Introduction

Some laptops come with two graphics cards: one for use in applications that require a lot of computing power such as games, called the discrete GPU, and one that is less powerful, but conserves energy, called the integrated GPU. The integrated GPU is often embedded in the CPU, hence the name. This concept is called Hybrid Graphics.

As per the discussions at UDS 1305, we have worked to officially support Hybrid graphics in Ubuntu 13.10 and in 12.04.3 LTS.

This enablement work builds upon NVIDIA's work on PRIME and AMD's work on PowerXpress.

Hardware Requirements

• NVIDIA systems:

  • A graphics card compatible with the NVIDIA driver 319 series or higher.
  • An integrated Intel graphics card.
  • A MUXless system with an Intel card and an NVIDIA discrete card.

• AMD systems:

  • A graphics card compatible with the fglrx driver 13.101 series or higher.
  • An integrated Intel card.
  • A MUXless system with an Intel or an AMD integrated card and an AMD discrete card.

Software Requirements

14.04

• NVIDIA systems:

  • nvidia-331 or nvidia-331-updates

  • nvidia-prime (now a dependency of the nvidia packages)

  • lightdm

• AMD systems:

  • fglrx or fglrx-updates

13.10

• NVIDIA systems:

  • nvidia-319 or nvidia-319-updates

  • nvidia-prime

  • lightdm

• AMD systems:

  • fglrx 13.101 or higher

  • fglrx-pxpress

12.04.3 - 12.04.5

• NVIDIA systems:

  • nvidia-319 or nvidia-319-updates

  • nvidia-prime

  • lightdm

  • Raring's backported kernel and X or higher

• AMD systems:

  • fglrx-experimental-13

  • fglrx-pxpress

  • Raring's backported kernel and X or higher

Installation

14.04

• NVIDIA systems:

  • Make sure that no other NVIDIA driver is installed (keep the nvidia-common package).

  • Install nvidia-331.

  • Reboot the system (restarting X won't be enough).

  • NOTE: you can easily switch between GPUs from the Prime section of the nvidia-settings panel.

• AMD systems:

  • Make sure that no other fglrx driver is installed.

  • Install fglrx.

  • Reboot the system (restarting X won't be enough).
  • NOTE: you can easily switch between GPUs using AMD's control panel.

13.10

• NVIDIA systems:

  • Make sure that no other NVIDIA driver is installed (keep the nvidia-common package).

  • Install nvidia-319 and nvidia-prime.

  • Reboot the system (restarting X won't be enough).

• AMD systems:

  • Make sure that no other fglrx driver is installed.

  • Install fglrx and fglrx-pxpress.

  • Reboot the system (restarting X won't be enough).

12.04.3 - 12.04.5

• NVIDIA systems:

  • Install one of the backported graphics stacks (e.g. either "linux-generic-lts-raring" and "xserver-xorg-lts-raring", or "linux-generic-lts-saucy" and "xserver-xorg-lts-saucy", or "linux-generic-lts-trusty" and "xserver-xorg-lts-trusty")

  • Make sure that no other NVIDIA driver is installed (keep the nvidia-common package).

  • Install nvidia-319 (or nvidia-319-updates) and nvidia-prime.

  • Reboot the system (restarting X won't be enough).

• AMD systems:

  • Install one of the backported graphics stacks (e.g. either "linux-generic-lts-raring" and "xserver-xorg-lts-raring", or "linux-generic-lts-saucy" and "xserver-xorg-lts-saucy", or "linux-generic-lts-trusty" and "xserver-xorg-lts-trusty")
  • Make sure that no other fglrx driver is installed.

  • Install fglrx-experimental-13 and fglrx-pxpress.

  • Reboot the system (restarting X won't be enough).

Known issues

• NVIDIA systems:

  • You will experience screen tearing when moving windows around or watching videoclips.

  • Display hotplug won't work and you will have to set up any external screens manually in your xorg.conf. [FIXED in 14.04]

  • Rotation is not supported when using the NVIDIA discrete card.

Filing bugs

You can file bug reports against nvidia-prime for NVIDIA and fglrx-pxpress for AMD. No special tags are needed.