# Nvidia optimus: What's the current state of the linux port ?

## Gabriel_Blake

The first time I saw the Asus U35JC laptop, I knew I want to have it. Core i3, nvidia M310, nice display, under 2 kg, over 6h battery life on web browsing. Perfect for my needs... so perfect, that it's too perfect... It has nvidia optimus. For those not familiar with the subject: it's system using an InteHD graphics card along with a dedicated nvidia card, which automatically switch depending on the load (no hardware switches), even turning off the dedicated graphics when not needed. This is different from the more common hybrid graphics systems. The problem is Nvidia does not support a linux driver for these systems.

I've found a lot of blogs on the net referring to the problems such laptops have with Linux and the Xserver.  In a normal run it's possible to use the IntelHD card only. To use the Nvidia card some workarounds are needed. There were several attempts to port the drivers to Linux and tweak both the kernel and Xserver to suport this technology. The strange thing is that the problem started around February this year and the latest news I've on the subject were from May/June.

Any one knows what's the current stage of this port ?? A success or failure ??

This is stopping me from buying this laptop :/

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## chithanh

You cannot switch between Intel and Nvidia optimus graphics in Linux. You can only switch in the BIOS if it has such an option (some have, some don't).

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## Gusar

The only success so far is turning off the nvidia card so it doesn't consume battery power: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?p=1402509#post1402509

Though I'm not sure if it's applicable to all laptops, I only skimmed the thread.

As chithanh says, some laptops have a bios option. On those it's possible to use the nvidia card. Otherwise, it's not.

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## Gabriel_Blake

It seems that Optimus won't be showing up on Linux any time soon  :Sad: 

I've been looking or other laptops, but it's hard to find one with nVidia and without optimus  :Sad: 

How are the ATI cards working on Linux atm ?? I've heard there always were problems, but I think better to have any dedicated graphic card than none.

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