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#1 2018-10-12 20:26:32

dasBook
Member
Registered: 2015-10-27
Posts: 12

Power-off ATI on MacBookPro 11,5 w/ a blacklisted radeon driver?

I installed Arch on my mid-2015 MacBookPro, in a Linux-only configuration, using systemd-boot, which I believe is the simplest way to do it. My laptop has dual graphics, an Intel and an ATI card:

$ lspci
...
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Crystal Well Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 08)
...
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Venus XT [Radeon HD 8870M / R9 M270X/M370X] (rev 83)

However, right after the install process I could only see the API card, driven AFAICT by the radeon module. This was not a problem because it worked flawlessly, including sleeping and waking up, but it draws a lot of power. Off to activate and use the Intel graphics I used apple-set-os EFI program to trick the laptop into showing the Intel graphics. Lo and behold it works, and the vgaswitcheroo folder shows up on the next boot. I then installed gpu-switch program to switch to the Intel card for good, and I was able to power off the ATI card by echo-ing OFF to vgaswitcheroo/switch after I made sure the Intel one is active. All good.

But, I then blacklisted the ATI driver and on the next boot only the Intel card showed up, vgaswitcheroo is no longer present in my /sys mount (as a result of blacklisting, I guess). lspci shows both hardware. X works super on the Intel card, no changes necessary, and glxinfo shows the Intel hardware.

My question is: is the ATI hardware powered off by the blacklisting of the radeon driver or is it on, but merely not accessible? In other words, should I remove the blacklisting and go back to letting Linux load both modules for both hardware, enable vgaswitcheroo, which I would then use to manually power off the ATI hardware?

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#2 2018-10-13 09:47:32

Lone_Wolf
Member
From: Netherlands, Europe
Registered: 2005-10-04
Posts: 11,868

Re: Power-off ATI on MacBookPro 11,5 w/ a blacklisted radeon driver?

is it on, but merely not accessible?

looking at your post,  apple-set-os and gpu-switch does match with that.

remove the blacklisting and go back to your vgaswitcheroo method.


Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.


(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

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