Hi all, Any new developments on this front? I am thinking about putting together all the current info and post it in our blog...
On Tue, Mar 20, 2012 at 3:16 PM, Andreas Heider <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I fixed a lot of stuff and now have a first working version. > It's not yet perfect and I expect the internals to change quite a bit, but > it already works pretty well for me. > > Since everybody loves videos I made two: > A full demo showing everything (switching between the GPUs, bumblebee with > both the nvidia and nouveau): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FYP3nMyxcQ > And a screen recording showing bumblebee in > action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdY_qZWNM6E > > If you own a Macbook Pro 6,2 or 6,1 and are adventurous enough to try it you > can find the source here: > https://github.com/ah-/gmux-scripts > https://github.com/ah-/ubuntu-kernel-mbp > https://github.com/ah-/gmux > > There's also some documentation > at https://github.com/ah-/gmux-scripts/blob/master/README > > The gmux switching driver itself should also work on other models, but the > scripts and some of the kernel patches won't, because the newer models use > AMD graphics instead of NVIDIA. I only have access to my Macbook Pro 6,2, > but if you're interested in getting graphics switching to work on other > models I'd be happy to help. > > Over the next time I plan to clean things up and hopefully get some of this > merged. If someone who knows the linux graphics stack well reads this, I'd > be happy to get in touch with you to get some help about how to solve the > whole reprobe/lock_ddc problem properly. There are also an issue with the > intel card not properly resuming after a suspend. > > Cheers, > Andreas > > > Am 10.03.2012 um 13:12 schrieb Albert Vilella: > > Really good stuff!! Keep up the good work! > > BTW, what version of the Macbook Pro is that you are testing here? Is > it "MacBookPro7,1"? Should "MacBookPro6,1" also work? > > sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name > > I am guessing the models in Apple's website that have hybrid graphics > now are the ones called "MacBookPro8,2" and "MacBookPro8,3" in these > ubuntu and wikipedia pages, but these are with Intel/AMD combo -- it > seems the 13'' model is Intel-only MacBookPro8,1 (13"): > https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBookPro > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacBook_Pro > > A. > > On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 12:01 PM, Andreas Heider <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi, > > > Am 09.03.2012 um 10:10 schrieb Albert Vilella: > > Do you folks think this is ready for a blog post? > > > There's still a bunch of stuff missing. At the moment switching works, but > only if you know exactly what you're doing. The next step is to make it work > without requiring too much manual intervention, so it's possible to simply > boot the system and switch between nouveau/i915 (and potentially turn the > dedicated card on/off). > > > This is not only related to the gmux driver itself but also to nouveau/i915 > and how they handle not having a monitor attached at boot. I don't think it > will be too long until this works but I'd prefer to wait a bit until it > does, since the many of the readers of the hybrid-graphics-linux blog are > normal users. > > > In other news, I found a first solution to the vbios problem. There is a > register on the card (0x619f04, if i'm not mistaken PDISPLAY.VGA.ROM_WINDOW) > which points to where the vbios should be. Initially this register is set to > 0x000ffe09 on my card but after a powercycle it's set to 0x1. > > > If I manually restore it to 0xffe09 using nvapoke and copy the vbios back > with nvafakebios (otherwise it points to a location with just 0xff) both > nouveau and the nvidia-blob load successfully! > > > For more information see the excellent documentation > at https://github.com/pathscale/envytools/blob/master/hwdocs (especially > nvbars.txt) and the source of the envytools. > > > This is really amazing, because that means that the standard bumblebee > switching will work without major modifications, especially with the nvidia > blob. > > > Cheers, > > Andreas > > > > Now that Linus has Linux running on a Macbook Air, it may be good to > > show Macbook Pros with hybrid graphics have half-decent Linux support > > as well... :-p > > > On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 9:34 PM, Andreas Heider <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Peter, > > > I blacklisted both nvidia and nouveau during boot and did exactly these > > eight steps. I used dd to save the config space, if that is of any > > importance (e.g. "dd if=/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/config > > of=7-restored"). > > > Because I'm not sure wether the pci_save/restore_state functions work I did > > the test twice. You can find the results for the run with > > pci_save/restore_state at http://andreas.meetr.de/nouveau/pcs/ and the one > > without at http://andreas.meetr.de/nouveau/pcs-2. > > > Both lead to the same result, the vbios is not > > accessible. http://andreas.meetr.de/nouveau/nouveau.dmesg shows how a normal > > boot with nouveau looks like. > > > Cheers, > > Andreas > > > Am 08.03.2012 um 21:31 schrieb Lekensteyn: > > > Hi Andreas, > > > What about nouveau? The blob sometimes do not get completely unloaded > > (/dev/nvidia* devices then still > > exist). > > > What if the following steps are followed: > > > 1. ensure that the blob has not been loaded (reboot if necessary) > > 2. unload nouveau if necessary > > 3. save pci configuration space > > 4. disable card > > 5. save pci configuration space, it should be all 1's (ff in xxd) > > 6. enable card > > 7. save pci configuration space, it should be similar to (3) > > 8. load the nouveau driver, does it work? > > > Regards, > > Peter > > > On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 7:17 PM, Andreas Heider <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Peter, > > > I'm already saving the pci configuration space with pci_save/restore_state > > and I've also tried manually changing it through /sys/bus/pci/..., but I > > still have the problem that the blob can't load the vbios. > > > I've uploaded dumps of it, maybe you can spot something thats obviously > > wrong with it: > > 1. After boot: http://andreas.meetr.de/gmux/nv.config > > 2. After one powercycle: http://andreas.meetr.de/gmux/nv.bad.config > > 3. After one powercycle and copying the first config space > > back: http://andreas.meetr.de/gmux/nv.bad.config_restored > > > Unfortunately this still gives me the NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! > > (0x30:0xffffffff:858) error. > > > Thanks, > > Andreas > > > > Am 08.03.2012 um 12:38 schrieb Lekensteyn: > > > Hi Andreas, > > > I've documented about the PCI configuration space issue on > > http://wiki.bumblebee-project.org/ACPI-for-Developers. Bumblebee also > > saves > > and restores the PCI configuration space before enabling/after disabling. > > > Regards, > > Peter > > > On Thu, Mar 8, 2012 at 2:47 AM, Andreas Heider <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi everyone, > > > I'll just continue using this mailing list as a blog. After a lot of > > wild guesses in all directions I now have a setup that could be a base > > for useful graphics switching on Macbook Pros. It's not completely > > reliable yet but hopefully that will improve in the future. > > > Switching between two running GPUs works pretty well and just needs a > > bit more work. But that shouldn't be a big issue. > > > The main problem I fought with is that after powering down the external > > GPU the vbios vanishes and it's impossible to load the proprietary > > nvidia driver: > > > [ 214.505208] NVRM: failed to copy vbios to system memory. > > [ 214.507347] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x30:0xffffffff:858) > > [ 214.507357] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed > > > The same problem exists with nouveau, after the first power cycle > > nouveau doesn't load again if I unload it. I guess this is actually a > > BIOS/EFI/firmware bug, since Apple's switching driver just keeps the > > driver loaded. > > > So it's necessary to load the driver once and keep it loaded. This works > > well with nouveau+vga_switcheroo but is a bit problematic with the > > blob. > > > At the moment I have the blob running with the patch from my first mail > > and noticed that it survives a powercycle if X _is_ loaded while the GPU > > is powered down. If I shutdown X I get this error when I try to start it > > again afterwards: > > > [ 144.390920] NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1170) > > [ 144.390930] NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed > > > I'm not 100% certain that this really works but at the moment it's the > > only possibility for getting full switching support with the blob. > > > Speaking of nvidia bugs, I also had problems with the blob not reliably > > loading when I boot with EFI. > > Luckily it's possible to also enable the integrated card in BIOS > > emulation mode. After staring a lot at the output of lspci -xxx from > > both EFI and BIOS boot I noticed that this just requires flipping one > > bit in the pci configuration space. This can be done by adding "setpci > > -d 8086:0044 54.b=0b" in grub. This value will most likely only work for > > this exact model, a MBP 6,2. For more information see > > http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/322813.pdf page 62. > > > If anyone has some hints how to better deal with the blob that would be > > greatly appreciated. > > > On Wed, 2012-02-29 at 10:33 +0100, Lekensteyn wrote: > > Hi Andreas, > > > I'm using nouveau + bbswitch (switcheroo also works, but not after > > resume), not on > > a mac, but a Clevo B7130 (branded as "BTO P-BOOK 17CL34"). > > > The restoration of the PCI configuration space is a hack to allow the > > driver to load > > in case it was accidentally loaded while the card was off. This is > > especially necessary > > for the nvidia blob driver which loads itself if you try to > > access /dev/nvidia* devices. > > > In the case of switcheroo, no driver is attempted to be unloaded (see > > the second field > > of the switching_method struct and line 30 of src/switch/switching.c. > > > Sorry, that was my fault. I changed that for testing purposes and then > > forgot about it. > > > > gmux can be integrated into BB. Writing a new switcher module > > (src/switch/gmux.c) > > which also takes care of loading the switcheroo module (only if that > > is a safe operation!) > > should do the trick. Just be careful not to conflict with switcheroo. > > The other way is leave > > BB as it and require users to load gmux before BB. > > > Because of vbios situation and nouveau already working pretty well with > > switcheroo I'd prefer to keep using that. > > > Regards, > > Peter > > > Cheers, > > Andreas > > > > On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 12:25 AM, Andreas Heider <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > Hi Peter, > > > I took another look at bumblebee today and got it running with > > nouveau! > > Bumblebee automatically powers the nvidia card down when it's > > not in > > use and starting programs with optirun works well. > > > This required a dirty hack to bumblebee which you can find > > here: > > > https://github.com/ah-/Bumblebee/commit/c5ab6f0e7f841045cee6905bb367c79091b0eb6b > > > The problem is that bumblebee wants to save/restore the pci > > configuration > > space, which is already done by nouveau. (See > > https://gist.github.com/1935992) > > > It also shouldn't try to unload the driver. > > > Do you think this could somehow be integrated into bumblebee? > > > Cheers, > > Andreas > > > On Tue, 2012-02-28 at 16:14 +0100, Lekensteyn wrote: > > > Hi Andreas, > > > > > > vga_switcheroo is a supported method since Bumblebee 3.0, > > but I > > > assumed that > > > it would not be used for the nvidia driver. If you wish to > > use the > > > nvidia blob with > > > switcheroo, you have to recompile Bumblebee and apply commit > > > 85636d1f21b0644e7dd47e3931479860c55b7a05 (or use the develop > > branch). > > > The > > > next version will have this change too. > > > > > > One shortcoming of vga_switcheroo now is that the state is > > messed up > > > after > > > suspend: switcheroo remembered that the card was off, but in > > reality > > > the card > > > is on. The module bbswitch worked around this by enabling > > the card > > > before > > > suspend and disabling the card on resume. > > > > > > In some cases, while the card was turned off with switcheroo > > caused > > > the machine > > > to lock when the card is tried to be accessed. If switcheroo > > is not an > > > option for > > > Bumblebee, you can write your own switching code. See the > > src/switch/ > > > directory > > > for examples. > > > > > > Regards, > > > Peter > > > (Bumblebee and bbswitch developer) > > > > > > On Tue, Feb 28, 2012 at 3:16 PM, Andreas Heider > > <[email protected]> > > > wrote: > > > Hello everybody, > > > > > > I'm developing a vga_switcheroo driver for the Apple > > Macbook > > > Pro models > > > with switchable graphics and have a few questions > > about how to > > > integrate > > > it with the current linux hybrid graphics > > infrastructure. > > > > > > > > > Apple implemented the switching using a "chip" > > dubbed the > > > "gmux" (probably short for graphics multiplexer or > > something > > > similar). > > > The gmux can power down the external graphics card, > > switch the > > > DDC, > > > internal and external display connections > > (individually) > > > between both > > > cards and set the backlight brightness. Unlike most > > newer > > > laptops with > > > hybrid graphics, Apple's Macbook Pros use a physical > > mux. > > > > > > Luckily the gmux has remained mostly the same > > between all > > > models with > > > switchable graphics, so it should be possible to > > develop one > > > driver that > > > supports all of them. > > > > > > > > > This driver has actually been lying around in > > unfinished state > > > for some > > > time now, until Seth Forshee from Canonical recently > > rewrote > > > it into a > > > clean, backlight-only driver that will hopefully > > find it's way > > > into > > > mainline soon. > > > > > > My goal is to use Seth's work as a base and add the > > other > > > features back > > > again and make it work well. A first version is > > already > > > working and up > > > at https://github.com/ah-/gmux > > > > > > This driver supports all vga_switcheroo operations > > (discrete > > > power > > > on/off, display switching) and they all work on my > > MBP 6,2 > > > using the > > > intel and nouveau drivers. > > > > > > But unfortunately, it doesn't work with bumbleebee > > and/or the > > > proprietary > > > nvidia driver yet. > > > > > > > > > Because I'm using CUDA in other projects, getting > > the > > > proprietary NVIDIA > > > driver running well is very interesting to me. The > > setup > > > bumblebee plus > > > intel + nvidia_current without power management > > works well on > > > my laptop > > > if I switch to the intel card in grub. (It's just > > three > > > outbs). But that > > > breaks suspend and uses 10W more power than > > necessary. > > > > > > Does/should bumblebee work with a vga_switcheroo > > driver just > > > for ON/OFF? > > > > > > One thing I stumbled upon is a patch for the > > proprietary > > > NVIDIA > > > driver originally written by "Kayo > > <[email protected]>" which > > > adds > > > some kind of vga_switcheroo support to it. I > > modified it to > > > just register > > > with switcheroo (patch is attached), and that part > > works well. > > > Turning > > > off the card works, but turning it on afterwards > > doesn't. Any > > > Ideas? > > > > > > > > > Ultimately I'd like to get two scenarios/workflows > > to work > > > well: > > > > > > 1. Real switching, by disabling one card completely > > and only > > > using > > > the other one, requiring a logout/login. > > > Preferably using the NVIDIA driver. > > > > > > 2. Bumblebee switching with working power management > > when the > > > NVIDIA > > > GPU is not in usw. > > > > > > > > > I'd appreciate any comments and thoughts on how to > > implement > > > this and > > > how to integrate it with the current hybrid graphics > > > environment. > > > > > > Cheers, > > > Andreas > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Mailing list: > > https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux > > > Post to : > > [email protected] > > > Unsubscribe : > > https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux > > > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux > > Post to : [email protected] > > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux > > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux > Post to : [email protected] > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux > Post to : [email protected] > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~hybrid-graphics-linux More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
