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While I agree generally on most distros, it works really well with Arch and is pretty easy to setup: - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA_Optimus http

While I agree generally on most distros, it works really well with Arch and is pretty easy to setup: - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA_Optimus https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA_Optimus - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PRIME https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PRIME

jchw 8y ago
Arch Linux is nearly entirely unusable with this Thinkpad, which is a shame since that's my distro of choice usually. I fiddled with drivers for a good while but was getting severe issues hanging with proprietary Nvidia, and Nouveau simply crashed on boot. I'm currently on Fedora, which is one of the few distros that seemed to work without crashing all the time.
- blacksoil 8y ago
  Most painless config for me is to enable Nvidia only when I really need it. Say when I need to run a graphic-heavy application I spawn up a new X11 process running atop Nvidia drivers. For daily stuffs, I stick with Intel drivers
- Shikadi 8y ago
  I got Arch working fine on a Thinkpad with a GTX 900m series card. I just followed the guide for bumblebee. This was a good number of years ago though, but it still works with updates and all
shmerl 8y ago
Nvidia blob doesn't really support PRIME properly. You can't use integrated GPU (Intel) to run your DE, while offloading specific heavy tasks to discrete one (Nvidia) which is kind of the main point. If you want to use PRIME, stick to AMD / Mesa.
- cpburns2009 8y ago
  Are you sure about that? I could swear when I was running Arch the DE was using my Intel GPU. I used either optirun or primusrun to use the Nvidia GPU. Granted, it was a pain to setup and I never could figure out why HDMI connected to a monitor would not work but was fine with a TV.
  - shmerl 8y ago
    > I used either optirun or primusrun Neither is PRIME. PRIME would mean doing something like: DRI_PRIME=1 glxinfo Which will run it on one GPU, and display through another. Bumblebee is a workaround for this mess, not a proper upstream solution.
arendtio 8y ago
I have two system with integrated and discrete GPUs: 1. Intel Haswell + AMD RX460 (Desktop) 2. Intel Haswell + Nvidia GT750M (XPS 15 9530; Arch Linux) Ultimately, I switched to using the discrete GPU on both systems. Desktop: PRIME with Intel + AMD worked quite well (even with Steam applications running on the AMD GPU while the desktop was running on the Intel chip), but every now and then it caused the system to freeze, which was the reason I turned it off again :-/ Maybe I will try it again sometime in the future. But putting the additional energy costs aside, running the system exclusively on the AMD GPU is just fine (stable System + enough 3D performance for most games). Laptop: Since nouveau had still the frequency issues last time I checked, I was mostly using the Intel GPU. Someday I was fed up with not being able to try any fancy new machine learning/neuronal network/CUDA based examples that I decided to install the proprietary Nvidia driver. I don't know what it is, but for me, the experience with the open source drivers feels much better (maybe the broken v-sync with the proprietary driver?!?). Every single time I come in contact with the Nvidia driver I wish that damn company would either die or provide (or at least support) open source drivers (and I don't really care about the license that much, the open source drivers just have a quality the proprietary ones lack).

jchw 8y ago

Arch Linux is nearly entirely unusable with this Thinkpad, which is a shame since that's my distro of choice usually. I fiddled with drivers for a good while but was getting severe issues hanging with proprietary Nvidia, and Nouveau simply crashed on boot. I'm currently on Fedora, which is one of the few distros that seemed to work without crashing all the time.

blacksoil 8y ago
Most painless config for me is to enable Nvidia only when I really need it. Say when I need to run a graphic-heavy application I spawn up a new X11 process running atop Nvidia drivers. For daily stuffs, I stick with Intel drivers
Shikadi 8y ago
I got Arch working fine on a Thinkpad with a GTX 900m series card. I just followed the guide for bumblebee. This was a good number of years ago though, but it still works with updates and all

shmerl 8y ago

Nvidia blob doesn't really support PRIME properly. You can't use integrated GPU (Intel) to run your DE, while offloading specific heavy tasks to discrete one (Nvidia) which is kind of the main point. If you want to use PRIME, stick to AMD / Mesa.

cpburns2009 8y ago
Are you sure about that? I could swear when I was running Arch the DE was using my Intel GPU. I used either optirun or primusrun to use the Nvidia GPU. Granted, it was a pain to setup and I never could figure out why HDMI connected to a monitor would not work but was fine with a TV.
- shmerl 8y ago
  > I used either optirun or primusrun Neither is PRIME. PRIME would mean doing something like: DRI_PRIME=1 glxinfo Which will run it on one GPU, and display through another. Bumblebee is a workaround for this mess, not a proper upstream solution.

arendtio 8y ago

I have two system with integrated and discrete GPUs: 1. Intel Haswell + AMD RX460 (Desktop) 2. Intel Haswell + Nvidia GT750M (XPS 15 9530; Arch Linux) Ultimately, I switched to using the discrete GPU on both systems. Desktop: PRIME with Intel + AMD worked quite well (even with Steam applications running on the AMD GPU while the desktop was running on the Intel chip), but every now and then it caused the system to freeze, which was the reason I turned it off again :-/ Maybe I will try it again sometime in the future. But putting the additional energy costs aside, running the system exclusively on the AMD GPU is just fine (stable System + enough 3D performance for most games). Laptop: Since nouveau had still the frequency issues last time I checked, I was mostly using the Intel GPU. Someday I was fed up with not being able to try any fancy new machine learning/neuronal network/CUDA based examples that I decided to install the proprietary Nvidia driver. I don't know what it is, but for me, the experience with the open source drivers feels much better (maybe the broken v-sync with the proprietary driver?!?). Every single time I come in contact with the Nvidia driver I wish that damn company would either die or provide (or at least support) open source drivers (and I don't really care about the license that much, the open source drivers just have a quality the proprietary ones lack).