Every article tag can be clicked to get a list of all articles in that category. Every article tag also has an RSS feed! You can customize an RSS feed too!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Something I wrote about last year, was that NVIDIA were working towards better supporting NVIDIA Optimus on Linux. Seems like another step is being made towards that end!

In the proposal sent to the xorg development mailing list from NVIDIA's Kyle Brenneman, it goes over how they would expect it to work:

For GPU offloading in libglvnd, where individual clients can run with an alternate GPU and client-side vendor library, we'd need some way for that alternate vendor library to communicate with its server-side counterpart. Normally, the server's GLXVND layer would dispatch any GLX requests to whichever driver is running an X screen. This is a GLX extension that allows a client to tell the server to send GLX requests to a different driver instead.

In the proposal you can find a draft of the extension spec too. You can also find the WIP (work in progress) merge request here on the xserver GitLab too where Brenneman is hoping for some more feedback as they currently have none sent in reply to their proposal.

This is something that has been a pain point for Linux laptop users for far too long, perhaps there's now finally a light at the end of the tunnel. It certainly would make choosing a laptop a whole lot easier in future if this all works out.

Thanks, Phoronix.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Drivers, NVIDIA
13 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
10 comments

flesk Apr 26, 2019
View PC info
  • Contributing Editor
Glad to hear progress is being made. :) Having to reboot to switch graphics is certainly not ideal, so most of the time I just leave my laptops on Nvidia. :S:
Purple Library Guy Apr 26, 2019
Just a stab in the dark, but would this help if they ever decided to support Cairo?
juliotux Apr 27, 2019
NVidia is so disappointing, they are taking decades to give proper support for optimus in Linux! I realy hope Radeon Navi cards become a standart in mid-class gamming laptops to finally switch from NV to the better support of AMD.
cprn Apr 27, 2019
Actually, since I do have a CPU built-in AGPU that's never used and a GTX1070 that's currently my main GPU but could easily be used as a discrete one, is there any reason to use Optimus on PC? Can I somehow grab extra f/s out of it?
Eike Apr 27, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: cprnActually, since I do have a CPU built-in AGPU that's never used and a GTX1070 that's currently my main GPU but could easily be used as a discrete one, is there any reason to use Optimus on PC? Can I somehow grab extra f/s out of it?

You could spare yourself and the environment some Watts. I doubt using both GPUs together would be worth any effort for speed.
14 Apr 27, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Would for sure be nice if IGPU + discrete GPU worked in tandem like in Windows.
anewson Apr 28, 2019
I'm a laptop gamer, and use an eGPU with optimus so bring it on!
Ardje Apr 29, 2019
<rant>
I am one of those lucky bastards that got his T430 with HD4000 only swapped with a T430 with optimus.
It's the biggest crap I've ever seen.
And with al the new systemd enhancements the crap pile even rises... (On ubuntu bionic LTS, you can't turn off optimus anymore once you've touched it, because some PID 1 has an open file descriptor to the DRI).
It would have been acceptable if I could just switch between HD4000 (with *better* support) and the nvidia (to get the minidisplay port working) on reboot basis, but alas, that does not work.
And due to systemd (fixed in a new release of systemd, so I have to wait 2 years or go for something like arch), the laptop has early thermal issues. It just adds 6W of thermal to your CPU (shared heatsink) when not used and not being able to shut it.
</rant>

I would love to own an i7 8809G, and have the freedom to select or turn off the GPU I don't need.
Or even go eGPU and then turn off the eGPU before undocking. Which of course can only be an AMD due to these kind of problems.
cprn Apr 30, 2019
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: cprnActually, since I do have a CPU built-in AGPU that's never used and a GTX1070 that's currently my main GPU but could easily be used as a discrete one, is there any reason to use Optimus on PC? Can I somehow grab extra f/s out of it?

You could spare yourself and the environment some Watts. I doubt using both GPUs together would be worth any effort for speed.

Well, I already throttle the clocks to about 10% when I don't run anything GPU intensive to slow down the fans, etc. I don't think AGPU can beat it wattage-wise when it's downclocked like that. Might be wrong. Am I wrong? I just feel like that AGPU lies there to waste.
Eike Apr 30, 2019
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: cprnWell, I already throttle the clocks to about 10% when I don't run anything GPU intensive to slow down the fans, etc. I don't think AGPU can beat it wattage-wise when it's downclocked like that. Might be wrong. Am I wrong? I just feel like that AGPU lies there to waste.

That's an interesting question and I'd be interested to know if you happen to check. I'd think AGPU would win due to better efficiency, but that's just a wild guess.

I know the feeling of wasted... transistors, if you will. I'd prefer the CPU without graphics circuits if it's economically reasonable.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.