Ubuntu – Ubuntu Gnome 17.04: Launch using Dedicated Graphics Card, Globally

amd-graphicsgnomegraphics

Having heard the news about Ubuntu's coming move back to Gnome Desktop, I've decided to embrace this change earlier and upgraded from Ubuntu 16.10 to Ubuntu Gnome 17.04, and I'm quite happy about it.

I've already begun enjoying some advantages, like the straightforward option of using the Dedicated AMD Graphics Card instead of the Integrated Intel Graphics when launching applications as seen in the screenshot. This is very helpful especially considering that AMD has stopped supporting Ubuntu after version 15.04 for my hybrid graphics card…

However, I wonder (given the fact that vga-switcheroo is practically useless for me) if there's any way of enabling this option globally in some way so that all applications (e.g. when a file is clicked to open in the default application) run using the Dedicated Graphics Card. What I have in mind is that I'd rather have all apps use the Dedicated Graphics Card when the computer is not running on battery power…

NOTE: It is also possible to launch individual apps using the dedicated GPU by running them with the environment variable DRI_PRIME=1 (e.g. DRI_PRIME=1 inkscape) from terminal. And this can be achieved by manually editing desktop configuration files, and inserting env DRI_PRIME=1 to the Exec= line (e.g. Exec=env DRI_PRIME=1 inkscape %F).

Best Answer

If I'm right what you want to ask is, how run a specific app on dGPU always, instead of right clicking on it and selecting Run dedicated GPU.

It mostly depends on the Desktop Environment.

Here is screenshot from my KDE setup:

Here I have checked it to run on a dedicated GPU and now it always runs on the dGPU, I'm not sure if gnome does it bt if you explore into the launcher editor you might find a option to set it permanently.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – What exactly does “Launch using dedicated graphics card” do

I had the exact same question, none of the valiables like __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia, __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1, __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only, DRI_PRIME=1 produced the same result.

I even tried to search in gnome-shell source code but the functions aren't in gnome-shell repo.

I finally ACCIDENTALLY stumbled upon switechroo-controls package,

I tried switcherooctl launch <command> which replicates the gnome shell behaviour. Then I had an epiphany to search for switcheroo in gnome-shell repo.

❯ grep -ri 'switcheroo' 
Binary file .git/index matches
data/dbus-interfaces/net.hadess.SwitcherooControl.xml:      net.hadess.SwitcherooControl:
data/dbus-interfaces/net.hadess.SwitcherooControl.xml:      check the value of net.hadess.SwitcherooControl.HasDualGpu to see
data/dbus-interfaces/net.hadess.SwitcherooControl.xml:      The object path will be "/net/hadess/SwitcherooControl".
data/dbus-interfaces/net.hadess.SwitcherooControl.xml:  <interface name="net.hadess.SwitcherooControl">
js/ui/appDisplay.js:        this._switcherooNotifyId = global.connect('notify::switcheroo-control',
js/ui/appDisplay.js:        this._switcherooProxy = global.get_switcheroo_control();
js/ui/appDisplay.js:        if (this._switcherooProxy) {
js/ui/appDisplay.js:            let prop = this._switcherooProxy.get_cached_property('HasDualGpu');
src/meson.build:dbus_generated += gnome.gdbus_codegen('switcheroo-control',
src/meson.build:  '../data/dbus-interfaces/net.hadess.SwitcherooControl.xml',
src/shell-app.c:#include "switcheroo-control.h"
src/shell-app.c:  proxy = shell_global_get_switcheroo_control (global);
src/shell-app.c:      g_warning ("Could not apply discrete GPU environment, switcheroo-control not available");
src/shell-app.c:  variant = shell_net_hadess_switcheroo_control_get_gpus (SHELL_NET_HADESS_SWITCHEROO_CONTROL (proxy));
src/shell-app.c:  g_debug ("Could not find discrete GPU in switcheroo-control, not applying environment");
src/shell-global.c:#include "switcheroo-control.h"
src/shell-global.c:  GDBusProxy *switcheroo_control;
src/shell-global.c:  GCancellable *switcheroo_cancellable;
src/shell-global.c:  PROP_SWITCHEROO_CONTROL,
src/shell-global.c:got_switcheroo_control_gpus_property_cb (GObject      *source_object,
src/shell-global.c:        g_debug ("Could not get GPUs property from switcheroo-control: %s", error->message);
src/shell-global.c:  g_dbus_proxy_set_cached_property (global->switcheroo_control, "GPUs", gpus);
src/shell-global.c:  g_object_notify (G_OBJECT (global), "switcheroo-control");
src/shell-global.c:switcheroo_control_ready_cb (GObject      *source_object,
src/shell-global.c:  ShellNetHadessSwitcherooControl *control;
src/shell-global.c:  control = shell_net_hadess_switcheroo_control_proxy_new_for_bus_finish (res, &error);
src/shell-global.c:        g_debug ("Could not get switcheroo-control GDBusProxy: %s", error->message);
src/shell-global.c:  global->switcheroo_control = G_DBUS_PROXY (control);
src/shell-global.c:  g_debug ("Got switcheroo-control proxy successfully");
src/shell-global.c:  cached_props = g_dbus_proxy_get_cached_property_names (global->switcheroo_control);
src/shell-global.c:      g_object_notify (G_OBJECT (global), "switcheroo-control");
src/shell-global.c:  g_dbus_connection_call (g_dbus_proxy_get_connection (global->switcheroo_control),
src/shell-global.c:                          g_dbus_proxy_get_name (global->switcheroo_control),
src/shell-global.c:                          g_dbus_proxy_get_object_path (global->switcheroo_control),
src/shell-global.c:                                         g_dbus_proxy_get_interface_name (global->switcheroo_control),
src/shell-global.c:                          global->switcheroo_cancellable,
src/shell-global.c:                          got_switcheroo_control_gpus_property_cb,
src/shell-global.c:    case PROP_SWITCHEROO_CONTROL:
src/shell-global.c:      g_value_set_object (value, global->switcheroo_control);
src/shell-global.c:switcheroo_appeared_cb (GDBusConnection *connection,
src/shell-global.c:  g_debug ("switcheroo-control appeared");
src/shell-global.c:  shell_net_hadess_switcheroo_control_proxy_new_for_bus (G_BUS_TYPE_SYSTEM,
src/shell-global.c:                                                         "net.hadess.SwitcherooControl",
src/shell-global.c:                                                         "/net/hadess/SwitcherooControl",
src/shell-global.c:                                                         global->switcheroo_cancellable,
src/shell-global.c:                                                         switcheroo_control_ready_cb,
src/shell-global.c:switcheroo_vanished_cb (GDBusConnection *connection,
src/shell-global.c:  g_debug ("switcheroo-control vanished");
src/shell-global.c:  g_clear_object (&global->switcheroo_control);
src/shell-global.c:  g_object_notify (G_OBJECT (global), "switcheroo-control");
src/shell-global.c:  global->switcheroo_cancellable = g_cancellable_new ();
src/shell-global.c:                    "net.hadess.SwitcherooControl",
src/shell-global.c:                    switcheroo_appeared_cb,
src/shell-global.c:                    switcheroo_vanished_cb,
src/shell-global.c:  g_cancellable_cancel (global->switcheroo_cancellable);
src/shell-global.c:  g_clear_object (&global->switcheroo_cancellable);
src/shell-global.c:                                   PROP_SWITCHEROO_CONTROL,
src/shell-global.c:                                   g_param_spec_object ("switcheroo-control",
src/shell-global.c:                                                        "switcheroo-control",
src/shell-global.c:                                                        "D-Bus Proxy for switcheroo-control daemon",
src/shell-global.c: * shell_global_get_switcheroo_control:
src/shell-global.c: * Get the global #GDBusProxy instance for the switcheroo-control
src/shell-global.c:shell_global_get_switcheroo_control (ShellGlobal  *global)
src/shell-global.c:  return global->switcheroo_control;
src/shell-global.h:         shell_global_get_switcheroo_control    (ShellGlobal  *global);

Which confirms it, more intuitive proof (I am a fedora user):

TLDR

In answer to your exact question: Gnome does it by using a library switcheroo-control.

Practical answer: you can do the same thing with switcherooctl launch <command>

EDIT: I am not sure if the command works on ubuntu, but debian and ubuntu repositories have the package switcheroo-control.

This is the tree of extracted switcheroo-control package (deb).

.
├── etc
│   └── dbus-1
│       └── system.d
│           └── net.hadess.SwitcherooControl.conf
├── lib
│   ├── systemd
│   │   └── system
│   │       └── switcheroo-control.service
│   └── udev
│       └── hwdb.d
│           └── 30-pci-intel-gpu.hwdb
└── usr
    ├── libexec
    │   └── switcheroo-control
    └── share
        └── doc
            └── switcheroo-control
                ├── changelog.Debian.gz
                ├── copyright
                ├── NEWS.gz
                └── README.md

Edit: Ok I found the problem, when setting the variable if you set like VAR=value, this is a regular variable, while export VAR=value makes it accessible to subprocesses (REF)

after this,any one of the variables work for me,export __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia,export __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1,export __VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only,export DRI_PRIME=1 (they have their own different functions)

so use switchrootctl launch <command> or, export above variables and launch the process. you can even create a alias

Ex:

alias dgpu="export __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia && export __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 &&"

and then dgpu <command>

this is the environment variables set by switchroot-control (in my case).

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – What *exactly* does “Launch using dedicated graphics card” do

TLDR

Related Question

Ubuntu – What exactly does “Launch using dedicated graphics card” do