Ubuntu 18.04 marked the transition to a new, more granular, packaging of the NVIDIA drivers, which, unfortunately, combined with a change in
The following are the main issues experienced by our users:
- An increase in power consumption when using the power saving profile (i.e. when the discrete GPU is off).
- The inability to switch between power profiles on log out (thus requiring a reboot).
We have backported a commit to solve the problem with logind, and I have worked on a few changes in gpu-manager, and in the other key components, to improve the experience when using Gdm3.
NOTE: fixes for Lightdm, and for SDDM still need some work, and will be made available in the next update.
Both issues should be fixed in Ubuntu 18.10, and I have backported my work to Ubuntu 18.04, which is now available for testing.
If you run Ubuntu 18.04, own a hybrid laptop with an Intel and an NVIDIA GPU (supported by the 390 NVIDIA driver), we would love to get your feedback on the updates in Ubuntu 18.04.
If you are interested, head over to the bug report, follow the instructions at the end of the bug
System: ThinkPad W520, NVIDIA GF108GLM (aka Quadro 1000M)
Symptom: After upgrading to 18.04, all external VGA – the VGA output on the ThinkPad itself and the VGA output on the ThinkPad Mini Dock Series 3 – stopped working.
After much experimentation, the ONLY solution that delivered external video (without doing a lot of config by hand – I didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole, since I’m not dependent upon NVIDIA graphics) is to:
a) Install the proprietary NVIDIA driver package (nvidia-driver-390 in my case),
b) Install nvidia-prime, and
c) use prime-select to lock in a preference for the Intel graphics chipset.
If you aren’t dependent upon NVIDIA graphics and need to dock your ThinkPad often, this solution may be best for you.