Am I using integrated graphics or Radeon card?

[Amandaville]

How can I tell if I'm using the Intel integrated graphics or the Radeon card in my laptop?

[catweazel]

How can I tell if I'm using the Intel integrated graphics or the Radeon card in my laptop?

Please post the output of this terminal command:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

Enclose the results inbetween [ⅽode] and [/ⅽode] code markers by selecting </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply.

[Amandaville]

Please post the output of this terminal command:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

Enclose the results inbetween [ⅽode] and [/ⅽode] code markers by selecting </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply.

Code: Select all

$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: Salanay Kernel: 4.4.0-66-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.2.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.2) Distro: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena
Machine:   System: Dell (portable) product: Inspiron N4050
           Mobo: Dell model: 07NMC8 v: A05 Bios: Dell v: A05 date: 10/14/2011
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-2450M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9977
           clock speeds: max: 3100 MHz 1: 1090 MHz 2: 1024 MHz 3: 1029 MHz 4: 905 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Seymour [Radeon HD 6400M/7400M Series] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon,intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz, 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-66-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 05:00.0
           IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver: ath9k bus-ID: 09:00.0
           IF: wlp9s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 4640.9GB (58.8% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: Hitachi_HTS54756 size: 640.1GB
           ID-2: USB /dev/sdb model: My_Passport_25E2 size: 4000.8GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 110G used: 18G (18%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 4.00GB used: 0.15GB (4%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 62.0C mobo: N/A gpu: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 261 Uptime: 12 days Memory: 5069.3/7891.6MB Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

[Hoser Rob]

This in your inxi output ...

GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile GLX

says it's using the Intel card.

[Mark Phelps]

How can I tell if I'm using the Intel integrated graphics or the Radeon card in my laptop?

You have something known as Switchable Graphics in which the video processor being used is determined by the video demand --but this requires special video drivers to work, and those are generally ONLY available in MS Windows.

[Amandaville]

I was able to switch to the ATI Radeon card by adding DRI_PRIME=1 to /etc/environment. Unfortunately there is a problem that affects the use of Prime in Cinnamon and I ended up with a black screen.

Black screen with GL-based compositors

Currently there are issues with GL-based compositors and PRIME offloading. While Xrender-based compositors (xcompmgr, xfwm, compton's default backend, cairo-compmgr, and a few others) will work without issue, GL-based compositors (Mutter/muffin, Compiz, compton with GLX backend, Kwin's OpenGL backend, etc) will initially show a black screen, as if there was no compositor running. While you can force an image to appear by resizing the offloaded window, this is not a practical solution as it will not work for things such as full screen Wine applications. This means that desktop environments such as GNOME3 and Cinnamon have issues with using PRIME offloading.