MX-19 RC1 Multiple video cards and hybrid video

[Srdjan]

Done :)

[Stevo]

3) Do you have any comments, complaints, or suggestions?

64-bit stock Buster Nvidia 418.74 driver and Bumblebee install works out of the box with MX NI, but not the 435.21 driver from the test repo. Currently working with d_o to fix that situation, which seems to be due to the "no-automatic-upgrade" policy now in the test repo. A workaround to upgrade to 435.21 is to upgrade everything "nvidia" related from MXPI test repo tab, including any lib packages.

I might have a play with one of my hybrids, and try figure whether I can install and then upgrade to testrepo nvidia. Maybe we can apply similar tricks I used for the libreoffice uprade to backports (and also for backwards downgrades), which has kind of similar "no-automatice-upgrade" policy.

D_o just fixed the ddm-mx installer for installs from the test repo--the problems began when we switched the TR to the same no-automatic-upgrades policy as debian backports, so he had to work around that. It should appear as an update soon.

[Stevo]

To test if Bumblebee is working, we include a benchmark when we install Bumblebee.

For 64-bit, run

Code: Select all

glxspheres64

vs

Code: Select all

optirun glxspheres64

For 32-bit, the command is just glxspheres, but it seems more tricky to get it working on a 32-bit system. But I think that will be a tiny minority of installs for Optimus systems.

BitJam, I'm pretty sure that ddm-mx has some code in its script that can distinguish between a desktop with an Intel iGPU plus Nvidia, or a true Optimus laptop. I remember that it was added after we ran into a user with the first setup, so perhaps you can borrow it.

[Srdjan]

Run glxspheres, and it still says that it is not using nvidia...

Screenshot.png

Screenshot-1.png

Can you tell me is nvidia driver installed ok on my Laptop and
how do I actually check that it is really used at all?

I have allreay posted ddm and qsi on this thread earlier.

Should the system switch graphic cards by itself if it detects heavy load on gpu?

Desired behavior would be to use Intel on non-demanding tasks to
save battery, and use nvidia dedicated just on graphic demanding tasks
to get best performance. Is it possible for this to work on linux as it is
working on windows?

[chrispop99]

Desired behavior would be to use Intel on non-demanding tasks to
save battery, and use nvidia dedicated just on graphic demanding tasks
to get best performance. Is it possible for this to work on linux as it is
working on windows?

If only!

No, it doesn't work like that. If you manage to get dual graphics machines working, you still need to launch each program with a different command.

Chris

[Srdjan]

Ok then, how do I know if nvidia drivers installed correctly?

I posted all the logs here.

[Stevo]

Ok then, how do I know if nvidia drivers installed correctly?

I posted all the logs here.

The logs say that nvidia-kernel-dkms built successfully, so I am assuming you did a reboot as the pop-up message said you had to do to make sure you weren't getting nouveau loaded at boot.

If so, you might have one of those laptops that need some tweaking for Bumblebee to work. Some Dells are like that, too. Does anything show up when you do a web search for "linux bumblebee <lenovo laptop model here>"?

The Arch wiki for Bumblebee has some troubleshooting tips, and maybe booting with systemd would get it working--it seemed to have done something when I tried an i386 install on an 2016 Acer laptop to test the 390xx Legacy Nvidia driver install with MX NI.

Did you have Bumblebee working in MX 18.3, or is MX 19 your first try?

[Srdjan]

Rebooted after nvidia install, off course.

It didn't work on MX 18, too. As a matter of fact, it only kinda work on windows...
Linux Mint is working fine, but as I seen, Mint does not install bumblebee, it just
installs 340.x series driver and properly configures it, and then
from what I can see, Laptop only uses nvidia. Since I value performance more then
battery as my Laptop is 99% time on charger at home, I would like to get that
freaking nvidia working... I will try as you suggested to look some more into bumblebee
to get it working somehow.

And also I would like to stay systemd free, if possible.

The laptop is Lenovo T510, if you stumble upon some solution please let
me know.

Other then that, MX 19 works like a charm, thanks all devs for their effort.

[fehlix]

Ok then, how do I know if nvidia drivers installed correctly?

Just have checked it and seem to work here well. (Acer A5-A515 Intel/Nvidia hybrid)
1st. install with Nvidia-Installer tool. if all went well reboot.
2. Check what was installed:

Code: Select all

 dpkg -l | grep nvidia
ii  bumblebee-nvidia                      3.2.1-20                            amd64        NVIDIA Optimus support using the proprietary NVIDIA driver
ii  glx-alternative-nvidia                1.0.0                               amd64        allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
ii  libegl-nvidia0:amd64                  418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary EGL library
ii  libegl-nvidia0:i386                   418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA binary EGL library
ii  libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx:amd64         418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX library (GLVND variant)
ii  libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx:i386          418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX library (GLVND variant)
ii  libgles-nvidia1:amd64                 418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 1.x library
ii  libgles-nvidia1:i386                  418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 1.x library
ii  libgles-nvidia2:amd64                 418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 2.x library
ii  libgles-nvidia2:i386                  418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA binary OpenGL|ES 2.x library
ii  libglx-nvidia0:amd64                  418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary GLX library
ii  libglx-nvidia0:i386                   418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA binary GLX library
ii  libnvidia-cbl:amd64                   418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary Vulkan ray tracing (cbl) library
ii  libnvidia-cfg1:amd64                  418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library
ii  libnvidia-eglcore:amd64               418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary EGL core libraries
ii  libnvidia-eglcore:i386                418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA binary EGL core libraries
ii  libnvidia-fatbinaryloader:amd64       418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA FAT binary loader
ii  libnvidia-glcore:amd64                418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX core libraries
ii  libnvidia-glcore:i386                 418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX core libraries
ii  libnvidia-glvkspirv:amd64             418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary Vulkan Spir-V compiler library
ii  libnvidia-glvkspirv:i386              418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA binary Vulkan Spir-V compiler library
ii  libnvidia-ml1:amd64                   418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA Management Library (NVML) runtime library
ii  libnvidia-ptxjitcompiler1:amd64       418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA PTX JIT Compiler
ii  libnvidia-rtcore:amd64                418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary Vulkan ray tracing (rtcore) library
ii  nvidia-alternative                    418.74-1                            amd64        allows the selection of NVIDIA as GLX provider
ii  nvidia-detect                         418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA GPU detection utility
ii  nvidia-driver                         418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA metapackage
ii  nvidia-driver-bin                     418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA driver support binaries
ii  nvidia-driver-libs:amd64              418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA metapackage (OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES libraries)
ii  nvidia-driver-libs:i386               418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA metapackage (OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES libraries)
ii  nvidia-driver-libs-i386:i386          418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA metapackage (OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES 32-bit libraries)
ii  nvidia-egl-common                     418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary EGL driver - common files
ii  nvidia-egl-icd:amd64                  418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA EGL installable client driver (ICD)
ii  nvidia-egl-icd:i386                   418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA EGL installable client driver (ICD)
ii  nvidia-installer-cleanup              20151021+9                          amd64        cleanup after driver installation with the nvidia-installer
ii  nvidia-kernel-common                  20151021+9                          amd64        NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
ii  nvidia-kernel-dkms                    418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary kernel module DKMS source
ii  nvidia-kernel-support                 418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary kernel module support files
ii  nvidia-legacy-check                   418.74-1                            amd64        check for NVIDIA GPUs requiring a legacy driver
ii  nvidia-modprobe                       418.56-1                            amd64        utility to load NVIDIA kernel modules and create device nodes
ii  nvidia-settings                       418.74-1                            amd64        tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-support                        20151021+9                          amd64        NVIDIA binary graphics driver support files
ii  nvidia-vdpau-driver:amd64             418.74-1                            amd64        Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix - NVIDIA driver
ii  nvidia-vulkan-common                  418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA Vulkan driver - common files
ii  nvidia-vulkan-icd:amd64               418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA Vulkan installable client driver (ICD)
ii  nvidia-vulkan-icd:i386                418.74-1                            i386         NVIDIA Vulkan installable client driver (ICD)
ii  xserver-xorg-video-nvidia             418.74-1                            amd64        NVIDIA binary Xorg driver

Check the glxgears test-video app behaves and run it on the command line:

Code: Select all

fehlix@mx19rc1:~/Desktop
$ glxgears 
300 frames in 5.0 seconds =  59.997 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds =  59.997 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds =  59.997 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds =  59.997 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds =  59.997 FPS

glxgears.png

What is "inxi -Gxx" reporting about the video driver:

Code: Select all

fehlix@mx19rc1:~/Desktop
$ inxi -Gxx
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:5917 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GP108M [GeForce MX150] driver: N/A bus ID: 01:00.0 
           chip ID: 10de:1d10 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 
           compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 

As shown Nvidia driver is not "active" and OpenGL renderer is mesa via intel GPU.
Now let's check Nvidia with glxgears test-video and run it onthe command line with activating nvidia using "optirun":

Code: Select all

$ optirun glxgears 
3848 frames in 5.0 seconds = 769.520 FPS
3823 frames in 5.0 seconds = 764.523 FPS
3873 frames in 5.0 seconds = 774.468 FPS
3918 frames in 5.0 seconds = 783.540 FPS
3866 frames in 5.0 seconds = 773.067 FPS
3995 frames in 5.0 seconds = 798.941 FPS
3962 frames in 5.0 seconds = 792.361 FPS

So what is "inxi -Gxx" reporting about the video driver now:

Code: Select all

$ inxi -Gxx
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel 
           bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:5917 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GP108M [GeForce MX150] vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: nvidia 
           v: 418.74 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1d10 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel UHD Graphics 620 (Kabylake GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 18.3.6 
           compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes

Nvidia dGPU driver is active and together with Intels iGPU the test video is displayed with a much higher frame rate.

[Srdjan]

Yeah, I would like to get it too, but look at this:

Code: Select all

┌─[srdjan@Lenovo]─[11:48:21 pm]──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────[~]
└─> optirun glxgears
[ 4361.977471] [ERROR]Cannot access secondary GPU - error: Could not load GPU driver

[ 4361.977596] [ERROR]Aborting because fallback start is disabled.
┌─[srdjan@Lenovo]─[11:48:29 pm]──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────[~]
└─>

I really did a clean install of 19rc, then after boot in new system:

1. updated all
2. rebooted (just in case..)
3. installed nvidia with auto-installation
4. rebooted

thats all, didnt mess with anything.