New laptop with two VGA

[pider]

Bought a new laptop last week : Multicom Kunshan W155 Design Collection, without any OS. Installed Kubuntu 11.10 and moust of the stuff worked well except I had to install update with this command :"sudo apt-get upgrade -y". It did crash if I used Muon.
Here are the specs for the laptop (in Norwegian, but I hope you can understand):

15.6" Wide skjerm Full HD LED 1920x1080 - mattskjerm
GeForce GT 555 skjermkort med 2GB DDR3 minne, nVidia PhysX og CUDA teknologi
nVidia Optimus teknologi - skjermkortet veksler mellom Intel HD Graphics 3000 og GeForce GT 555M etter behov
Nyeste Intel Core™ i5 eller i7 prosessor - valgfri størrelse
Intel HM65 Express chipset
DDR3 1333MHz SO-DIMM RAM - valgfri størrelse
Bluetooth
802.11 b/g/n trådløst nettverkskort Intel Centrino 6230
10/100/1000Mpbs nettverkskort
DVD Super Multi brenner eller Blu-Ray spiller
Touchpad med scroll funksjon
Webkamera 2.0 Megapiksler
Intel HD-Audio
Stereo høyttalere innebygget
Innebygget mikrofon
1 x HDMI utgang
1 x VGA utgang
1 x SPDIF utgang
2 x USB 2.0 kontakter
2 x USB 3.0 kontakter
1 x eSATA kontakt
1 x Mikrofoninngang
1 x Hodetelefonutgang
9-i-1 minnekortleser (MMC, RS MMC, MS, MS Pro, MS Duo, SD, Mini-SD, SDHC, SDXC)
6 Cellers batteri Smart Lithium Ion, 5600mAh
Kensington låsespor
Størrelse 374 x 250 x 25~40.2mm (BxDxH)
Vekt: 2.6 kg med batteri

I think it is using the "Intel HD Graphics 3000" because there are no nVidia driver installed. I would like tom use the "GeForce GT 555M "
How do I fix this?

[Snowhog]

As to the GPU to be used, you 'may' need to check the BIOS settings. Usually, when there are two video cards/chips in the PC, one is set to be used 'by default'. Likely, in this case, it's the Intel HD Graphics 30000. So, in the BIOS, see if it can be disabled, which "should" then allow the GeForce GT 555 to be utilized. Even then, you might have to check to see if the Additional Drivers then sees it and makes it available for activation.

[SteveRiley]

The Bumblebee Project is actively working on a software stack to enable easier switching between CPU-integrated and nVidia discrete graphics. You can install from a PPA; no compiling required. Their Launchpad project page contains some useful information, as does the Ubuntu wiki.

[pider]

I have checked the BIOS settings, but I cannnot find a option for turning off the Intel card.

[pider]

Maybe I schould install CUDA : http://http://samiux.blogspot.com/20...on-ubuntu.html
Anyone have experience with this?

[SteveRiley]

More information on CUDA. Note that this won't help you get your nVidia hardware running -- it has to be functioning properly with the correct drivers first. If your BIOS/UEFI lacks the functionality to switch video hardware, then you'll need to explore what Bumblebee can help you do to get Optimus working correctly.

[pider]

Installed Bumblebee, success!





Tanks!

[SteveRiley]

Nice!

[Teunis]

A nice piece of kit with an excellent price, especially for Norge!

I hope you will find a way to start up on the nVidia card as that's on my Thinkpad with Optimus technology the only way to enable an external monitor.

[SteveRiley]

I hope you will find a way to start up on the nVidia card as that's on my Thinkpad with Optimus technology the only way to enable an external monitor.

Which ThinkPad do you have?

[Teunis]

I have a W520, Bumblebee works fine but the VGA and HDMI ports are only available when starting up in the 'Descrete Video' mode.
It's not really a problem as I use my external monitor (HP ZR24w) only when on mains and the BIOS settings are just a few keystrokes away.

That's what I find strange about the Multicom Kunshan W155, it's specs are pretty close to the W520 but for a better price, even with the usually outrageous Norwegian taxes and levies.

[SteveRiley]

I have a W520, Bumblebee works fine but the VGA and HDMI ports are only available when starting up in the 'Descrete Video' mode.

I have a T520, which is probably similar to your W520. I've disabled the nVidia graphics in the UEFI and use only the Intel HD 3000. It can drive the analog VGA port, but not the digital DisplayPort.

[Teunis]

UEFI.
So far I've not really seen reference to it during boot up unless it's controlled through that other option which is displayed for 2 sec. before entering the actual BIOS.
And presently I have no desire to muck around with it

Yes I saw you have the T520 and there's good reason to assume they are not very different, I'll give VGA another try.
But as said, I'm quite happy with changing the BIOS settings like once a day.

All together this is an awesome machine with perfect Linux compatibility!
Things like WIFI and Mobile Broadband (3G) worked out of the box, even Bumblebee was ready when I got the computer.
The sound system selects the digital drivers when I hook up HDMI, most hotkeys like screen brightness, trackpoint/touchpad and hibernation worked without intervention.

I've always had Toshiba's, because the last Tecra S5 (of July 2008 ) had several hardware failures and a new one was several 100's of euro more expensive than this Thinkpad it was an easy choice.
At work we are after >25 years of HP now an (almost) exclusive Lenovo shop (T61 and W510) and it's good kit.

[SteveRiley]

So you don't actually have an old-style BIOS anymore. Your ThinkPad includes a full UEFI 2.0 implementation. UEFI incorporates a BIOS compatibility mode, but that doesn't mean UEFI steps out of the way. Instead, this mode allows older operating systems to boot -- that is, operating systems whose bootloaders don't know how to make sense of the UEFI system partition.

Alas, in many instances -- Lenovo included -- the documentation and the text on the screen still use the term "BIOS," especially when referring to the settings screen in which you can configure things like boot order, video chips, and so on. Matter of fact, try this on your laptop:

sudo efibootmgr -v

What's the output?

[Teunis]

sudo: efibootmgr: command not found

Right now I don't have time but later I'll post a photo of the 'BIOS'screen.

This is the readme with the last update:
http://download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub...s/8buj14uc.txt

Yes it's an UEFI BIOS/bootmanager.