A Day Later, Hybrid Graphics On Linux Does More

[unix_epoch]

Can Windows switch GPUs while 3rd-party 3D apps are running? I'd be surprised if that worked.

The old NeXT cubes could do some impressive multi-"GPU" stuff, like having a window spanning two monitors, where one monitor was run by a plain black-and-white graphics board, and the other was the truecolor board with 2D acceleration and video I/O. The color half of the window was full true color, while the black-and-white half looked like it was designed for black-and-white, not just dithered down.

So, if anybody pulls off 3D switching on-the-fly, I would expect it to be Apple.

[rohcQaH]

I downloaded the "0001-vga_switcheroo-initial-implementation-v4.patch"... But I don't know how to use it.

get the sources from git, type 'man patch' to read how to apply the patch to the sources, then compile and install.

If you have no idea what I just wrote, then leave it at that before you trash your system

Killing X can be worked around with x2go or Nx. I don't know how performance'll be though.

probably no better than sticking to the integrated GPU in the first place.

If both GPUs differ in capabilities (ogl extensions etc), apps need to be restarted anyway since there's no good way to tell an app to stop using an extension while it's running.

Can Windows switch GPUs while 3rd-party 3D apps are running? I'd be surprised if that worked.

[Apopas]

Great news!

[laurencevde]

Killing X can be worked around with x2go or Nx. I don't know how performance'll be though.

[droidhacker]

Are you saying this works, but not when using a desktop environment?

It means that you need to kill X to switch the GPU.

[rmartinez]

Hi, I would like to test this patch, but I have no idea how to start...
My computer (M51Ta) has this hybrid graphic card configuration:
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS780M/RS780MN [Radeon HD 3200 Graphics]
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3650
I downloaded the "0001-vga_switcheroo-initial-implementation-v4.patch"... But I don't know how to use it.
Thanks!

[korpenkraxar]

Now all we need is a way to do all this without Xorg going belly up.

Are you saying this works, but not when using a desktop environment?

[kernelOfTruth]

kudos++ to dave

++

great work, indeed !

[TeoLinuX]

kudos++ to dave

[TechMage89]

Maybe this will finally give the Xorg folks the motivation they need to do GPU objects?