[ltp] Re: Thinkpad W520, nouveau and external monitors

[Axel Braun]

Hi Fen

very interesting as I'm currently looking for the same machine.
I would be interested in your experience regarding the S2ram and s2disk 
capabilites - I mostly use s2ram and basically never shit the system down.

Is this reliable with the NVIDIA card? does it work with 3D enabled?

Thanks
Axel

Fen Labalme wrote:

> I have a new T520 with integrated intel GPU (i7-2760) and Nvidia (NVS
> 4200M) discrete graphics.  It comes with Windows 7 and BIOS set to
> "Optimus" that does smart switching between the two.  I'm running Ubuntu
> 11.10 with nouveau and have the BIOS set to "Integrated" that uses only
> the Intel GPU (GNU/Linux does not yet natively support Optimus) and am
> able to attach an external monitor via VGA seamlessly (I use compiz and
> get an extended desktop - both Laptop and External monitor making one
> large desktop).
> 
> The only issue I have is that my external monitor is larger than the VGA
> can handle, so I have black stripes on the sides.  I'm hoping that I can
> use Bumblebee <https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bumblebee> to support
> attaching the large external monitor to the DisplayPort and get full
> resolution (this works under Windows 7) but am not yet sure if this will
> work under GNU/Linux (see my as-yet-unanswered question at
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/104857/can-t520bumblebee-run-an-external-
monitor-via-displayport
> ).
> 
> But if you want only the external monitor (and not the laptop, too) I
> suspect that you could handle larger monitors just fine, though I have not
> tested this.
> 
> BTW: I tried the Nvidia proprietary blob from
> https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates and it seems to
> run
> fine, too.  But like you, I'd rather stick with free and open source
> software.
> 
> =Fen
> 
> On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 7:38 AM, Marco Vittorini Orgeas
> <marco@mavitt.org>wrote:
> 
>> Hi list,
>>
>> I am in the middle of a pre-purchasing evaluation of some thinkpad
>> models, in particular I am looking at w520 line and trying to understand
>> if I will be able to easily attach an external monitor to the VGA output
>> and configure it with the xrandr extension, all done using the free
>> nouveau driver.
>>
>> Is there somebody who owns such a system and can report if such a
>> configuration can be easily achieved?
>> Note: I don't mind if the laptop monitor is off when I attached  the
>> external one: that's because sometimes I am in a place where I can access
>> some big LCD monitors and I'd like to work on those by connecting them to
>> the laptop.
>>
>> I've done a bit  of research on the matter and it seems that w520 models
>> are equipped with either a NVIDIA 1000m or 2000M coupled with an on-chip
>> integrated intel GPU.
>> The intel GPU is used to save on power consumption and seems to be
>> connected *only* to the laptop LCD, so to have the VGA working the nvidia
>> card has to be used instead (on windows this can be done automatically
>> with the optimus nvidia extension but on linux this is not yet supported
>> and it should be pre-selected in BIOS on boot which mode to use) see
>> http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/**Installing_Debian_Wheezy_on_a_**
>> 
ThinkPad_W520<http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installing_Debian_Wheezy_on_a_ThinkPad_W520>and
>> http://zachstechnotes.**blogspot.com/2012/01/tri-head-**
>> display-on-linux-thinkpad-
**w520.html<http://zachstechnotes.blogspot.com/2012/01/tri-head-display-on-
linux-thinkpad-w520.html>.
>>
>> In conclusion, nouveau + nvidia 1000m/2000m + external VGA monitor: is
>> this possible ?
>>
>> Thank you in advance,
>>
>>                        Marco
>> --
>> The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
>> http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.**org/mailman/listinfo/linux-
**thinkpad<http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-
thinkpad>
>>
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Linux on a ThinkPad: http://www.axxite.com/brn