Arch Linux

Hideaki

Member

From: Seattle, WA

Registered: 2009-01-19

Posts: 37

Switching between Nvidia and Intel GPU on boot?

Hello everyone!

I'm trying to setup my Arch box to let me choose which GPU to use at boot. I have a KVM setup with GPU Passthrough of the Nvidia GPU with Arch using the Intel GPU. I'd like to be able to reboot and bring up Arch with the Nvidia GPU.

Currently, the only way for me to do that is to force uninstall mesa-libgl and install nvidia-libgl, then add the nvidia Xorg config file, then reboot. This is quite a bit of work to do every time I want to switch which GPU to use.

Is making a script wrapper around this process the only way to accomplish this?
Is there a simpler way that I can keep both version of libgl installed and just have some boot-time options change which GPU to use?

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of setup?

Thanks for any pointers!

Last edited by Hideaki (2016-03-07 23:15:26)

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,688

Re: Switching between Nvidia and Intel GPU on boot?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee

Last edited by Awebb (2016-03-08 09:28:03)

Hideaki

Member

From: Seattle, WA

Registered: 2009-01-19

Posts: 37

Re: Switching between Nvidia and Intel GPU on boot?

Interesting, I never thought of using Bumblebee. I thought it was only for laptops that specifically advertised Nvidia Optimus, I'll give it a try when I get home.

Last edited by Hideaki (2016-03-08 21:59:30)

Awebb

Member

Registered: 2010-05-06

Posts: 6,688

Re: Switching between Nvidia and Intel GPU on boot?

It would help to have actual information. Your GPU passthrough description was a bit rough. Brand and model of the board?

Hideaki

Member

From: Seattle, WA

Registered: 2009-01-19

Posts: 37

Re: Switching between Nvidia and Intel GPU on boot?

Sorry about that. I was trying to explain the setup in a few words without being too rambley.

PC Specs:
Core i7 6700K (Integrated HD 530 GPU)
Gigabyte Z170N-Gaming 5 motherboard
GeForce GTX 970

I have a KVM/QEMU VM running Windows 10 that the GTX 970 is being passed-through to using VFIO.

My ideal setup would have 2 boot options(since the Nvidia driver won't do hot-swapping properly):
1. Arch outputting via the GTX 970 (when I don't need the VM)
2. Arch outputting via the Intel GPU (when I want to use the VM)

I currently have the boot part down. I have 2 boot entries, one uses PCI-Stub to prevent the nvidia driver from loading on the GTX 970 and the other does not.

The problems I am left with is the inability to have both nvidia-libgl and mesa-libgl installed at the same time, and the differences in Xorg.conf setups.

Last edited by Hideaki (2016-03-09 21:39:40)