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I have an NVIDIA Optimus video card. I disabled it using bbswitch, and I'm using bumblebee to run programs using the discrete graphic card.

I want to know what's going to happen if I remove bbswitch (because it, sometimes, prevents Ubuntu from shutting down) ? Is the discrete GPU going to be always on (and consequently making the laptop too hot) of is bumblebee going to handle this?

I'm running Ubuntu 13.04

Thank you.

Mohamed
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bbswitch is essentially the service that monitors the use of the graphics card, and switches it off as and when possible to conserve energy, and reduce heat. So yes, removing bbswitch is bad idea.

charlie
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  • @Mohamed Glad it helped... P.S. In accordance with the forum rules, please upvote an answer to 'like' it, and select an answer by using the check mark icon next to the answer, to help others identify the solution which worked for you. This system ensures focus to be on the right answers among the lot! – charlie May 15 '13 at 16:20
  • I installed bumblebee without installing bbswitch, and things are now fine. – Mohamed Jun 02 '13 at 09:54
  • I suppose bumblebee installation by default includes the bbswitch daemon. And also you say 'things are now fine'. Could you please elaborate on how you rate the things to be fine? AFAIK if you do not have bbswitch working, your GPU would be powered on all the time, essentially draining battery, reducing charge cycle time, and generating heat, even when not being used for any processing. I would not say that to be working fine. – charlie Jun 03 '13 at 10:56
  • When I posted this, I had bbswitch separately installed. lately, I downgraded to 12.04, I only installed the two packages: bumblebee and bumblebee-nvidia and there is no overheating as it was before installing them. So I think there is no need to install bbswitch separately again, and I think that that it is either included in bumblebee installation or there is another module that the does the same thing in it. – Mohamed Jun 03 '13 at 20:08
  • yep...as I said, I suppose bumblebee installation by default includes the bbswitch daemon. – charlie Jun 04 '13 at 17:42