[conspire] (forw) Re: Question regarding the install of linux distribution with an Optimus GeForce graphic card

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Nicolas Bachelard <nicolas.bachelard at gmail.com> -----

Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2016 09:43:45 -0700
From: Nicolas Bachelard <nicolas.bachelard at gmail.com>
To: installers at linuxmafia.com
Subject: Question regarding the install of linux distribution with an Optimus
	GeForce graphic card

Dear CABAL team,

I am a linux user who recently purchased a computer with a Optimus based
graphic card.
I am willing to install a Fedora distribution or any other linux
distribution, but unfortunately I am not skillful enough to get it done.

I wonder if I could join your install party in Menlo park this Saturday and
if one of you have knowledge is this type of issues?

Best regards

-- 

----------------------------------------------------------
Nicolas Bachelard, PhD
NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC),
University of California, Berkeley 3112 Etcheverry Hall,
UC Berkeley, California 94720, USA

----- End forwarded message -----
----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 04:39:07 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: Nicolas Bachelard <nicolas.bachelard at gmail.com>
Cc: installers at linuxmafia.com
Subject: Re: Question regarding the install of linux distribution with an
	Optimus GeForce graphic card
Reply-To: installers at linuxmafia.com
Organization: If you lived here, you'd be $HOME already.

Quoting Nicolas Bachelard (nicolas.bachelard at gmail.com):

> Dear CABAL team,
> 
> I am a linux user who recently purchased a computer with a Optimus
> based graphic card.  I am willing to install a Fedora distribution or
> any other linux distribution, but unfortunately I am not skillful
> enough to get it done.
> 
> I wonder if I could join your install party in Menlo park this
> Saturday and if one of you have knowledge is this type of issues?

Sure, we'd be glad to help.

1.  Are you bringing a copy of your desired Linux distribution, or would you
prefer for us to provide it?  What distribution would you prefer?

2.  Please provide us with the make/model of your computer.  I ask in
part because it's necessary to determine the specific Nvidia chipset:
'Optimus GeForce' is just a _family_ of GPU chips.  Also, is this a
desktop computer or a notebook computer?

We'll need this information right away, in order to do timely research
in advance of Saturday.

This will be the first time we've encountered Nvidia Optimus graphics,
so no, we don't have expertise with this, but it appears that the
probable solution is to complete distro installation and then retrofit
Nvidia's proprietary video software.

Unfortunately, buying hardware using Nvidia graphics chips is pretty
hostile to open source, and adds certain difficulties.  There is
preliminary open source support for the Nvidia Optimus GeForce family,
been built almost entirely through reverse-engineering, but that would
be less likely to work well at this time.


----- End forwarded message -----