Questions[nvidia-optimus](ubuntu)

I have recently installed Ubuntu 12.04 in a Intel Ivy Bridge with integrated graphics and NVidia GPU with Optimus tech, however i cant manage it to work properly. I have already passed by the solution of bumblebee project, however iam got the following message when try to run anything with nvidia card( e.g. with optirun firefox):

[ERROR]The Bumblebee daemon has not been started yet or the socket path /var/run/bumblebee.socket was incorrect.
[ERROR]Could not connect to bumblebee daemon - is it running?

Since the nvidia card is not working properly, some softwares like Scilab, that make use of X11 system for graphic handling and plotting, wont work too.

my bios has no option concerning graphics card and the log of daemon returned:

Jul 5 16:10:51 humannoise-W251ESQ-W270ESQ bumblebeed[980]: Module 'nvidia' is not found. 
Jul 5 16:10:51 humannoise-W251ESQ-W270ESQ kernel: [ 17.943272] init: bumblebeed main process (980) terminated with status 1 
Jul 5 16:10:51 humannoise-W251ESQ-W270ESQ kernel: [ 17.943288] init: bumblebeed main process ended, respawning 
Jul 5 16:10:51 humannoise-W251ESQ-W270ESQ bumblebeed[1026]: Module 'nvidia' is not found.

The lspci -nn | grep '\[030[02]\]:' returned:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Ivy Bridge Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:0de9] (rev a1)

Ok, for the command dpkg -l | grep '^ii' | grep nvidia i got :

ii  bumblebee-nvidia                       3.0-2~preciseppa1                         nVidia Optimus support using the proprietary NVIDIA driver
ii  nvidia-current                         302.17-0ubuntu1~precise~xup1            NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii  nvidia-current-updates                 295.49-0ubuntu0.1                       NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii  nvidia-settings                        302.17-0ubuntu1~precise~xup3            Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-settings-updates                295.33-0ubuntu1                         Tool of configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

After full reinstallation, including the remove of any previous nvidia drive, lsmod | grep -E 'nvidia|nouveau' returned:

nvidia              10888310  46

dmesg | grep -C3 -E 'nouveau|NVRM' returned things like:

[ 1875.607283] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 1875.607289] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1875.607293] vgaarb: device changed decodes: PCI:0000:01:00.0,olddecodes=io+mem,decodes=none:owns=none
[ 1875.607363] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  302.17  Tue Jun 12 16:03:22 PDT 2012
[ 1884.830035] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 1884.832058] bbswitch: disabling discrete graphics
[ 1884.832960] bbswitch: Result of Optimus _DSM call: 09000019

Some programs, like Scilab, are now working fine under optirun(e.g. >optirun scilab) call.

I recently bought a new laptop with following configuration

• CPU: Intel i5 2450
• RAM: 8 GB DDR3
• GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 520 1GB

I've setup a virtual machine using VirtualBox with Windows 7 as guest. I want to use my (host's) graphics card in it but the virtual machine is only showing 128 MB of video memory.

I am using Bumblebee and start the virtual machine using

 $ optirun VBoxManage startvm "Windows 7"

Please suggest me how should I use my graphics card for 3D acceleration in virtual machine.

I have an ASUS N53S, and I am using bumblebee. I can see it from the frame rates in Tux Racer. Some people refer to Bumblebee and some to Ironhide. What is the difference?

My Lenovo T420S has a discrete graphic card with nvidia optimus technology. What I'm basically trying to achieve is the following:

• use a second display - connected via DVI/viewport - at work (VGA is blurry)
• achieve a moderate to good battery performance while travelling (2 hours)

As far as I figured out, I have the following options:

1. disable Optimus, use internal graphics exclusively
2. disable Optimus, use nvidia exclusively
3. enable Optimus, use bumblebee (homepage) / ironhide

(1) disqualifies as I read (and experienced) that DVI / viewport is technically not usable via internal graphics

(2) haven't really tried so far, just a quick test-install that booted into a black screen after I added the nvidia drivers :-(

(3) followed this blog, used bumblebee instead of ironhide. Bumblebee worked (I can see impressive FPS on glxgears), but I did not get the second display to be recognized. I also felt lost in the nvidia-driver-hell and had no chance to run nvidia-xconfig, simply because it was not installed. No idea if a second display is supposed to be recognized out of the box? Do I need to install more? Do I need to mess with my xorg.conf? Many questions, few answers.

So, what can I do to achieve my goals? Which path to follow, and what are the next steps?

Any hint is welcome :-)

Update: Thanks to everyone who answered. I will migrate my work environment to a "discrete" installation, and will use "optimus/bumblebee" as a parallel play project and see how far I get... I will post future questions in new threads.

I'm trying to connect my external monitor (via VGA cable) to my laptop, using Bumblebee and the Optimus configuration.

I have a Lenovo W520, with an Intel GMA HD 3000 and an Nvidia Quadro 2000M. The BIOS has three options regarding the graphic cards - integrated, discrete, and Optimus.

The use case is very simple. For work, I just use the integrated card and the laptop display; when I watch movies though, I want to use my projector. Now, what I have to do in this case is:

• reboot
• start windows
• watch the movie

Thanks to Bumblebee, I'm able now to keep the setup always as Optimus.

Before BB, I had to change the BIOS setting every time I wanted to watch a movie, because even in windows, using integrated graphics caused the projector not to be detected by the system (I suppose that this is what they generally mean by "hardwired output", and that the VGA output is hardwired to the discrete card).

Now, what I'd like to do, is to be able to connect the external monitor without having to switch O/S, that is, to use it in Ubuntu.

Is it possible?

Right now, if I want to use the external monitor on Ubuntu, the only option is to change the BIOS to use the discrete graphics, then use nvidia-settings.

If I use instead the Optimus setup, even when I run it using "optirun nvidia-settings -c :8", I don't get any option for an external monitor.

Is there something I can do?