Optimus - Bumblebee install steps for Betsy?

[betacentauri]

First of all, a HUGE, HUGE THANK YOU all devs for this amazing OS.
Quite some time ago I installed 32 bits LMDE 1 on my Optimus machine and I vaguely remember having trouble at some point in the process of installing NVIDIA drivers + Bumblebee.
At that time, Bumblebee was not yet into LMDE repos, while I see it is now. Some of this process might have been streamlined by today, therefore I am asking for the proper steps to do it.
Is it just a matter of apt-getting bumblebee or do I still need to install separately the official NVIDIA drivers? In what order?
Please enlighten, Thank you in advance

EDIT: Yep, I don't deserve this OS. This page https://wiki.debian.org/Bumblebee seems to have almost everything I need.

However, I am getting the same amount of FPS in glxgears with or without optirun... Why would that be?

Code: Select all

betsyrc ~ # apt-get install bumblebee-nvidia primus

Code: Select all

oso@betsyrc ~ $ inxi -Gx
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF108M [GeForce GT 630M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1600x900@60.11hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Ivybridge Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.3.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
oso@betsyrc ~ $ optirun inxi -Gx
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF108M [GeForce GT 630M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.16.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1600x900@60.11hz
           GLX Renderer: GeForce GT 630M/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 4.4.0 NVIDIA 340.65 Direct Rendering: Yes

Code: Select all

oso@betsyrc ~ $ glxgears -info
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
GL_RENDERER   = Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Mobile 
GL_VERSION    = 3.0 Mesa 10.3.2
GL_VENDOR     = Intel Open Source Technology Center
GL_EXTENSIONS = GL_ARB_multisample GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT [...snip...]
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.905 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.904 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.906 FPS

Code: Select all

oso@betsyrc ~ $ optirun glxgears -info
GL_RENDERER   = GeForce GT 630M/PCIe/SSE2
GL_VERSION    = 4.4.0 NVIDIA 340.65
GL_VENDOR     = NVIDIA Corporation
GL_EXTENSIONS = GL_AMD_multi_draw_indirect  [...snip...]
304 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.632 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.901 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.905 FPS

Code: Select all

[  467.520287] bbswitch: enabling discrete graphics
[  467.709593] vgaarb: device changed decodes: PCI:0000:01:00.0,olddecodes=none,decodes=none:owns=none
[  467.710113] [drm] Initialized nvidia-drm 0.0.0 20130102 for 0000:01:00.0 on minor 1
[  467.710122] NVRM: loading NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module  340.65  Tue Dec  2 09:50:34 PST 2014
[  467.735790] nvidia 0000:01:00.0: irq 48 for MSI/MSI-X
[  467.739831] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  467.739926] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  467.739981] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  467.740031] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  467.740080] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  467.740127] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  467.740203] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  467.740251] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  471.017251] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  489.736685] [drm] Module unloaded
[  489.737859] bbswitch: disabling discrete graphics
[  489.737870] ACPI Warning: \_SB_.PCI0.PEG0.PEGP._DSM: Argument #4 type mismatch - Found [Buffer], ACPI requires [Package] (20140424/nsarguments-95)
[  489.750990] pci 0000:01:00.0: Refused to change power state, currently in D0

[zerozero]

try with

Code: Select all

vblank_mode=0 glxgears -info

one (of the several) explanations >> http://askubuntu.com/questions/285342/w ... benchmarks

for me the difference is impressive

Code: Select all

zerozero@home ~ $ glxgears -info
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
GL_RENDERER   = Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Desktop 
GL_VERSION    = 3.0 Mesa 10.3.2
GL_VENDOR     = Intel Open Source Technology Center
GL_EXTENSIONS = GL_ARB_multisample GL [...]
304 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.735 FPS
300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 59.999 FPS
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.001 FPS
301 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.001 FPS                                                                                                                                                                                                   
^C 

Code: Select all

zerozero@home ~ $ vblank_mode=0 glxgears -info  
ATTENTION: default value of option vblank_mode overridden by environment.  
ATTENTION: default value of option vblank_mode overridden by environment.  
GL_RENDERER   = Mesa DRI Intel(R) Ivybridge Desktop    
GL_VERSION    = 3.0 Mesa 10.3.2   
GL_VENDOR     = Intel Open Source Technology Center  
GL_EXTENSIONS = GL_ARB_multisample [...]
39207 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7841.342 FPS
39835 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7966.909 FPS
39834 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7966.764 FPS
39903 frames in 5.0 seconds = 7980.445 FPS               

[justnext]

try to install virtualgl package:

• 32bit: virtualgl_2.4_i386.deb
• 64bit: virtualgl_2.4_amd64.deb

even though glxgears is not a good tool to test bumblebee, it usually performs 10+ times better with virtualgl installed.

1. without optirun, without virtualgl

Code: Select all

$ glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh.  The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
303 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.493 FPS
302 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.235 FPS
302 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.208 FPS
^C

2. with optirun, but without virtualgl (probably your case)

Code: Select all

$ optirun glxgears
305 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.829 FPS
302 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.207 FPS
302 frames in 5.0 seconds = 60.204 FPS
^C

3. with optirun, and with virtualgl installed

Code: Select all

$ optirun glxgears
4196 frames in 5.0 seconds = 839.015 FPS
4274 frames in 5.0 seconds = 854.740 FPS
4291 frames in 5.0 seconds = 858.110 FPS
^C

bumblebee is all about using virtualgl bridge to transport images between two gpus. without virtualgl package installed, optirun is forced to use primus bridge.

as suggested by the official bumblebee project's wiki FAQ page, by Usage page, by optirun's man page, the right tool to test bumblebee is glxspheres (32bit) or glxspheres64 (64bit).

[betacentauri]

Thank you for your comments and advice!
I switched Xorg to SNA (vs. UXA) mode and redid some tests. Then installed virtualgl and repeated. Measurements are first three frame numbers, averaged.
Got interesting numbers I'd like to come up with and explanation for, but IHNIWID.

Code: Select all

vblank_mode=0                                  No virtualgl         Virtualgl	
                                             Frames     FPS      Frames     FPS
      no                           glxgears   382.7    76.3       387.3    77.3
      no                   optirun glxgears   321.7    64.1      5559.3  1110.7
      no                 primusrun glxgears   314.0    62.7       322.7    64.4
      yes            vblank_mode=0 glxgears  9041.0  1806.2      3665.3   732.0
      yes    vblank_mode=0 optirun glxgears  2964.7   590.9      5679.0  1135.4
      yes  vblank_mode=0 primusrun glxgears  3189.3   637.6      9614.3  1922.8