Is it possible to "turn off" nvidia driver and switch to intrel hd graphics?
 

Hi all
I have specific problem with my Thinkpad.
From time to time I need to switch to nvidia optimus controller in order to plug second monitor to displayport.
Displayport is connected to nvidia output and it's impossible to use second monitor with intel hd graphics.
I installed nvidia proprietary driver v.319.32 and it works ok, when "discrete graphics" selected in bios.
The problem is that when I use nvidia, my laptop consumes much more energy. Therefore for everyday use I prefer
to use intel hd graphics. But when nvidia driver is installed and I choose intel hd graphics in bios
my screen is switched to 640x480 and this is the only option to choose in display settings (ubutnu 12.04).

Is it any way to have nvidia driver installed and still use intel hd graphics when needed with acceleration and optimal parameters?

regards

Hi, at the boot loader, get to the command line and add to or edit the line.

for loading a particular xdriver type,
xdriver=vesa

You can also adjust the screen size with,
where 794=1280x1024x16

see this chart That should get ya up!

Unfortunately it does not work.
I tried with xdriver=intel also (found on mageia wiki).
vga=845 which means 1600x900x24 (according to hwinfo result).
What is interesting: grub menu and system loading screen is in optimal resolution (1900x900).
But login screen turns to 640x480.
But this behaviour occurs always - no mater whether boot configuration is modified or not.
Directly after logging I get error dialog with title "could not apply the stored configuration for monitors".

Oh, this is for grub, not grub2.

Grub2 takes these similar parameters to do the same,

Personally, I and my systems have only recently switched to grub2, so I'm a newbie at grub2.

I'm reading this page and see it shows how to do the above with grub2.

Hope this helps...

Regards Glenn

You might want to look into bumblebee-

http://bumblebee-project.org/
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee
http://wiki.debian.org/Bumblebee

I think it is not a problem with grub. Grub itself starts in 1600x900.
It is rather problem with x-window configuration.
After boot with intel hd graphics lshw -c video says that driver in use is i915
hwinfo --framebuffer ensures that sandy/ivy bridge controller is detected and one of its legal videmo modes is 1600x900x24.

But in xorg.conf in section "Device" I have nvidia driver and change to i915 doesn't change anything. I'm stuck :(

Had a look at bumblebee yet?

It should do exactly what you want- let you use the intel video chip and change over to the nVidia GPU when you want, and have the nVidia GPU turned off when not in use.

Thanks - sounds nice.
I'm going to give it a chance.

You might also keep an eye on the official Nvidia drivers. Apparently they are starting to build in Optimus support for Linux.

nVidia started adding opitmus support with driver version 319.12 Beta-

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...tem&px=MTM0NzE

However as of 319.17 there was still no power management-

http://translate.google.com/translat...%3Fnum%3D36848

Have you ever tried TLP?
 

Ok, I'm a slacker and at Slackware 14, nvidia is working very good after removing nouveau and installing the official driver. If I'm not wrong, the last version is 325.08. Look for it for Ubuntu. It, with bumblebee, looks like to work fine.
Another try that you can do is install TLP: http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-...anagement.html.
There are some instructions to install in Ubuntu. I'm using it at slack and it is really good. Before installing it and nvidia-bumblebee, my battery was only 2h30min long. Now, that is great, it is 6h26min!!! :D
Try them and post the results.
Sorry my bad english. :o