6 ms·

Nvidias drivers for Linux are pretty darn good these days..

yulaow 11y ago
Those for laptops are pretty shitty, we are still using third party programs to support optimus technology (with not great results).
- ris 11y ago
  Optimus technology is a fairly stupid idea in the first place though that exists for business reasons rather than technical.
  - StavrosK 11y ago
    What's stupid about it? Sounds pretty smart to not have to use the powerful GPU if I'm only browsing the web, to me.
    - wtallis 11y ago
      Intel's got the good fabs, but they can't get along well enough with the folks who know how to make a good GPU, so it's impossible to get an affordable desktop or mobile system at any price that has a decent GPU without actually paying for two entirely different GPUs.
    - ris 11y ago
      "The powerful GPU." You've been sold the idea that a "powerful GPU" needs to suck a lot of power all the time. There is no real reason a "powerful GPU" shouldn't be able to scale its power usage way down when doing something simple like browsing the web. The only reason NVidia weren't able to do the "low power" thing on these systems is they weren't able to be the ones putting their GPUs on the same die as the CPU like Intel (& AMD) were. But of course they still wanted part of the action, so people ended up being sold this massive engineering bodge and told it's a good thing.
      - Sanddancer 11y ago
        I have a laptop that has an intel cpu, and a powerful discrete amd gpu. Even though on-die gpus have gotten better, there is still a considerable difference in performance between on-die and dedicated. AMD and NVidia both realize that there is an onboard chip that can do the common stuff, and so they have made the ability to turn the dedicated off when needed.
        ris 11y ago
        If you imagine a properly, holistically-designed product, which wasn't full of chips from different warring companies, the high power GPU could be used to augment the power of the on-die GPU, instead of having to turn it off and deal with a whole bunch of mad signal-switching issues. AMD products can do this to an extent with crossfire, but generally, this is a world that we don't live in.
  - sz4kerto 11y ago
    Up to this day, it's not really possible to a laptop with Linux to drive a 4K external display without too much inconvenience. Even Broadwell has problems with driving 4K with SST @ 60 Hz, so Optimus is useful.
- gwern 11y ago
  I just wasted two days trying to get bumblebee to work on Debian with my Optimus laptop. :( Ultimately had to switch to Ubuntu and the Nvidia drivers (which apparently default to 'Prime' there).
sandGorgon 11y ago
laptop or desktop ? because laptop drivers for Ubuntu 14.04 are still not that good. I'm on a Thinkpad T430S with nvidia (I disable optimus in the bios).

Those for laptops are pretty shitty, we are still using third party programs to support optimus technology (with not great results).

ris 11y ago
Optimus technology is a fairly stupid idea in the first place though that exists for business reasons rather than technical.
- StavrosK 11y ago
  What's stupid about it? Sounds pretty smart to not have to use the powerful GPU if I'm only browsing the web, to me.
  - wtallis 11y ago
    Intel's got the good fabs, but they can't get along well enough with the folks who know how to make a good GPU, so it's impossible to get an affordable desktop or mobile system at any price that has a decent GPU without actually paying for two entirely different GPUs.
  - ris 11y ago
    "The powerful GPU." You've been sold the idea that a "powerful GPU" needs to suck a lot of power all the time. There is no real reason a "powerful GPU" shouldn't be able to scale its power usage way down when doing something simple like browsing the web. The only reason NVidia weren't able to do the "low power" thing on these systems is they weren't able to be the ones putting their GPUs on the same die as the CPU like Intel (& AMD) were. But of course they still wanted part of the action, so people ended up being sold this massive engineering bodge and told it's a good thing.
    - Sanddancer 11y ago
      I have a laptop that has an intel cpu, and a powerful discrete amd gpu. Even though on-die gpus have gotten better, there is still a considerable difference in performance between on-die and dedicated. AMD and NVidia both realize that there is an onboard chip that can do the common stuff, and so they have made the ability to turn the dedicated off when needed.
      - ris 11y ago
        If you imagine a properly, holistically-designed product, which wasn't full of chips from different warring companies, the high power GPU could be used to augment the power of the on-die GPU, instead of having to turn it off and deal with a whole bunch of mad signal-switching issues. AMD products can do this to an extent with crossfire, but generally, this is a world that we don't live in.
- sz4kerto 11y ago
  Up to this day, it's not really possible to a laptop with Linux to drive a 4K external display without too much inconvenience. Even Broadwell has problems with driving 4K with SST @ 60 Hz, so Optimus is useful.
gwern 11y ago
I just wasted two days trying to get bumblebee to work on Debian with my Optimus laptop. :( Ultimately had to switch to Ubuntu and the Nvidia drivers (which apparently default to 'Prime' there).

sandGorgon 11y ago

laptop or desktop ? because laptop drivers for Ubuntu 14.04 are still not that good. I'm on a Thinkpad T430S with nvidia (I disable optimus in the bios).