Guidance on setting up an Intel + NVIDIA laptop

[Jaybe]

Hi,

I am new to openSUSE and am installing on a new Intel+NVIDIA laptop (Lenovo Legion 7). I am a long term Debian user and am looking at Tumbleweed to get a better desktop experience. I have no experience with NVIDIA GPUs and using them in Linux (noob alert on that front).

I am looking for overview/guidance on how to set this up for normal desktop use with the occational Steam gaming.

I run GNOME under Wayland and have installed the NVIDIA drivers offered by YaST at the first sync. It does not seem to work, though.

I have seen in other topics that the command inxi -Gxxz is used to inspect, and it seems there is no driver for the NVIDIA card?

~ > inxi -Gxxz
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Raptor Lake-S UHD Graphics vendor: Lenovo driver: i915
    v: kernel arch: Gen-13 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1,
    HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:a788
  Device-2: NVIDIA AD107M [GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile] vendor: Lenovo
    driver: N/A arch: Lovelace pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 8 bus-ID: 01:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:28e0
  Device-3: Luxvisions Innotech Integrated Camera driver: uvcvideo type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-6:2 chip-ID: 30c9:00ac
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.12 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.0
    compositor: gnome-shell v: 46.2 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa alternate: intel dri: iris gpu: i915 display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model-id: CSO 0x1626 res: 3200x2000 dpi: 236
    diag: 406mm (16")
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.0.8 glx-v: 1.4 es-v: 3.2
    direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (RPL-S)
    device-ID: 8086:a788 display-ID: :0.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.283 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 0
    type: integrated-gpu driver: N/A device-ID: 8086:a788
  API: EGL Message: EGL data requires eglinfo. Check --recommends.

When I look at hardware info in Steam it lists Intel as the video card. Neofetch does list both the Intel and NVIDIA GPUs, though…

Any help would be appreciated.

/Jaybe

[malcolmlewis]

Hi and welcome to the Forum
There are a number of recent threads on your issue. Basically remove the suse-prime package, install/enable the switcherooctl service. GNOME has the dbus integration so you can right-click on the desktop item to start with the Nvidia GPU (Prime Render Offload);

See: https://forums.opensuse.org/t/how-to-switch-to-the-nvidia-dgpu-in-tumbleweed/175576 and https://forums.opensuse.org/t/atomic-modeset-error-22-after-latest-nvidia-update-on-tumbleweed/175455

I’m not sure of your mileage with Wayland as it may default to Xorg…

[aronkvh]

For me it was probably not loading because of secureboot, see SDB:NVIDIA drivers - openSUSE Wiki

[Jaybe]

Thanks

I experimented a bit and ended up with a very unstable system that constantly froze. I have reinstalled and chosen to NOT approve the NVIDIA certificate and go with the open source drivers. They seem to be progressing fast at the moment, especially with Wayland support. Stability is more important than the best performance as I am only gaming casually anyway.

Do the Mesa packages installed by default include the NVK drivers, or are additional steps needed for those? And do I still want to install switherooctl? How can I verify that the setup is good?

Sorry for all the questions, and thanks again for welcoming me to the forums

(I have also disabled secure boot; I don’t need that anyway… )

/Jaybe

[ProtonBadger]

I installed TW, then the NVidia drivers using the guide on the wiki. I then ran “sudo prime-select boot offload”. I never installed switcheroo. It uses the Intel iGPU for my Wayland desktop+VA-API and it automatically uses offload to the dGPU for Steam games, I never have to select GPU.

[Jaybe]

Sounds simple

I wish there was a simple way to verify - step by step - if the setup is correct. Preferably both for the NVIDIA proprietary drivers and the NVK ones… Maybe a new module for YaST? GPU settings are important for AI as well as gaming nowadays…

I am hesitant to touch my setup now with the instability experience I had - but curiosity may get the better of me in the coming days…

/Jaybe

[malcolmlewis]

@ProtonBadger It all depends on your hardware/desktop. In @Jaybe case, they use GNOME, switcherooctl is the tool to be used as it’s integrated so you can launch any application with the discrete gpu.

Anecdotal forum posts point at suse-prime being an issue as AFAICT it creates an Xorg conf file causing drivers to not load, now that maybe as a recent result of the secure boot certificates for Nvidia…

I don’t run secure boot as I install the run file not the RPM’s, plus my setup here is discrete cards in a desktop with GNOME…

 inxi -Gxxz
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel DG2 [Arc A380] vendor: ASRock driver: xe v: kernel
    arch: Gen-12.7 pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 ports:
    active: HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-3,HDMI-A-4 empty: DP-1, DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-2
    bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:56a5
  Device-2: NVIDIA TU117GLM [Quadro T400 Mobile] driver: nvidia v: 555.52.04
    arch: Turing pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 06:00.0
    chip-ID: 10de:1fb2
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.12 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.0
    compositor: gnome-shell v: 46.2 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa alternate: intel,nouveau,nv dri: iris gpu: xe
    display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 96
  Monitor-1: HDMI-A-1 mapped: HDMI-1 pos: primary,bottom-c
    model: Sceptre E24 res: 1920x1080 dpi: 94 diag: 604mm (23.8")
  Monitor-2: HDMI-A-3 mapped: HDMI-3 pos: top-left model: Sceptre E24
    res: 1920x1080 dpi: 94 diag: 604mm (23.8")
  Monitor-3: HDMI-A-4 mapped: HDMI-4 pos: top-right model: Sceptre E24
    res: 1920x1080 dpi: 94 diag: 604mm (23.8")
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2 drv: iris
    device: 3 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: nvidia x11:
    drv: iris inactive: wayland,device-1
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.0.8 glx-v: 1.4
    direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel Arc A380 Graphics (DG2)
    device-ID: 8086:56a5
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.283 surfaces: xcb,xlib device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    driver: N/A device-ID: 10de:1fb2

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer"

MESA: warning: Support for this platform is experimental with Xe KMD, bug reports may be ignored.
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa Intel(R) Arc(tm) A380 Graphics (DG2)

switcherooctl glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer"
OpenGL renderer string: NVIDIA T400/PCIe/SSE2