Ubuntu

switchable graphics HP Envy 14 Ubuntu 12.04

Bug #1053856 reported by sean.h.muir@gmail.com on 2012-09-21

This bug affects 1 person

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	Ubuntu	Opinion	Undecided	Unassigned

Bug Description

I have found the following issues when following the instructions at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HybridGraphics:
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To have permanent write permissions to the switch file, add the following line, replacing USERNAME with your username, to /etc/init.d/rc.local:

chown USERNAME /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
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I do not add the above command to /etc/init.d/rc.local, i simply just chown the above file. adding the line into the rc.local file does nothing at all for me and prevents me from using the script by simply adding a laucher and results in me running sudo su in the terminal first followed by the switchcards.sh command.

In addition to the above I have also found the following issue when using the adapted script at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/druellan/precise-hpenvy1095la#Synaptics_Clickpad:

within the gxmessage script that there is no need for the gnome-session-quit command as this as creates a log out option:

if [ $EUID != 0 ]; then
    gksudo "$0" "$@"
    gnome-session-quit
    exit $?
fi

and all that is required is the following at the top of the script:

if [ $EUID != 0 ]; then
gksudo "$0" "$@"
exit $?
fi

Finally the brightness issue on boot is also resolved by issuing commands from terminal and not adding in to the rc.local file(as mentioned in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/druellan/precise-hpenvy1095la#Synaptics_Clickpad:

chown $User /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness
echo 1 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

regards

sean

See original description

Tags:

sean.h.muir@gmail.com (sean-h-muir) on 2012-09-21

affects:

xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu) → ubuntu

sean.h.muir@gmail.com (sean-h-muir) on 2012-09-21

description:	updated
description:	updated

Dario Ruellan (druellan) on 2012-09-28

Changed in ubuntu:
status:	New → Opinion

Revision history for this message

Dario Ruellan (druellan) wrote on 2012-09-28:

Hi Sean.
About your commentaries on my script:

The session-quit is needed because I'm using DIGD DDIS commands to switch cards, those commands only take place after a logout. I thought it was more safer that way.

About the video brightness on the rc.local, I put it there as a recommandation of the wiki, but also I like this command to be executed as soon as possible to not to stress the battery.
Tell me if I'm wrong, but I believe that if you use terminal commands, you must change the brightness mannually at the login?

Thanks for the comments!

Revision history for this message

sean.h.muir@gmail.com (sean-h-muir) wrote on 2012-09-28:

Hi Dario,

I find that having to logout to switch cards wastes time as you can do it on the fly. It also helps when the PC comes back from suspend or hibernate you can simply turn on the discrete and back to integrated to reduce the fan noise.

I was toying with adding the script into the power funtion of suspend, but didnt really get anywhere with it, if you get any success or are looking at stopping the fan noise on wake from suspend or hibernate let me know.

FYI I dont have to press the F3 (brightness key at login).

If you were to chown the rc.local file everything works, but you cannot have the rc.local ownership as root.

Regards

Sean

Revision history for this message

Dario Ruellan (druellan) wrote on 2012-09-28:

Hi Sean.
I'm not entirely sure you can do the switch on the fly.
Vga_swticheroo docs states that we can't switch graphics cards while X is running, and of course, is not possible on Windows using the latest proprietary drivers. That's why I thought it was safer this way.

Anyway, if you want to try using an "on-the-fly" approach, you must change the DIGS and DDIS commands to IGS and DIS to try an immediate switch.

Btw, the power function stuff is very interesting. Never thought of what happens when I resume the notebook. I'll check out.