{
"$type": "site.standard.document",
"content": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.content",
"pages": [
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument",
"blocks": [
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "Despite my expectations, Fedora didn't run very well on my laptop with a NVIDIA GPU out of the box. Use these steps to fix issues with your monitor or display and battery life – I'll update the blog post should I make further optimisations."
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.header",
"level": 2,
"plaintext": "Installing propietary graphics drivers"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "By default, Fedora comes with the Nouveau drivers which causes all sorts of issues – for me the battery life was < 1 hour and my external monitor didn't work with it."
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"facets": [
{
"features": [
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.richtext.facet#link",
"uri": "https://rpmfusion.org/Howto/NVIDIA#Installing_the_drivers"
}
],
"index": {
"byteEnd": 47,
"byteStart": 0
}
}
],
"plaintext": "RPM Fusion has documented the installation well. If you're running a modern laptop you should only need to run this command – note that you should have enabled propietary repositories during installation for this to work."
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.code",
"language": "shellsession",
"plaintext": "sudo dnf update \nsudo dnf install akmod-nvidia"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "This made my external display work and brought battery life up to 4 hours, but we can still do better..."
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.header",
"level": 2,
"plaintext": "Manually switching between integrated and dedicated GPU with envycontrol"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "On windows, your graphics run in hybrid mode, where windows will decide wether to run a task on the dedicated (NVIDIA) GPU or the integrated GPU (that ships with your CPU). On Linux this also happens, but unfortunately doesn't work well in my experience."
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"facets": [
{
"features": [
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.richtext.facet#link",
"uri": "https://github.com/bayasdev/envycontrol"
}
],
"index": {
"byteEnd": 245,
"byteStart": 234
}
}
],
"plaintext": "Unless you do graphics intensive tasks on the go, I recommend manually switching to integrated graphics by default and only switching to your NVIDIA GPU when connected to power/at home as the dedicated GPU consumes a lot more energy. Envycontrol is a useful tool that let's you do just that – note that the downside is that switching takes about 30 seconds and requires a reboot."
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"facets": [
{
"features": [
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.richtext.facet#link",
"uri": "https://github.com/bayasdev/envycontrol"
}
],
"index": {
"byteEnd": 16,
"byteStart": 4
}
}
],
"plaintext": "The installation is straightforward and only requires you to activate their repository:"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.code",
"language": "shellsession",
"plaintext": "sudo dnf copr enable sunwire/envycontrol\nsudo dnf install python3-envycontrol"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "After it is installed switch between the GPUs like this:"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.code",
"language": "shellsession",
"plaintext": "sudo envycontrol -s integrated # switch to integrated\nsudo envycontrol -s nvidia # switch to nvidia"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "Don't forget to reboot after switching."
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "This got me up to 8 or 9 hours of battery life and a power draw of only 6W when doing office work (LibreOffice, Xournal++ and Firefox open)"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.header",
"level": 2,
"plaintext": "Monitor your power usage with powertop"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "Fedora unfortunately doesn't really show you detailed information about your power usage, but powertop is easily installed and shows you your current wattage, which component is responsible (CPU/GPU) and which processes are responsible allowing you to monitor your battery much more effectively. You can install it by running it:"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.code",
"language": "shellsession",
"plaintext": "powertop"
}
},
{
"$type": "pub.leaflet.pages.linearDocument#block",
"block": {
"$type": "pub.leaflet.blocks.text",
"plaintext": "Fedora will prompt you to install it, should it not already be installed."
}
}
],
"id": "019e6e8a-fb6f-7220-8c5e-e085afb26ba0"
}
]
},
"description": "Steps to fix display and battery issues everyone with an NVIDIA laptop should take",
"path": "/3mmvzgkbpp22s",
"publishedAt": "2024-09-16T12:26:00.000Z",
"site": "at://did:plc:z4yzhhsdetqfkq6hneiwc3cv/site.standard.publication/3m5k5jw2onk2h",
"tags": [
"linux",
"tech"
],
"title": "Fedora Post-Install Guide for NVIDIA Laptops"
}