How can I disable my discrete graphics card?

[avilella]

A question for phrizek and other Asus UL80Vt users:

Have you guys investigated if the nvidia graphics card can be switched off by other means?

All forum posts seem to indicate it's not possible through the BIOS,
but has anyone tried any other methods?

For example, it would great if you could post a DSDT table here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...er/+bug/312756

To compile your DSDT information, install if you haven't already the
acpidump and iasl tools:
sudo apt-get install acpidump iasl
You can check the model and generation of you laptop with this command:
sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name

Then run the following commands:

sudo acpidump > acpidump.txt
sudo acpixtract acpidump.txt
iasl -d DSDT.dat

This will create a DSDT.dsl file that you can attach to the bug
report. This information will allow the developers to fully implement
the hybrid graphics features for Linux.

Damn! I´ve also ordered a VT but i´m getting more and more uncertain the more i read about the graphics problems!
I really think the Nvidia card is a better choice, but i´d love the possibilituy to choose between that one and the Intelcard when i´m not doing any graphic intensive tasks....
I´m a photographer so i think i´d get more from the lappy with the Nvidia card..
What should i do!? =(

The Sony Vaio SZ-series laptops have had a manual switch, and this is 3-4 years ago. The newer Vaio Z-series laptops also have the switch, but in Linux this is a special feature that needs to call a method in the BIOS. The DSDT table contains that method, but it took a bit of investigation to find out how.

So please submit your DSDT table as soon as possible so that we can find out what is the BIOS call for it.

[dj_aleks]

A question for phrizek and other Asus UL80Vt users:

Have you guys investigated if the nvidia graphics card can be switched off by other means?

All forum posts seem to indicate it's not possible through the BIOS,
but has anyone tried any other methods?

For example, it would great if you could post a DSDT table here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...er/+bug/312756

To compile your DSDT information, install if you haven't already the
acpidump and iasl tools:
sudo apt-get install acpidump iasl
You can check the model and generation of you laptop with this command:
sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name

Then run the following commands:

sudo acpidump > acpidump.txt
sudo acpixtract acpidump.txt
iasl -d DSDT.dat

This will create a DSDT.dsl file that you can attach to the bug
report. This information will allow the developers to fully implement
the hybrid graphics features for Linux.



The Sony Vaio SZ-series laptops have had a manual switch, and this is 3-4 years ago. The newer Vaio Z-series laptops also have the switch, but in Linux this is a special feature that needs to call a method in the BIOS. The DSDT table contains that method, but it took a bit of investigation to find out how.

So please submit your DSDT table as soon as possible so that we can find out what is the BIOS call for it.

What exactly IS a DSDT table?? haven't really got the hang of it?

[avilella]

DSDT table contains information about the ACPI features of the hardware. DSDT is an acronym for Differentiated System Description Table. This table contains the Differentiated Definition Block, which supplies the information and configuration information about the base system. It is always inserted into the ACPI Namespace by the OS at boot time. Unfortunately, many hardware vendors and OEMs are not capable of supplying fully functional tables. For details, see the ACPI specification, chapter 2.1 (www.acpi.info).

[dj_aleks]

DSDT table contains information about the ACPI features of the hardware. DSDT is an acronym for Differentiated System Description Table. This table contains the Differentiated Definition Block, which supplies the information and configuration information about the base system. It is always inserted into the ACPI Namespace by the OS at boot time. Unfortunately, many hardware vendors and OEMs are not capable of supplying fully functional tables. For details, see the ACPI specification, chapter 2.1 (www.acpi.info).

Okey, Will do as soon as i get the lappy! i really don't want to use Win just because of the GPU =/

[ceolwulf]

Kind of a bump for the thread but I too am getting an Asus UL30Vt-X1 and am going to run an incarnation of Ubuntu on it so any progress on this is extremely appreciated!

I suppose this is a little related but does anyone know if the CPU is overclocked in Linux or can this be edited in the BIOS? I'd love to have at least some control over the "Turbo33" since I won't really need it most of the time but would love to use it when I do.

Thanks!

[dj_aleks]

Btw, just read that the onboard nVidiacard on the 30VT actually is CUDA compatible

[avilella]

Yes, not only that but people has already successfully installed the CUDA/OpenCL drivers for Linux and used it to compile real code on it.

See here:

http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspo...linux-sdk.html

The graphics card in the Asus UL80Vt or UL30Vt is a new and powerful piece of compute!

Btw, just read that the onboard nVidiacard on the 30VT actually is CUDA compatible

[dj_aleks]

Yes, not only that but people has already successfully installed the CUDA/OpenCL drivers for Linux and used it to compile real code on it.

See here:

http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspo...linux-sdk.html

The graphics card in the Asus UL80Vt or UL30Vt is a new and powerful piece of compute!

Impressive indeed! Now if we just could get the graphics switching to work well, then this seems to be the best bang for the buck in terms of light and powerful laptops!

[avilella]

One of the Linux users has found a solution to switch off the nvidia card in the UL30Vt models, which by the looks of the DSDT tables, will also work for the UL50Vt and UL80Vt models with nvidia card.

It uses the ACPI P0P1.VGA._OFF method, which is the same for all 3 models.

The code file, "asus_nvidia.c" is derived from "lenovo_acpi.c" by Sylvain Joyeux.

Here is the original post and another one that adds hibernation support:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/show...postcount=1239
http://forum.notebookreview.com/show...postcount=1244

asus_nvidia.c
================================================== ======
#include <acpi/acpi.h>
#include <linux/suspend.h>

MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");

static acpi_handle root_handle;

static int kill_nvidia(void)
{
acpi_status status;
// The device handle
acpi_handle handle;
struct acpi_object_list args;
// For the return value
struct acpi_buffer buffer = { ACPI_ALLOCATE_BUFFER, NULL };

status = acpi_get_handle(root_handle, "\\_SB.PCI0.P0P1.VGA._OFF", &handle);
if (ACPI_FAILURE(status))
{
printk("%s: cannot get ACPI handle: %s\n", __func__, acpi_format_exception(status));
return -ENOSYS;
}

args.count = 0;
args.pointer = NULL;

status = acpi_evaluate_object(handle, NULL, &args, &buffer);
if (ACPI_FAILURE(status))
{
printk("%s: _OFF method call failed: %s\n", __func__, acpi_format_exception(status));
return -ENOSYS;
}
kfree(buffer.pointer);

printk("%s: disabled the discrete graphics card\n",__func__);
return 0;
}

static int power_event(struct notifier_block *this, unsigned long event,
void *ptr)
{
switch (event) {
case PM_POST_HIBERNATION:
kill_nvidia();
return NOTIFY_DONE;
case PM_POST_SUSPEND:
case PM_HIBERNATION_PREPARE:
case PM_SUSPEND_PREPARE:
default:
return NOTIFY_DONE;
}
}

static struct notifier_block power_notifier = {
.notifier_call = power_event,
};

static int __init asus_nvidia(void)
{
int ret = register_pm_notifier(&power_notifier);
if (ret) return ret;
return kill_nvidia();
}

static void dummy(void)
{
}

module_init(asus_nvidia);
module_exit(dummy);
================================================== ======

Makefile
================================================== ======
ifneq ($(KERNELRELEASE),)
obj-m := asus_nvidia.o
else
KERNELDIR ?= /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build
PWD := $(shell pwd)

default:
$(MAKE) -C $(KERNELDIR) M=$(PWD) $(EXTRA_FLAGS) modules

clean:
$(MAKE) -C $(KERNELDIR) M=$(PWD) $(EXTRA_FLAGS) clean

endif
================================================== ======

To compile it, simply run:

Code:

make

To install it, run as root:
Code:

cp asus_nvidia.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/
depmod

To try it out, run as root:
Code:

modprobe asus_nvidia

To load it on each reboot on Ubuntu, run as root:
Code:

echo asus_nvidia >>/etc/modules

That last step will be different on other distros, e.g., on Gentoo you need to append the module name to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6.

[blackmoon105]

Info about a .deb package on this post: http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8607972&postcount=5