nvman

⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ This script depends on optimus-manager which is only tested in Arch Linux based distros.

Introduction

This tiny script pretends to be a manager for both well known programs: bumblebee and optimus-manager. Both of them provide solutions for laptops that have NVIDIA.

What's the problem trying to solve?

If you already known how bumblebee and optimus-manager works, you may have noticed that you may need both of them.

• Sometimes you want to run a program with bumblebee regarding the performance loss.
• Sometimes you want to run a program with optimus-manager regarding that you have to log out and log in.

You will have to stop and start your services manually all the time, also you need to keep track of which of them is starting at boot, they are indeed conflictive.

Dependencies

• bumblebee (Official repo)
• primus (Official repo)
• optimus-manager (AUR)

Installation

You should definetly take advantage of the PKGBUILD available on the AUR.

• Using yay

  yay -S nvman
  

• Using makepkg

  git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/nvman.git
  cd nvman
  makepkg -sic
  

Configuration

There is a simple config file and it's located at /etc/nvman/config. The only valid value is the default service started at boot. You won't need to modify this file manually almost never, instead you should use nvman default <bumblebee|optimus>.

• Config syntax:

  default = <bumblebee|optimus>
  

• Default config:

  default = optimus
  

Usage

Commands:
  nvidia  <on|off>                Turn on/off NVIDIA GPU, useful for CUDA
  run     <cmd>                   Run any command with primusrun
  switch  <nvidia|intel|auto>     Switch gpu using optimus-manager
  startup <nvidia|intel>          Set startup gpu for optimus service
  default <bumblebee|optimus>     Set default service at boot
  start   <bumblebee|optimus>     Manually start the service
  stop    <bumblebee|optimus>     Manually stop the service

  help                            Show this help
  status                          Show the current status of both services

Commands examples

• Using nvidia to turn on/off your NVIDIA GPU on demand. This command is really useful for CUDA, and if you suspect that your NVIDIA GPU is on.

  nvman nvidia on
  ./cuda-program
  

• Using run to run something using primusrun

  nvman run glxgears
  

• Using switch to switch GPU using optimus-manager

  nvman switch auto
  

• Using default to set your default service at boot (default value: optimus)

  nvman default optimus
  

• Using startup to set your initial GPU on boot (only valid if your default service is optimus)

   nvman startup intel
  

• Using status to see what are you currently using (you can also just type nvman)

  Optimus          : active    (enabled)
  Bumblebee        : inactive  (disabled)
  NVIDIA GPU       : off
  Default service  : optimus
  Optimus mode     : intel
  Optimus startup  : intel
  

F.A.Q.

Why should I use nvman?

As I stated above, maybe you want to have bumblebee and optimus-manager on your system. nvman will help you to work with them, without systemd headaches.

What's doing nvman.service? Is it necessary?

It's TOTALLY necessary to have enabled nvman.service, it basically takes care that only one of the services (bumblebee or optimus) start at boot, since they can break your system if both of them are enabled.