This repository contains a set of simple scripts and configuration files that help with the configuration of your system when using an external Nvidia GPU.

My goal was to have a system that uses the Nvidia GPU for everything when it is plugged in, but run Wayland on the integrated graphics whenever I am not using the eGPU (or when I am using an AMD Radeon as an external GPU). I also wanted this to work entirely automatic.

These scripts were only tested on my ThinkPad X230 with an external graphics card connected over the ExpressCard 2.0 slot, so your mileage may vary. I've only tested it on Debian (buster) so far.

Required software and configuration.

• GDM 3 and a line reading WaylandEnable=false or #WaylandEnable=false in /etc/gdm3/daemon.conf.
• Nvidia proprietary drivers must be installed.
• You must have a desktop session or Window manager that supports both Xorg and Wayland, or use different sessions depending on the plugged in GPU. If you want to use Xorg for both platforms, look into contents/bin/nvidia-toggle-wayland to remove the line that reconfigures GDM3, and only leave in the Xorg config file swapping.
• Xorg.conf.nvidia contains a hardcoded PCI bus ID. Change this to match your system. Use nvidia-smi -q to list Nvidia GPUs detected by the driver.

Installation

1. Install GNU stow: sudo apt install stow
2. sudo stow -t / -S contents && systemctl daemon-reload && systemctl enable nvidia-detect-config.service

Uninstall

1. From the directory where the repository is checked out, run sudo stow -t / -D contents.

Notes

• There is no hotplug support whatsoever here. This is strictly a reconfigure-at-boot thing.
• Some Window managers do not execute scripts in /etc/xdg/autostart/ at the start of a session. This will result in booting to a black screen when logging in with the Nvidia GPU connected. In such cases, log in to the window manager when running on the iGPU and configure it to run /usr/bin/nvidia-offload some other way.

Optional configuration

• I tend to limit the power consumption of my Nvidia card since my power supply tethers right at the edge of good enough for the card. Doing this requires nvidia-smi and the commands to configure power consumption are commented out in bin/nvidia-toggle-wayland:

  # Tell the Nvidia driver to save power consumption configuration
  # This does *NOT* persist across reboots, only across Xorg restarts
  # or whatever other event triggers the Nvidia card to get suspended.
  nvidia-smi -pm 1
  # Limit the GPU power draw to 110W. This is the GPU only, and not the
  # full board power.
  nvidia-smi -pl 110
  

• I have compiled Debian packages for the Nvidia 390.67 long term support drivers. At the time of writing, this is two releases newer than the Debian testing/unstable packages (390.48). These packages are based on the code in https://salsa.debian.org/nvidia-team/nvidia-graphics-modules and the instructions at https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#Building_newer_releases_from_SVN. To use these drivers, uncomment the repositories listed in /etc/apt/source.list.d/nvidia-artisanal.list, and run the following commands:

  sudo apt install apt-transport-https
  sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv 76A5B86C1DFA6542
  sudo apt update
  

  and update or install the nvidia-driver/nvidia-driver-libs-i386 packages as normal. Should Debian update the drivers / libraries in the future, they should replace the packages I've built during an upgrade.