Hybrid Graphics - switch function depending on --enable-sna

[jorg76440]

Hi folks,

After having searched for a long time for a solution to get the switch between my hybrid graphics cards working, I have found a very interesting post, that should be transmitted to the people involved in the development of FEDORA. It explains why it's not possible to get the proprietary driver for hybrid graphics cards to work (the switch function provided by CCC from AMD/ATI).

I can confirm that the latest AMD/ATI driver works with Fedora 16 up to date and my Radeon HD 6770 M on my HP dv6-6172sf but is unable to switch between the graphics cards and it seems that the problem comes from the --enable-sna option that is not set when the Intel driver 2.17 is compiled. (By the way, can anyone tell me how to compile this driver with that option ?).

Here is the link to the explanation (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1930450)

I am sure this could be useful to Mike A. Harris who works on hardware problems. :)



Kind regards

[leigh123linux]

Hi folks,

After having searched for a long time for a solution to get the switch between my hybrid graphics cards working, I have found a very interesting post, that should be transmitted to the people involved in the development of FEDORA. It explains why it's not possible to get the proprietary driver for hybrid graphics cards to work (the switch function provided by CCC from AMD/ATI).

I can confirm that the latest AMD/ATI driver works with Fedora 16 up to date and my Radeon HD 6770 M on my HP dv6-6172sf but is unable to switch between the graphics cards and it seems that the problem comes from the --enable-sna option that is not set when the Intel driver 2.17 is compiled. (By the way, can anyone tell me how to compile this driver with that option ?).

Here is the link to the explanation (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1930450)

I am sure this could be useful to Mike A. Harris who works on hardware problems. :)



Kind regards
--sna requires pixman 0.24, not available from repo yet


http://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/buildinfo?buildID=301954

Then rebuild the srpm attached to this post.

[jorg76440]

I have tried to install pixman 0.24 from where you said but I get :

Unspecified transaction error .... and then
protection contre les différentes versions de bibliothèques*: pixman-0.24.2-1.fc16.x86_64 != pixman-0.22.2-1.fc16.i686

which means in english : "protection against different library versions :"

[leigh123linux]

I have tried to install pixman 0.24 from where you said but I get :

Unspecified transaction error .... and then
protection contre les différentes versions de bibliothèques*: pixman-0.24.2-1.fc16.x86_64 != pixman-0.22.2-1.fc16.i686

which means in english : "protection against different library versions :"
Install pixman-0.24.2-1.fc16.i686 as well

[leigh123linux]

Install pixman-0.24.2-1.fc16.i686 as well

I note you use 64 bit, that's lucky for you :)

[jorg76440]

The last advice worked for installing pixman (You're a great guy) ! :D

Could you please tell me now how to rebuild the srpm ? (Does this have an immediate impact on my actual system ?)

[leigh123linux]

The last advice worked for installing pixman (You're a great guy) ! :D

Could you please tell me now how to rebuild the srpm ? (Does this have an immediate impact on my actual system ?)


The only impact is 300 - 400 Mb harddrive space for the build tools and libs.
First you will need pixman-devel-0.24.2-1.fc16.x86_64 installed

then run (change path to suit)

su
yum install @development-tools
yum install rpmdevtools
yum-builddep -y /path/to/xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.17.0-8.fc16.1.src.rpm
exit
rpmdev-setuptree
rpmbuild --rebuild /path/to/xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.17.0-8.fc16.1.src.rpm

[jorg76440]

Obviously you're implied in the development of Fedora.

Do you think that this will be integrated shortly into Fedora 16 or at least Fedora 17.

Switching between hybrid graphics cards becomes more and more necessary as nearly all recent laptops are equiped with such graphic cards.

[leigh123linux]

Obviously you're implied in the development of Fedora.

Do you think that this will be integrated shortly into Fedora 16 or at least Fedora 17.

Switching between hybrid graphics cards becomes more and more necessary as nearly all recent laptops are equiped with such graphic cards.

Not for F16

[11:25:44] <leigh123linux> ajax: Are you going to enable --sna for intel for F16 ?
[11:26:38] <airlied> no
[11:27:07] <airlied> leigh123linux: its totally unstable
[11:27:09] dgregor [~dgregor@pdpc/supporter/active/dgregor] has joined #fedora-devel
[11:27:21] <leigh123linux> airlied: Thank you for the quick answer

[jorg76440]

I have a standard Fedora install.

Where is xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.17.0-8.fc16.1.src.rpm normlly situated ?
Do I have to quote --enable-sna ?

[leigh123linux]

I have a standard Fedora install.

Where is xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.17.0-8.fc16.1.src.rpm normlly situated ?
Do I have to quote --enable-sna ?

I built the srpm locally and enabled sna

[jorg76440]

Thanks a lot for your quick answers !

[Rofl Copter]

I am a complete noob at Fedora, and linux in general, will this fix not work for Fedora 16 at all? My laptop is only using the dedicated GPU, and as a result my battery life is awful.

[jorg76440]

I am a longtime user of Linux and am sure that the Linux community will earlier or later implement the switch function. Actually you can switch your hybrid graphic cards with vgaswitcheroo manually ON and OFF. This avoids that you use too much electricity and your discrete graphic card's vent turns on and makes noise. The command for switching the discrete card OFF is (open the terminal first) then type :

su -
(now you will have to enter your administator's password)
echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch

If you want to turn it on again, you replace OFF by ON.