Bumblebee brings nvidia optimus GPU switching to Linux users

By , Published May 24, 2011

Ubuntu users with laptops housing NVIDIA’s “Optimus” technology, which allows Windows users to switch between Intel integrated graphics and NVIDIA’s own graphics chips as and when needed, may be interested to learn of a new open-source tool which aims to enable the feature on Linux.

Called ‘Bumblebee‘, the tool gives users the ability to ‘shut down’ the NVIDIA graphics card when not required and use the integrated graphics – ideal for word processing and basic web-browsing where long battery life is a boon; it can switch back to dedicated graphics when you need some GPU grunt and – rather impressively – it can use both cards at the same time so that each GPU handles a different task.

No auto-switching. Yet.

The ‘automatic graphics switching’ feature, which can intelligently use the appropriate graphics source depending on the application in use,  isn’t available yet for Linux.

More information, along with details on how to get the very-much-in-development utility can be found @ github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee

Via liliputing.com

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  • Bilal Akhtar

    Unfortunately the shutting down and starting up of the nVidia chip part isn’t well-written. I have an Optimus-supported lappy, and if I enable the shutting-down-and-restarting part, I get kernel panics.

    Moreover the performance (in my case) isn’t too better. I use the xv transmission layer with the thing (which seems to perform the best) and still the performance is laggier than when using the Intel GPU alone.

    Anyway, its a HUGE step forward, and though its not ready for prime time yet, it does work well (in the case of other users)

    My Laptop: Dell XPS L502X with nVidia GT 540M

    • Anonymous

      It is not quite perfect indeed, as a matter of fact, quite far from it. My system became unstable and nvidia is not shut down (entirely) so it is still draining the battery.

      It is a good start though, I could not use intel with 3d before when the nvidia card was turned on too (in the bios) now I can, and I can indeed run individual applications on the nvidia card! Giving me like three time higher FPS.

      Joy! Thanks! Keep up the good work!

      (hello? @Nvidia? anybody? Give a hand?…)

    • Anonymous

      It is not quite perfect indeed, as a matter of fact, quite far from it. My system became unstable and nvidia is not shut down (entirely) so it is still draining the battery.

      It is a good start though, I could not use intel with 3d before when the nvidia card was turned on too (in the bios) now I can, and I can indeed run individual applications on the nvidia card! Giving me like three time higher FPS.

      Joy! Thanks! Keep up the good work!

      (hello? @Nvidia? anybody? Give a hand?…)

    • Prajod Ramanunni

      I got the same model, cant even get the nvidia driver working….leave alone the optimus bit…

      Any help?

  • Bilal Akhtar

    Unfortunately the shutting down and starting up of the nVidia chip part isn’t well-written. I have an Optimus-supported lappy, and if I enable the shutting-down-and-restarting part, I get kernel panics.

    Moreover the performance (in my case) isn’t too better. I use the xv transmission layer with the thing (which seems to perform the best) and still the performance is laggier than when using the Intel GPU alone.

    Anyway, its a HUGE step forward, and though its not ready for prime time yet, it does work well (in the case of other users)

    My Laptop: Dell XPS L502X with nVidia GT 540M

  • Anonymous

    thank you bumblebee for saving linux world from megatron 

    • Anonymous

       Optimus needed some halp!

    • Anonymous

       Optimus needed some halp!

  • Anonymous

    thank you bumblebee for saving linux world from megatron 

  • http://profiles.google.com/zharif.henry.arsenal Ahmad Zharif

    i was waiting for this.. :)

  • http://profiles.google.com/zharif.henry.arsenal Ahmad Zharif

    i was waiting for this.. :)

  • Anonymous

    This is GOOD news! Linux shows one more time that it is capable of using state-of-the-art technology. This will defenitly help getting new users.

    • Anonymous

      what needs to happen is nvidia take responsability for their mess.

      They dont need to write these tools or maintain them on linux (since the community can do it), but they should at least help with the specs and the information and not wait for us to have to rely on reverse engineer.

      even better let you turn off one of the cards in the bios

      this is why am holding on buying one of these laptops for myself (even tho i mistakenly had my brother get one…). Even with windows one can get confused.

      • Anonymous

        lol considering how awful intel’s & ATI’s support for Linux graphics cards have been, we should be grateful for Nvidia.

        • Anonymous

          I used a Lenovo with Intel 4500 graphics (ThinkPad X200s), and it was as smooth as nothing else I have ever used with Ubuntu… With the Nvidia one (ThinkPad T410i), I always have problems with SOMETHING.. Either it’s web rendering, watching video locally or YouTube as you can imagine… With the Intel one, I got NO problems what so ever.. And it didn’t require installing proprietary drivers… This is so funny, because the Lenovo I have with Nvidia is lightyears better than the Intel one.. Nevertheless, the Intel one has the smoothest graphics :P

        • http://profiles.google.com/pamarca Pablo Marchant

          Is this full blown sarcasm of full blown ignorance? I can’t tell…

  • Anonymous

    This is GOOD news! Linux shows one more time that it is capable of using state-of-the-art technology. This will defenitly help getting new users.

  • http://twitter.com/EternalFunction GameSky Skylite

    Better than never :)

    • http://www.brankovukelic.com/ Branko Vukelić

      Especially considering nVidia hasn’t done anything at all for this.

  • http://twitter.com/EternalFunction GameSky Skylite

    Better than never :)

  • Anonymous

    Bumblebee !!!!!!!!!!!!!

    good tool with ugly name :-(

    • http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip
      • sahil hassan

        then this man with gun is megatron

        http://tinyurl.com/maskeduglyman

        • http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip

          I don’t get it. Mind you I don’t play games much. I guess you have to be a gamer to understand it….

          • Anonymous

            Bumblebee and Megatron are characters from Transformers

          • Anonymous

            Megatron is an evil leader of a group of robots called decepticons

            optimus is  the hero/leader of autobots

            these are the characters of trasformer
            (refer marval, michel bay’s films)
            used layman’s term..hope u got got it

          • http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip

            Yes I’m fully aware of Transformers and had a tonne of figures growing up. I don’t see how this relates to Bumblebee save for the name of the transformer (who in the cartoon series was a minor character at most)….Is this all it’s getting at?

          • http://www.redtube.com ActionParsnip

            Yes I’m fully aware of Transformers and had a tonne of figures growing up. I don’t see how this relates to Bumblebee save for the name of the transformer (who in the cartoon series was a minor character at most)….Is this all it’s getting at?

          • Anonymous

            Megatron is an evil leader of a group of robots called decepticons

            optimus is  the hero/leader of autobots

            these are the characters of trasformer
            (refer marval, michel bay’s films)
            used layman’s term..hope u got got it

          • Anonymous

            Megatron is an evil leader of a group of robots called decepticons

            optimus is  the hero/leader of autobots

            these are the characters of trasformer
            (refer marval, michel bay’s films)
            used layman’s term..hope u got got it

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_POBOXJ4AGBFJ5P2OE2R4AOPLQ4 Don

      Maybe you should put two and two together eh? Optimus, Bumblebee. Transformers mean anything to you?

    • sahil hassan

      :( i wod have pressed an unlike button for that comment

      • Anonymous

        err… placed wrong comment in wrong position

    • Anonymous

      nah…its sooo adorable!!!! :D

    • Anonymous

      nah…its sooo adorable!!!! :D

    • Anonymous

      nah…its sooo adorable!!!! :D

  • Anonymous

    Bumblebee !!!!!!!!!!!!!

    good tool with ugly name :-(

  • http://profiles.google.com/bielski.mariusz Mariusz Bielski

    Also, next kernel releases can have some improvements in this area.
    http://bit.ly/iikJvG

  • adired89

    nice one!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jorgeasgoncalves Jorge André Gonçalves

    my lappy isnt listed in the setup :(

    • Benjamin Evenson

      I have a qX330 and it works fine

      • http://www.facebook.com/jorgeasgoncalves Jorge André Gonçalves

        what setup did you choose when installing?

  • http://twitter.com/jaimefortega Jaime Ortega

    I would love to see nvidia supporting the 315M graphics card!:(

  • Anonymous

    How does this work with desktop environments that require 3D acceleration (Unity, Compiz, GNOME Shell, etc)? Won’t the graphics card be on full mode all the time? I really hope not.

    • Anonymous

      No it isn’t. Your intel graphics will be able to handle that (with ease). So far you have to start a specific application with your nvidia card to use it. (you run ‘optimus64/32 ‘)

  • http://twitter.com/geek_andy Andy

    Awesome!

  • http://twitter.com/cyrildz cyrildz

    bumblebee ?????   but bumblebee ? what  a name !!!!!!!! ssssssssssssssooooooooooooo an ugly name with a great  functionality

    • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/TheMerkinman Merk

      It’s a pun on Transformers

      • http://www.brankovukelic.com/ Branko Vukelić

        The original name is ugly, that is. :)

      • http://www.brankovukelic.com/ Branko Vukelić

        The original name is ugly, that is. :)

  • Taylor L-Wren

    Does this work on Desktops? I have Intel Sandybridge and a Nvidia GT240. It would be cool if I could use both GPU’s simultaneously.

  • http://openid-provider.appspot.com/TheMerkinman Merk

    While I get the reasoning for the name, the name would be even better if this was for (android) Honeycomb tablets

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1255954461 Corentin Noël

    I have an ATI and an Intel graphic cards, and I’m still waiting for it …

    • Anonymous

      you will be waiting for a long time, nvidia’s support for Linux is many years ahead

      • Bilal Akhtar

        Not in this case. Bumblebee is a community-made tool, made by a member from the community, supported by the  community. nVidia has declined to bring Optimus support to Linux. See this comment by an nVidia employee: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?s=0df80ef59132a2c4585c15a2c05969f0&p=2183477&postcount=2

  • dennishojgaard

    someone tried this on an ubuntu ul30a, ul30vt or similar? I cant seem to work it out?

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1209362460 Christophe Belge Vano

      It works on my UL30vt

      (basic glxgears on top, “optirun64 glxgears” on the bottom)

      • dennishojgaard

        Yeah i see, i just assumed it did not work since my battery time did not increase. What is your powertop stats? My power usage is around 13-14 watts…

      • dennishojgaard

        Yeah i see, i just assumed it did not work since my battery time did not increase. What is your powertop stats? My power usage is around 13-14 watts…

  • ldrn

    Now I REALLY wish I had got optimius with my T420s. :(

  • ldrn

    Now I REALLY wish I had got optimius with my T420s. :(

    • Anonymous

      I did that with my w520. Finally and slowly I can start to relax… :)

      • Anonymous

        did you get the fully loaded model? I’m saving up for that (around 1700 USD I think).

        How is it?

        • Anonymous

          2720QM processor, 8Gb ram, 1080p screen, quadro 1000 from nvidia. I didn’t get the screen calibration tool build in.

          It is very nice.

          And it is an anti-apple: meaning it has no anorexia design. Big is the new slim.

          I’m very happy with it. It is cool and quiet.

          The battery lasts for 6-7 hours with only integrated graphics (set in bios) and 4-4,5 hours with nvidia turned on. (didn’t try in windows 7, might actually be better).

          • Anonymous

            I think my dad just got one like that this morning (to switch from his aging system76 and rub in my face at work)

            Thanks for the info about the battery life, and I can attest that its “bulky” form is quite elegant and the fans are whisper quite.

            Again thanks for the info

  • Anonymous

    This is puntastic

  • Anonymous

    Fedora 15 releaed!

    That it!! Installing Fedora 15

  • Andrew Hauser

    I keep getting a syntax error :/

    ./install.sh: line 532: syntax error near unexpected token `['./install.sh: line 532: ` if [ -f /usr/local/bin/bumblebee-enablecard ]‘

    Anyone know what’s up?

    • Bilal Akhtar

      Run it like this: sudo bash ./install.sh . It seems you’re running it with some other shell (dash or something)

      • Éderson Gomes

        The error continues even with sudo bash ./install.sh:
        Auto-detecting hardware

        ./install.sh: linha 532: erro de sintaxe próximo do `token’ não esperado `['
        ./install.sh: linha 532: ` if [ -f /usr/local/bin/bumblebee-enablecard ]‘

  • http://danhatch333.myopenid.com/ danh

    Does this work with pre-Optimus graphics switching like an Asus ul80vt? I’m guessing it doesn’t… =(

  • http://twitter.com/EzeAris Ezequiel Aristan

    I’m wondering if this will let me use my NVIDIA GeForce 425M, as I bought an Asus notebook with Optimus and, on Linux, I just can use the Intel graphics :(

  • Éderson Gomes

    For me it didn’t work. I have Dell XP4 14″ with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 420M 1GB graphics with Optimus.
    The error message was:  
    Changing Configuration to match your Machine.Auto-detecting hardwareinstall.sh: 532: Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting “)”)

    What should I do?

  • Éderson Gomes

    For me it didn’t work. I have Dell XP4 14″ with NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 420M 1GB graphics with Optimus.
    The error message was:  
    Changing Configuration to match your Machine.Auto-detecting hardwareinstall.sh: 532: Syntax error: word unexpected (expecting “)”)

    What should I do?

  • http://twitter.com/DJSubterrain Billy Reynolds

    Thanks for crediting me with submitting the story….sheesh, Glad people know about it now tho

  • Paweł Cierzniakowski

    Maybe someone tried to run any wineprefix app with it? I have information “You can’t wine C:/Program”

  • Luca Tersi

    I’m buying a new laptop… do you think it may work on a system like this?
    SWITCHABLE GRAPHIC, NVIDIA OPTIMUS TECHNOLOGY:
    NVIDIA GeFORCE GT 555M 2,0 GB GDDR3 dedicatedNVIDIA OptimusT 1.2NVIDIA PhysXT – GeForce CUDAT technologyHDMI 1.4 – Direct X 11 compatible
    Intel HD Graphics 3000up to 1.748Mb DDR3 sharedDirect X 10 compatible

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Danas-Anis/542843483 Danas Anis

    Hello! 

    How do you people make it run well? With Ubuntu Unity it is easy to check whether it works or not and to me it seems to never run, I installed it several times and applied different configurations, but Ubuntu loads into gnome 2 desktop, means the Nvidia Card is not working and my intel card looks like disabled for 3D. What should I do, I suspect I get the issue because I install the proprietary NVidia driver, should I not install the driver because Bumblebee has one built in and once I install NVidia proprietary driver I mess it up? 

    Thank you very much for your help!    

  • Rick Smith

    Bumlebee still has problems with VDPAU ?  It also has some issues with many newer Laptops with this nvidia/Intel Optimus crap.

    I appreciate and respect their efforts,…, but it’ll never be the real McKoy untill NVIDIA sits down with Linux and provides the proper code to de-implement this thing from switching to Intel HD JUNK,
    Or, NVIDIA provides the proper binary tool to do it. -But obviously NVIDIA has emphatically said NO to this.
    When you “BUY” a laptop and pay good money for it to have for example, a 560M,  then NVIDIA should provide a resonable method (in BIOS) to either enable/disable it ?
     Nvidia OPTIMUS is a fail.
     Nvidia/Intel both decided to tell you what “they” are going to run. -not what you paid for.
     It’s just pathetic that the author of this blog butters it all up, and does it wrongfully !

  • Rick Smith

    http://www.aigarius.com/blog/2011/05/24/nvidia-optimus-fail/

     Here, go see the “REAL” deal about this nvidia optimus fail.

  • Pingback: Tutafuta » [Tip] Switch off Nvidia optimus graphic card in Ubuntu Linux for increasing battery life

  • http://profiles.google.com/webmaster1989 Melroy van den Berg

    Bumblebee 3.0 is released

  • Pingback: No GUI/X server started with xorg.conf. Without xorg.conf GUI/x server starts fine.

 
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