Re:RedHat is hiring to make Linux run better on laptops
by ultramancool on Friday August 12, 2016 @12:09PM
(#12276731)
Yeah... the optimus crap has serious problems. It causes my GPU driver to crash on Windows while I'm trying to give demos at work (not exactly a great look when your screen goes black and then your application's 3d display dies). It's not exactly the most stable thing, but can be great for power consumption.
Re:RedHat is hiring to make Linux run better on laptops
by wildmusings on Friday August 12, 2016 @12:17PM
(#12276804)
On my T530, there's a firmware option to set the graphics to discrete-only, integrated-only, or optimus. The downside to discrete-only is the power usage. The downside to integrated-only is that the displayport won't work.
All three work great in Windows of course. For Linux, integrated-only is best, followed by discrete-only, and I've never had success with optimus.
Re:RedHat is hiring to make Linux run better on laptops
by jlgaddis on Friday August 12, 2016 @02:02PM
(#12277545)
I have a W530 that allows you to set it the same way. In my experience, you are ALWAYS better off to pick one or the other and leave it there. Some folks have had success with Bumblebee [0], however.
It's my understanding that newer Thinkpads don't have the BIOS option to switch and that this is much more of a PITA to get working.
In modern laptops, you usually have the complication of 'optimus' which allows you to switch between the onboard Intel graphics and the Nvidia GPU. This can be a bit awkward to get working, but it's improved recently. I've had plenty of issues getting it working right on Windows too.