How To - Bumblebee on VSIDO

[jedi]

Had trouble with Optimus?  Have a hybrid graphics card?  This HowTo will get you up, and running, using the Debian Sid experimental Kernel, Linux *hostname* 3.6-trunk-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.6.9-1~experimental.1 x86_64 GNU/Linux

The whole point of this little HowTo is to inform people that Bumblebee is not working on the current Liquorix Kernels.  As I'll probably mention numerous times, as of this writing the Liquorix Kernel is at least version 3.7.0-1.dmz.2-liquorix-amd64.  I had no success getting it (Bumblebee) to work with Liquorix.  Debian experimental Kernel to the rescue.

To be really specific about my laptop, I'm running a nice little distro called VSIDO which is based on Debian Sid.  This HowTo should apply to anyone using Debian in an "Experimental" environment.  To learn more about VSIDO, and when it will be released to the "General Public" you can go to the VSIDO Forums website.

The title will hopefully make your search from Google (or wherever you got here from) end a lot quicker!  My search took a lot longer than yours, believe it.  So here's how you do it;  I WROTE THIS BECAUSE I WAS UNABLE TO MAKE BUMBLEBEE WORK WITH THE LATEST LIQUORIX KERNEL! (actually the last several!)  Again, at the time of this writing, that is Kernel 3.7.0-1.dmz.2-liquorix-amd64

1) If you've reached this point, you already know your hardware is Optimus technology from nvidia.  Telling you how to figure out your hardware without me looking over your shoulder is beyond the scope of this little HowTo.  It also assumes, that you've got the latest Debian experimental Kernel installed and booting with no issues.  If you need help in getting the latest Debian experimental Kernel installed, the "Search Engines" are your friend!  Got you to this point right?

2) Add archive key to apt keyring. Run as root:

wget -O - http://suwako.nomanga.net/suwako.asc | apt-key add -

Once the key is taken care of, either add the following to /etc/apt/sources.list, or to a new file at /etc/apt/sources.list.d/

deb http://suwako.nomanga.net/debian sid main contrib
deb-src http://suwako.nomanga.net/debian sid main

3) Run sudo apt-get update

4) Run sudo apt-get install bbswitch-dkms bumblebee-nvidia  (this will also install Bumblebee, as it will see it as a dependency)

5 Run sudo groupadd bumblebee (by default it should have been added with the install if all went well.  If not this will do it for you.)

6) Run usermod -a -G bumblebee "yourusername"  (without the quotes, this adds your user id to the bumblebee Group)

7) Re-boot at this point, log back in, and check to see if it worked by first running "glxspheres" from the terminal.  Examine your frame-rate.  Close "glxspheres".  Run "optirun glxspheres".  Examine your frame-rate.

Wow!!!  That should do it!

(Disclaimer) This site will not be held responsible if you totally muck up your system following the instructions above, so do this at your own risk!  This could result in your system being totally unable to boot, and possibly to never even turn on again.  (It may even have smoke rolling out of it in the end)  If it causes any swelling to the face tongue or neck, or excessive prespiring in the arm-pits, or serious pain in the brain, or constant and continuous constrictions in the bowel area, terrible anxiety, unpleasant odor or taste, excessive farting and or burping, please discontinue use immediately and consult with a bona-fide Linux guru;  You can find Linus Torvalds email address with a simple search of the net.