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#1 2017-04-30 13:59:09

Metalinux
Member
Registered: 2017-01-05
Posts: 2

Use only Intel Graphics on Alienware 15 (early 2015)

Hello everyone,

I want to use Arch on an Alienware 15 (early 2015) and only make use of the integrated Intel graphics. The laptop has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M and uses Optimus to switch between graphics, but I have no desire to make use of the NVIDIA card under Arch. Taking this into account, I have two main questions:

a) will simply not installing nouveau or nvidia drivers produce the desired effect of the graphics card not being used? I want to make sure that it is not somehow being called upon to process something without me knowing;

b) how should I go about installing Intel graphics? According to the wiki page on Intel graphics : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Intel_graphics

    - "Install the mesa package, which provides the DRI driver for 3D acceleration."

    -  "For the DDX driver (which provides 2D acceleration in Xorg), install the xf86-video-intel package. (Often not recommended, see note below.)"

   so I should simply install mesa and lib32-mesa?


Thanks for the help.

PS: In case anyone wants to take a look at what the Arch Wiki has on the Alienware 15 : https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Alienware_15

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#2 2017-04-30 15:54:27

Trilby
Inspector Parrot
Registered: 2011-11-29
Posts: 29,449
Website

Re: Use only Intel Graphics on Alienware 15 (early 2015)

For a) that will not likely work.  Often there are BIOS/firmware options to fully disable the NVIDIA card.  If this is available, that'd be your best bet.  Then just follow the wiki as if you had an intel-only card.  If you follow the advice to not use x86-video-intel, then just install mesa (and lib32-mesa if you need mutlilib).

If you can't disable the NVIDIA card in BIOS settings, I think you will need to configure one of the switching options.  But these can be configured to essentially just power-down and never use the NVIDIA card (I'll leave specifics of this to those with more/some experience).


"UNIX is simple and coherent..." - Dennis Ritchie, "GNU's Not UNIX" -  Richard Stallman

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#3 2017-04-30 16:44:19

Metalinux
Member
Registered: 2017-01-05
Posts: 2

Re: Use only Intel Graphics on Alienware 15 (early 2015)

I have never tried it, but I have seen the option to disable the NVIDIA card in the BIOS. I did not even remember that, thank you for the suggestion.

I will not proceed with the installation just yet. Until I do, any more feedback is very much welcome.

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