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I recently made the switch to Ubuntu. Everything on my laptop works fine except my hybrid graphics card. It is Intel graphics combined with Nvidia GeForce GT650M. I tried Bumblebee, but primusrun doesn't work (segmentation fault, core dumped) and optirun works with glxspheres64, but steam games look worse with optirun than with Intel graphics (e.g. Surgeon Simulator 2013 runs fine with Intel and hangs a lot with optirun)

I tried Nvidia Prime, but it gives me a black screen on startup after install, so I can't do anything and have to power off my PC with the power button. I also tried nvidia-prime 0.5 on Ubuntu 14.04, and then I get 'low-graphics mode' and I can't get to Unity.

Braiam
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user158656
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    I found a solution myself! I do a clean install of ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS, blacklist nouveau driver, purge nvidia* and bumblebee* to be certain and install nvidia-prime nvidia-settings-319 and nvidia-319-updates . This method doesn't work for 13.10 and 14.04 for my pc (as mentioned above). – user158656 Jan 30 '14 at 16:02
  • I'd also like to know how to use the hybrid mode on 14.04, if anyone finds a solution, please post it. – KhaaL Feb 14 '14 at 09:14
  • possible duplicate of Is a NVIDIA GeForce with Optimus Technology supported by Ubuntu? – bain Jun 04 '14 at 23:33
  • hum we have the same nvidia card here's a solution, works for me http://forum.ubuntu-fr.org/viewtopic.php?pid=16696581#p16696581 –  Apr 27 '14 at 06:38
  • I have Nvidia GF745M and I use Ubuntu 14.04 You have to install Nvidia 331 or above! and nvidia prime. Steam games works perfectly! –  Feb 19 '14 at 16:52

1 Answers1

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I have had problems with bumblebee since 13.10. What works for me now is nvidia-prime. This allows you to choose which graphics driver you want to use in the nvidia control panel. This only works with lightdm (unity). I'm using this myself on Ubuntu 14.04

How to install

1. Use nvidia driver

Open the dash (super/windows key) and type in "drivers". Open "Aditional drivers" Select the nvidia binary (331.xx) driver.

nvidia driver

Click "apply changes". Wait for the driver to be downloaded and installed, and click close.

2. Remove bumblebee and install prime

Open the shell by pressing ctrl-alt-t.

First let's make sure we have the latest software catalog.

sudo apt-get update

Now remove everything bumblebee related.

sudo apt-get purge bumblebee*

Then install prime.

sudo apt-get install nvidia-prime

Now restart your computer.

How to use prime

After your computer has restarted, open the dash and type "nvidia". Open "Nvidia x-server settings".

choose between Intel and nvidia

Here you can choose between the intel and nvidia graphics driver. Choose the intel one for maximum power saving, choose the nvidia one for maximum performance.

After changing graphics card, you'll have to logout and log back in to apply the changes.

Difference between nvidia-prime and bumblebee

The current version of nvidia-prime uses one graphics card for the complete desktop. You either login with nvidia or intel. With bumblebee, you can start individual programs with a specific graphics card, like it is the case on windows.

Sadly, I can't get bumblebee to work on ubuntu 13.10 or higher...

source:

10 things to do after installing ubuntu 14.04

Merlijn Sebrechts
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  • The problem is that some systems don't wakeup from suspend when choosing Intel Card on Nvidia Prime Profiles options. Anyone experienced that? – user153634 May 02 '14 at 01:24
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    Are you talking about this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-331/+bug/1210077 ? This seems to be fixed... – Merlijn Sebrechts May 03 '14 at 11:38
  • Bumblebee working for 13.10, 14.04, Oikyo Linux 1 and 2 which are based on 13.10 and 14.04. see: http://askubuntu.com/questions/452556/how-to-set-up-nvidia-optimus-bumblebee-in-14-04?noredirect=1#comment640823_452556 – Pavak Paul Jun 11 '14 at 12:56
  • I've tried to do that ( I have the very same gf610m ) and when I go to the Nvidia x settings I can't see the Prime Profiles. And yes, I've installed the nvidia-prime. Any thoughts? – Thiago Miranda de Oliveira Jun 12 '14 at 22:53
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    Did you install the proprietary nvidia driver from the ubuntu repos? – Merlijn Sebrechts Jun 13 '14 at 05:30
  • I have followed the steps you mentioned however after restart of my computer Prime is still missing. – Hesam Jan 17 '17 at 22:26