Nvidia HybridPower support in Linux Laptops?

[avilella]

Hi,

The ~100 Linux users of Sony Vaio Z laptops and related models with Nvidia HybridPower would like to ask what is the current roadmap for this feature being implemented in Linux. Specifically, the possibility of hot switching on/off the Nvidia card as the Windows Vista drivers allow for.

This is the bug in launchpad with a long explanation of the situation:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...rg/+bug/312756

And this is the list of Nvidia Linux laptop owners interested in having this feature implemented as of 2009-05-06:

https://launchpad.net/~sony-vaio-z-series/+members

[A.Bettik] [Albert Vilella] [Alexandre Kaspar] [Alfred Sawaya] [Anders Hjelm] [Andrew LeCody] [Anthony] [Antonín Komenda] [armpitwonder] [Arnaldo Mandel] [Bastian Kaempfe] [beldog] [Benjamin] [Bernd Eggink] [Björn Dahlgren] [br] [Brice Pajot] [Cristian Tala] [darkhack] [David Ly-Gagnon] [Didine Wayde] [djlooka] [domak] [Easter] [Eva Brucherseifer] [Farshad Khoshkhui] [feyd2blak] [fre] [gapon] [gbin] [gdmroxx] [Gemayel] [GooDCoFF] [goto] [indelay] [ingram] [ishikawa@hanzubon.jp] [Jake] [Jari Kankaala] [jaume] [Jean-Baptiste Laroche] [jim@conlonandsons.com] [john.doe] [Jollo] [Joshua V. Dillon] [jtechs] [Julius] [KaMcZaK] [KarlKoch] [Kenshi Muto] [kim] [Klaus Ad****s] [klausner] [lowtraxx] [makito] [mansurmf] [Marco] [Marcos Barros] [Mario] [Mario] [Mark Müller] [Martin Krauskopf] [Mehran Heidarzadeh] [michael.huettemann] [Michał Pałka] [modulate] [newway] [Nifty] [Norbert Preining] [obdeb] [pandora26] [Paps] [paul] [philipchild] [piernoli] [Piers] [planetfoo] [Pookai] [raj727] [Raphael Gradenwitz] [rfer] [Rob Searles] [rodriguez24] [Ross Drever] [sector] [shino] [sim] [sPOiDar] [t188] [thetom] [thinkfat] [Tiago Macedo] [tom] [tp] [u-kid] [webmonarch] [xaxapa] [Zuzanna K. Filutowska]

[woxxion]

Hi everybody.

As Albert said it, it would be great to have the hot switching available.
In fact, as I suppose that this new feature would be hard to implement, I suggest to fix the first problems there are.

For the moment, there's no way to manage the switch. There's even no way to make it work without running windows Xp and then rebooting and starting on linux, which is an horrible hack.
And since I suppose it would be easier to go over this problem first, shouldn't we expect this problem to be overcome first ?

I agree that hot switching would be great ! But yet having the possibility to change the switch by linux rebooting would be nice and it's even not possible yet.

[lowtraxx]

Hi,

it would be really nice to have switching available, but i do not think its gonna happen They don't even answer posts with HybridPower in the title. I tried a few days ago... In my Opinion as a first step it would be nice to switch off the nvidia part of the card. I think thats the only part which is the same for all combination's and does not depend on the other vendors card, and so no IP of them would be hurt(Also in my opinion Intel would surly help).

Greetz

Oli

[Strider_Max]

Hi,

I have been looking around the web for solutions to this problem, I was a second away from buying a Sony Z21WN ... too bad for Sony ...
I usually install OpenSuSE but given the web feed-back on the hybrid graphics issue, specially on the Sony Z series ... I am forced to review my buying decision.
I decided not to buy it and stay away from Hybrid graphics until this issue is solved under Linux .. NVIDIA looses and Sony looses ...

Originally Posted by lowtraxx

Hi,

it would be really nice to have switching available, but i do not think its gonna happen They don't even answer posts with HybridPower in the title. I tried a few days ago... In my Opinion as a first step it would be nice to switch off the nvidia part of the card. I think thats the only part which is the same for all combination's and does not depend on the other vendors card, and so no IP of them would be hurt(Also in my opinion Intel would surly help).

Greetz

Oli

Regards,
Pedro

[cthulhu]

I would recommend putting pressure on Sony. If they get enough requests, they might put some pressure on nVidia, though I doubt it. Sony seems to have a great hardware department, but their software, marketing and sales departments seems... user unfriendly.

[avilella]

Hi all,

We may be on the verge of a breakthrough in getting what we need from Sony/nVidia. *Please*, keep signing to the launchpad team as this gives us increased visibility. It's 54 members already!

https://launchpad.net/~sony-vaio-z-series

Thanks,

Albert.

[cthulhu]

Originally Posted by avilella

We may be on the verge of a breakthrough in getting what we need from Sony/nVidia. *Please*, keep signing to the launchpad team as this gives us increased visibility. It's 54 members already!

Please excuse my curiousity, I don't have a Sony Z-series laptop, but I just need to ask this anyway. It might be helpful to know in other similar situations.
I don't want to discourage anyone from signing to the launchpad team in any way, but could you perhaps define how you are on the verge of a breakthrough? 54 members is not that many compared to some of the petitions I've participated in on www.petitionOnline.com, that has yet to bear any fruit. What sort of breakthrough are you expecting; a response from Sony/nVidia or a community-supplied solution?

I don't hope you take this the wrong way, as I'm simply curious.

[avilella]

Originally Posted by cthulhu

Please excuse my curiousity, I don't have a Sony Z-series laptop, but I just need to ask this anyway. It might be helpful to know in other similar situations.
I don't want to discourage anyone from signing to the launchpad team in any way, but could you perhaps define how you are on the verge of a breakthrough? 54 members is not that many compared to some of the petitions I've participated in on www.petitionOnline.com, that has yet to bear any fruit. What sort of breakthrough are you expecting; a response from Sony/nVidia or a community-supplied solution?

I don't hope you take this the wrong way, as I'm simply curious.

Sorry for not answering before but I didn't set the notification for the thread before. The breakthrough here has been one of our users tinkering with the DSDT tables and finding a way to turn off the nvidia discrete graphics chip under Linux. So nothing to do with Sony giving us any information... yet. It's all explained here:

https://launchpad.net/~sony-vaio-z-series/
http://www.basyskom.org/~eva/log_ins...io_z21vnx.html

Cheers,

Albert.

[avilella]

Good news, one of our users has found a way to do this by looking at the DSDT tables under Linux. This works only for the Sony Vaio Z-series laptops at the moment due to it being BIOS-specific.

Now we only need the X.org people to pick up and allow us to plug/unplug the discrete graphics card into a running X server,

Cheers,

Albert.

Originally Posted by avilella

Hi,

The ~50 Linux users of Sony Vaio Z laptops and related models with Nvidia HybridPower would like to ask what is the current roadmap for this feature being implemented in Linux. Specifically, the possibility of hot switching on/off the Nvidia card as the Windows Vista drivers allow for.

This is the bug in launchpad with a long explanation of the situation:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...rg/+bug/312756

And this is the list of Nvidia Linux laptop owners interested in having this feature implemented as of

[woxxion]

Originally Posted by avilella

Good news, one of our users has found a way to do this by looking at the DSDT tables under Linux. This works only for the Sony Vaio Z-series laptops at the moment due to it being BIOS-specific.

Now we only need the X.org people to pick up and allow us to plug/unplug the discrete graphics card into a running X server,

Cheers,

Albert.

I don't think it's "solved" since there's only a way to stop the nvidia card. It looks like the nvidia card isn't working at all for the moment. I mean it will be solved when there will be some way (from linux) of switching from one card to the other. Being able to have one card working is a good thing. However it's not a complete solution as long as the other card isn't working too.

[glubox]

the problem is that the LCD panel is connected only to the IGP, and the output from the discrete card must go trough the IGP. At one moment i was thinking that it is possible with proper configuration in xorg.conf but it wasn't.

I have MSI EX630 which has 9100M + 9300M GS. I don't play games but wanted a good VC.

Now i'm thinking of ripping off the 9300M (if it's possible) and sell it on E-bay, it is useless.

[glubox]

Not only Vaio's users. There are other brands and models that use 2 video adapters integrated and discrete. I own MSI EX630-017 and can't manage to use the discrete card at all. There is no screen attached to it, the screen is on the integrated chip. I just want the Xorg to reroute the output from the discrete card to the screen attached to the integrated card. I don't want to switch between cards or use them in SLI and so on.

I think it is very very simple implementation in the driver to just send the signal from the discrete to the integrated chip.

Or i can broke the warranty and open the laptop and reattach the display to the other card if it is possible at all.