA   
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Ivy Bridge Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Device 6800

Answer 1

For the GLX problem , please post the output from this command:

LIBGL_DEBUG=verbose glxinfo

If you want to use just the Intel card, then make sure that the ATI card is off. In order to do this you can use the vgaswitcheroo mechanism. You can find detailed instructions to automate the procedure here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=11867169#post11867169