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Old 06-08-2016, 06:25 AM   #1
betty _frances
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Use Nvidia graphics card on linux mint mate 17.3 when in a hybrid graphics card environment


I am relatively new to linux so will do my best to describe the problem and give as much information about my system as I can.

I bought a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 series gaming laptop with Nvidia Geforce GTX960M graphics card for a university project that uses water simulation software which runs on Linux Mint 17.3 Mate desktop and requires a high powered graphics card to run the simulation.

I installed the Linux operating system and used the driver manager to add the proprietary nvidia drivers. The wireless drivers did not appear but this was no problem as the wired connection works fine.
Initially using the Nvidia-352 drivers everything worked fine but after a few weeks the laptop stopped booting and after much googling I realised it was likely to grpahics card. I spent a few weeks trying to sort the problem with no luck in fact I got to the point where I could make no kind of boot work. I paid someone to split the hard drive in half and reinstall linux mint on one half and ubuntu 14.04 on the other (the software will run on this OS too but is not the recomendation). The ubuntu is the safe space to allow for attempts at configuring linux mint to enable the nvidia graphics card to work.

I am still stuck using the nouveau open drivers or perhaps the intel chip I am not sure but they are not as good as the nvidia and the water simulation is not smooth. I am aware this has something to do with there not being the ability to automatically switch from intel to nvidia in the linux when a hybrid graphics system is in place. I am now aware that this was maybe not the best machine to have bought but having spent the money from my project on it I can't change it so any suggestions for how to solve the switching problem would be gratefully received?

I should also add that when I try to install the proprietary nvidia drivers in the driver manager the system will not boot properly afterwards.
 
Old 06-08-2016, 06:31 AM   #2
Psy-Q
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Registered: Jun 2015
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You shouldn't have to fiddle with the proprietary drivers yourself at all, the distribution should take care of this for you. Especially in the hybrid graphics situation, there are some fiddly bits that are hard to get right by hand. You should only need to install Bumblebee and Primus:

Code:
apt-get install bumblebee-nvidia primus
Edit: I forgot to mention: There might be something in /etc/bumblebee/bumblebee.conf where you have to set the driver from "nouveau" to "nvidia" to make it pick the proprietary one.

After that, if you want to start a program that needs the Nvidia graphics card, start it with primusrun from a terminal. For example:

Code:
primusrun glxgears
That way your normal desktop environment will run on the integrated graphics and only select applications that need the power will use the Nvidia card. I know that this works without issues in Debian, I hope it works for you on Mint as well. I don't have a machine with Mint and hybrid graphics to test with right now, but if there are any issues I could try to dig one up.

Last edited by Psy-Q; 06-08-2016 at 06:36 AM.
 
  


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