First; this is a hack and some work and testing is involved so if you are not among the above then:
Do not buy a Nvidia Optimus laptop!So back to the unlucky ones:
Here is a description of how to make Bumblebee work (in Ubuntu)
http://www.ivegotavirus.com/blog/2011/1 ... 0-oneiric/
And here is the Ubuntu discussion about Ironhide the "successor" of Bumblebee (the same man is behind both bumblebee and Ironhide, but he got tired of all the contributions to Bumblebee and felt he lost control).
They do conflict so it is no good idea to try Ironhide while Bumblebee is installed.
What they bot do is to download the Nvidia drivers for you (do not try to install them by yourself first). And lets you turn on and off the Nvidia card.
Normally when you install Linux on those laps you are stuck with only the Intel graphic chip. This is a light power saving thing and Nvidia is supposed to step in whenever the juice is needed - but not in Linux
So Optimus owners find themselves with Gnome Fallback etc because the Intel chip can't handle it.
Bublebee and Ironhide lets you switch cards whenever it is needed.
For example to run gnome shell on an Optimus lap I would thing this would do the trick:
Code: Select all
optirun gnome-shell --replaceBumblebee is in the Arch AUR, Ironhide is not.
I have not tested them (but I will force b1o to fall on his nose for me here, because he has an Optimus lap).