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I have an Alienware 14 that I plan to dual boot Windows 8.1 and Ubuntu 14.04 on. I'm wondering what the best procedure to get Bumblebee working is.

Would I be okay to install bumblebee (if someone could give me the exact package names I need to install I'd appreciate it) and then go get the latest NVIDIA drivers from NVIDIA's website? The "Additional Drivers" section only has version 331 which is outdated.

From what I understand, NVIDIA has their own solution but it drains battery life. Ideally, I'd like to be able to just select which GPU I want to use to run a program just like in Windows.

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  • askubuntu.com/questions/59489/…
    – Nicky De Maeyer
    Commented Oct 16, 2014 at 14:14
  • So would I need to use the optirun command every time? I heard there is a GUI that lets you control this. Also, with Bumblebee, it will run on my integrated graphics until I specify it to use my NVIDIA GPU, right?
    – user98348
    Commented Oct 16, 2014 at 14:33

1 Answer 1

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If you really want to use Bumblebee I suggest you follow the guide from the Ubuntu wiki, the basic steps are:

  1. Enable the Universe and Multiverse repositories - you need to do this to allow the bumblebee and nvidia packages respectively to be installed.
  2. sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia primus
  3. linux-headers-generic Reboot

But I would advise you to use the nvidia-prime solution, it delivers better performance in my experience and you can still choose which graphics card you want to use, though switching cards will log you out and you have to log back in.

To install nvidia-prime do the following:

If you have previously installed bumblebee you have to get rid of it:

  • sudo apt-get update
  • sudo apt-get purge bumblebee*

Now install nvidia-prime and the latest drivers (if you don't have them already):

  • sudo apt-get install nvidia-prime
  • sudo apt-get install nvidia-340

That is how I got it working on my laptop. Additionally you can install a little indicator applet that will show you which graphics card you are using at the moment. To do this follow these steps:

  • sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
  • sudo apt-get update
  • sudo apt-get install prime-indicator

Now you should see a little indicator which shows which card is in use and you can click on it to switch.

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  • Why do you suggest prime over Bumblebee?
    – user98348
    Commented Oct 16, 2014 at 14:50
  • Better performance and stability from my experience. I got significantly improved framerates in games when I switched to prime and less crashes. That was half a year ago, maybe bumblebee has improved since then, but I don't see any downside of using prime other than having to log out to switch cards.
    – zenhaeus
    Commented Oct 16, 2014 at 15:24
  • Okay, I will give prime a try. As far as getting the drivers, should I get them from NVIDIAs website? Will the nvidia-340 package prompt me to update to whatever the new driver release is when it comes out, or is it just frozen as the 340?
    – user98348
    Commented Oct 16, 2014 at 18:02

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