Linux drivers for GE Force 500M Series (GT 540M in particular)

[komasoftware]

i am in the middle of doing that, but do i need to do something else to switch to the fast discrete GPU ?
Or will the driver make this switcht for me ?

[Deanjo]

Originally Posted by komasoftware

i am in the middle of doing that, but do i need to do something else to switch to the fast discrete GPU ?
Or will the driver make this switcht for me ?

That all depends on how the discreet GPU support is implemented in the hardware. If the discreet doesn't have a separate hardware path implementation of Optimus then you are probably SOL.

[komasoftware]

how can i figure this out ??

[Gusar]

Originally Posted by komasoftware

- I understand from what I read that Optimus a technology to switch between two GPUs

No, Optimus is not about switching GPUs. It's about having the integrated GPU being on all the time handling the easy tasks, and the discrete GPU activating itself only for heavy duty apps while the integrated GPU still runs.

Some notebooks, in addition to Optimus, provide a hardware mux to switch to the discrete card. They're usually high-end (read: expensive) models though.

[komasoftware]

Originally Posted by Gusar

No, Optimus is not about switching GPUs. It's about having the integrated GPU being on all the time handling the easy tasks, and the discrete GPU activating itself only for heavy duty apps while the integrated GPU still runs.

Some notebooks, in addition to Optimus, provide a hardware mux to switch to the discrete card. They're usually high-end (read: expensive) models though.

And on what does it depend if i can get the discrete GPU to work for me on Linux ? The BIOS is very minimalistic and offers no options whatsoever.
Talk about the hardware wiring and stuff is way out of my league.
Just would like to use this laptop with full power [compiz/visual effects] under Linux.
Where / how can i find this out ?

[Gusar]

Originally Posted by komasoftware

The BIOS is very minimalistic and offers no options whatsoever.

Then you're out of luck. You can only use the integrated GPU. Though if compiz is all you want, the integrated GPU is enough for that.

[komasoftware]

Originally Posted by Gusar

Then you're out of luck. You can only use the integrated GPU. Though if compiz is all you want, the integrated GPU is enough for that.

the integrated GPU totally sucks, i can count the pixels and drag/drop is bumping with white blocks over the screen. Or maybe i need some driver here too ?

[LLStarks]

Originally Posted by Deanjo

Lenovo does.

Outside of $2000 Quadro-Optimus Thinkpad machine, I doubt that.

The 300-series was the last generation that manufacturers were able to use BIOS switches.

[Deanjo]

Originally Posted by LLStarks

Outside of $2000 Quadro-Optimus Thinkpad machine, I doubt that.

$1400 W510.

[komasoftware]

Really really really screwed BIG TIME with no support for Linux

Is there a way to improve the integrated GPU performance. It is simply not workable.
Definitely cannot get compiz to work. If graphics would at least be decent with the iGP. But the way it looks now, it's just an ugly piece of furniture.

[Gusar]

Originally Posted by komasoftware

Is there a way to improve the integrated GPU performance. It is simply not workable.
Definitely cannot get compiz to work. If graphics would at least be decent with the iGP. But the way it looks now, it's just an ugly piece of furniture.

The integrated GPU is more than enough for compiz. You're probably missing a driver, or it's not configured correctly. What's your distribution? And what is your exact hardware anyway, post the output of 'lspci -nn' so we can see.

[komasoftware]

that would be really helpful, cause definitely something wrong in my setup. Experienced 3 freezes where the mouse pointer was still working. So i am guessing it is video driver/card related.

my distro is ubuntu 10.10


00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Sandy Bridge DRAM Controller [8086:0104] (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Sandy Bridge PCI Express Root Port [8086:0101] (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Sandy Bridge Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0116] (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point HECI Controller #1 [8086:1c3a] (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1c2d] (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller [8086:1c20] (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:1c10] (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:1c12] (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 4 [8086:1c16] (rev b5)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 6 [8086:1c1a] (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 [8086:1c26] (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point LPC Controller [8086:1c49] (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point 6 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:1c03] (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Cougar Point SMBus Controller [8086:1c22] (rev 05)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:0df4] (rev a1)
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002b] (rev 01)
04:00.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Device [1b73:1000] (rev 04)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 06)