How to choose graphics at startup

Hi,

Reading here:

Simply add optimus-manager.startup=MODE to your kernel parameters list, where MODE can be any startup mode.

My search foo is lacking I guess but how would I add that so I can choose at startup?

Thanks.

I’d suggest that you modify /etc/optimus-manager/optimus-manager.conf instead, and modify the startup_mode=... line in there as you want.

That’s what I currently do but with optimus-manager-qt (the tray icon) instead of manually.

Would like to be able to choose at startup.
Or is this not functioning correctly?

Thanks.

Now I’m not sure what you want. If you want to choose the the mode at each and every boot, then you need to know how you can edit the kernel command line, and then modify it as you wish at every boot.

If you want to set the mode in which your computer will start up automatically, then there’s the startup_mode key in /etc/optimus-manager/optimus-manager.conf.

By default, I boot Intel using Optimus Manager.
When I come home after doing a live-stream event I have to edit/render the video in Kdenlive (using Nvidia).
Instead of booting, change graphics, log out and back in it would be easier to boot straight into Nvidia.

Thanks.

You can boot do that in “hybrid” mode with prime-run. Maybe “hybrid” mode is sufficient for all your purposes, and then you can just always boot into that.

Well, you can configure optimus-manager to switch to “nvidia” mode if your laptop is charging, otherwise boot into “intel” mode.

See /etc/optimus-manager/optimus-manager.conf:

# GPU mode to use at computer startup. Possible values: nvidia, intel, hybrid, auto
# "auto" is a special mode that auto-detects if the computer is running on battery
# and selects a proper GPU mode. See the other options below.
startup_mode=auto
# GPU mode to select when startup_mode=auto and the computer is running on battery.
# Possible values: nvidia, intel, hybrid
startup_auto_battery_mode=hybrid
# GPU mode to select when startup_mode=auto and the computer is running on external power.
# Possible values: nvidia, intel, hybrid
startup_auto_extpower_mode=nvidia

Due to the ongoing “Nvidia quirks” I don’t want to boot with Nvidia by default.
I often don’t have the time to “fight the system”, hence I only want to boot using Intel by default.

My thought is it would be easier for me (and possibly others) to choose at boot.

Thanks.

Well, I’m unfortunately not aware of any convenient method of doing that. The closest is manually modifying the kernel command line in the boot loader when you want “nvidia”.

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As an alternative to startup_mode, optimus-manager also allows you to set the startup GPU mode using a kernel parameter. This is useful if you want to create multiple entries in your bootloader with different GPU startup modes (for instance a “battery-saving” mode that starts with the integrated GPU, and a “gaming” mode that starts with Nvidia).

Would be nice if that could somehow be implemented.

Thanks so far.

If you use GRUB, maybe you can do that with grub-customizer easily. Otherwise I’m assuming you need to create the entries for your bootloader manually.