Disable discrete graphics card (Nvidia)

Disable discrete graphics card (Nvidia)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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I run a Xiaomi Air 13 with both an embedded Intel and a discrete Nvidia
graphics chipset.  I'd like to turn off the Nvidia chipset to save
battery power and avoid overheating (I live in a hot place).

Blacklisting the "nouveau" kernel module prevents the card from being
seen by the OS, but the card keeps draining power:

    (operating-system
     ;...
     (kernel-arguments '("modprobe.blacklist=nouveau"))

It seems that neither acpi_call nor bbswitch are packaged with Guix.
Is there any other commended way?

--
Pierre Neidhardt

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Re: Disable discrete graphics card (Nvidia)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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On my previous system (Void Linux), bbswitch did not seem to work
either, but I remember that I fixed the issue by _uninstalling_
xf86-video-nouveau.

Is it possible to do such a thing on Guix?  xf86-video-nouveau is in the
store, but it does not show up in the list of installed packages for the
system profile:

> guix package -p /run/current-system/profile -I
xterm	331	out	/gnu/store/x82n8m8czgg376nhz9x84hzqk6adq7wi-xterm-331
network-manager	1.8.4	out	/gnu/store/036xikkqpkvkdwkjfh9ahll1iacac64f-network-manager-1.8.4
wpa-supplicant	2.6	out	/gnu/store/xw7fwgdwmgpz75qjgq542l1m4fd8m3by-wpa-supplicant-2.6
avahi	0.7	out	/gnu/store/c04gr23da5pxvw4g131va3phmx0fg1xf-avahi-0.7
udisks	2.1.8	out	/gnu/store/ylgf4m5caibiv3q4a2xvd8l2wrwdm953-udisks-2.1.8
upower	0.99.4	out	/gnu/store/fpcs8hafs1ph6s3m8jf9r42y6h1nsgx4-upower-0.99.4
elogind	232.4	out	/gnu/store/16snmg340q85d2mmd950nw1dlhdw65bl-elogind-232.4
guix	0.14.0-9.bdf0c64	out	/gnu/store/fbpk1zjcqd6p4ny8qx48mvlp4v7qfmld-guix-0.14.0-9.bdf0c64
shepherd	0.4.0	out	/gnu/store/nn46hr2a1qbnycidy935aa9fjrj56l21-shepherd-0.4.0
lzip	1.19	out	/gnu/store/40dwsic8bkw02wrn2pm188gvay2vzxqk-lzip-1.19
xz	5.2.3	out	/gnu/store/pj8xqlnkwgjia87jy6i8slglip9k8x6a-xz-5.2.3
bzip2	1.0.6	out	/gnu/store/lf5h9hl0yg85dq0qn2pj5aah5wdxz41i-bzip2-1.0.6
gzip	1.8	out	/gnu/store/dh7al9krw0m77z59vrrv8rjdk2c707hf-gzip-1.8
tar	1.29	out	/gnu/store/x4qyaj221gml0ha1c3xpgk9q7bl5ihwk-tar-1.29
gawk	4.1.4	out	/gnu/store/ahxc89r6npzf2bbl8yg5vdjicskzzjf3-gawk-4.1.4
patch	2.7.5	out	/gnu/store/mpdpn3cfq6sgf34sglj3ddfl32g9aqhr-patch-2.7.5
diffutils	3.6	out	/gnu/store/m3jv69f3gl5yf3kg2vjyw5qqrb3739kp-diffutils-3.6
sed	4.4	out	/gnu/store/0hl513mnpkhszm2hjai2w9cxmpxs0vgq-sed-4.4
grep	3.1	out	/gnu/store/1h44pkgdd7n6s3i2vjh54awsvfmc219j-grep-3.1
findutils	4.6.0	out	/gnu/store/k7r2m2wgj8x8jjhccwjsiimp0dlzxb7i-findutils-4.6.0
coreutils	8.28	out	/gnu/store/kgzvfby2ggi1xawsh5vjh4s93qk2dp9k-coreutils-8.28
bash	4.4.12	out	/gnu/store/y9ikcs0lcsip95p1914jv355034yjc6i-bash-4.4.12
guile	2.2.3	out	/gnu/store/b90y3swxlx3vw2yyacs8cz59b8cbpbw5-guile-2.2.3
bash-completion	2.8	out	/gnu/store/91jzlq0s1c9fy5b4bg1fhyk4jwh5kyxi-bash-completion-2.8
kbd	2.0.4	out	/gnu/store/m0rvq487i0h83znj0a9kxv971cfni5vb-kbd-2.0.4
e2fsprogs	1.43.6	out	/gnu/store/nm305rpb2mvridkyj4l3636nc9ql4lf9-e2fsprogs-1.43.6
eudev	3.2.4	out	/gnu/store/8ylaz1xxb15iq3x1nvbz9rz2c5clq3d5-eudev-3.2.4
kmod	24	out	/gnu/store/vxjnlh2s0ipk746ha534fpwyhr4nhanx-kmod-24
sudo	1.8.22	out	/gnu/store/di91b51fkk2qrnijld9b752x5zffdnqp-sudo-1.8.22
info-reader	6.5	out	/gnu/store/g0pfgysh6132afpyfskgfr2vrv8a9qda-info-reader-6.5
man-db	2.8.2	out	/gnu/store/90ri538b7zwpc5ypaw0d6wrh6n8ba5wi-man-db-2.8.2
net-tools	1.60-0.479bb4a	out	/gnu/store/xjv36zfzik2kvzk7x2l1r9i7hdzq3csn-net-tools-1.60-0.479bb4a
iproute2	4.15.0	out	/gnu/store/vhl9lqailyx3vljz6bca4m6s63qzgr15-iproute2-4.15.0
wireless-tools	30.pre9	out	/gnu/store/207fxlrhy0ab8lxyh1yxyrscbzi50dvl-wireless-tools-30.pre9
iw	4.14	out	/gnu/store/4q0mkz7m7p0hwb7yx383bhzgh35l9x1r-iw-4.14
shadow	4.5	out	/gnu/store/76savs1dmnd02xlyqd2q9ri4jm7bashb-shadow-4.5
isc-dhcp	4.3.6-P1	out	/gnu/store/qmj558s8gdzmlafavk85nfq3k2l39ncn-isc-dhcp-4.3.6-P1
inetutils	1.9.4	out	/gnu/store/wzrbvgx53wppdvcbcn51js68hzbmzbm9-inetutils-1.9.4
util-linux	2.31.1	out	/gnu/store/y65aqmkn508ppgwdddrk4hsvhk8cndab-util-linux-2.31.1
usbutils	009	out	/gnu/store/s5bq8z6gkg1z8rpzzgx3c672nvkq1iar-usbutils-009
pciutils	3.5.6	out	/gnu/store/5xqq87p02f8ibz4pw08w1ir7p5fzcibv-pciutils-3.5.6
nano	2.9.4	out	/gnu/store/djmyjy1vb8l1gvnj7nwh758p00dij9a0-nano-2.9.4
zile	2.4.14	out	/gnu/store/fx2lav8bjmy8ali965y7bgclj3mh5wnd-zile-2.4.14
less	530	out	/gnu/store/dnhms7grnaqhb19saz39clqp0zg7l1bc-less-530
which	2.21	out	/gnu/store/6k6dfgsxs396rxd36vsbp8k6h5ddhclr-which-2.21
psmisc	22.21	out	/gnu/store/h6y98mp3fjsq5wmfi05cw5czv8wfwj6p-psmisc-22.21
procps	3.3.12	out	/gnu/store/gb9hkz8asfj76rqqx3217xz5rdcbl55g-procps-3.3.12
nss-scerts	3.36	out	/gnu/store/lyaj4w53dskvmbgps2nzvangp7nfjfgd-nss-certs-3.36

--
Pierre Neidhardt

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Re: Disable discrete graphics card (Nvidia)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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By the way, I wonder how uninstalling the xf86-video-nouveau driver
could be different from blacklisting it... Anyone?

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt

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Re: Disable discrete graphics card (Nvidia)

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hello,

Pierre Neidhardt <ambrevar@gmail.com> skribis:

> On my previous system (Void Linux), bbswitch did not seem to work
> either, but I remember that I fixed the issue by _uninstalling_
> xf86-video-nouveau.

Rather than thinking in terms of “uninstalling” xf86-video-nouveau, you
have to think in terms of which drivers are loaded by the Xorg server.
See ‘%default-xorg-modules’ in (gnu services xorg).

What you could do is something along these lines (untested):

  (operating-system
     ;; …
     (services (modify-services %desktop-services
                 (slim-service-type config
                  => (slim-configuration
                       (inherit config)
                       (startx (xorg-start-command
                                #:modules my-xorg-modules)))))))

where:

  (define my-xorg-modules
    ;; Everything but Nouveau.
    (delete xf86-video-nouveau %default-xorg-modules))

HTH!

Ludo’.

Re: Disable discrete graphics card (Nvidia)

[Pierre Neidhardt]

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Thanks!

The `system reconfigure` completes successfully but after a reboot I get

	> xrandr --listproviders
	Providers: number : 2
	Provider 0: id: 0x66 cap: 0xf, Source Output, Sink Output, Source Offload, Sink Offload crtcs: 3 outputs: 4 associated providers: 0 name:modesetting
	Provider 1: id: 0x3f cap: 0x0 crtcs: 0 outputs: 0 associated providers: 0 name:modesetting

I believe that if it weren't loaded, Provider 1 should not be listed.
It's what happens when I blacklist the kernel module.

Besides battery consumption is still higher than ideal.

-- 
Pierre Neidhardt

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