another discrete nvidia switch on/off for an assortment of laptops

another discrete nvidia switch on/off for an assortment of laptops

[Albert Vilella]

Hi again,

In this occasion not providing a working module, but just a grep to
show 5 different laptop
models that use an almost identical ACPI call to report on the
discrete nvidia graphics switch:

All DSDT.dsl files are available here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/312756
grep -e NVIF *.dsl

Acer_Aspire_7530G_nv.dsl:                Name (_UID, "NVIF")
Acer_Aspire_7530G_nv.dsl:                        Return
(\_SB.PCI0.IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
Acer_Aspire_7530G_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
Dell_Studio_XPS_13_nv.dsl:                Name (_UID, "NVIF")
Dell_Studio_XPS_13_nv.dsl:                        Return
(\_SB.PCI0.IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
Dell_Studio_XPS_13_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
Elitegroup_GF8100VM_nv.dsl:                            Name (_UID, "NVIF")
Elitegroup_GF8100VM_nv.dsl:                                    Return
(^^IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
Elitegroup_GF8100VM_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
MSI_EX630-034US.dsl:                            Name (_UID, "NVIF")
MSI_EX630-034US.dsl:                                    Return
(^^IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
MSI_EX630-034US.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
MSI_EX630_nv.dsl:                            Name (_UID, "NVIF")
MSI_EX630_nv.dsl:                                    Return
(^^IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
MSI_EX630_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
Toshiba_Qosmio_X305_nv.dsl:                Name (_UID, "NVIF")
Toshiba_Qosmio_X305_nv.dsl:                        Return
(\_SB.PCI0.IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
Toshiba_Qosmio_X305_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)

Cheers,

Albert.

Re: another discrete nvidia switch on/off for an assortment of laptops

[Len Brown]

On Tue, 29 Dec 2009, Albert Vilella wrote:

> Hi again,
> 
> In this occasion not providing a working module, but just a grep to
> show 5 different laptop
> models that use an almost identical ACPI call to report on the
> discrete nvidia graphics switch:
> 
> All DSDT.dsl files are available here:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/312756
> grep -e NVIF *.dsl
> 
> Acer_Aspire_7530G_nv.dsl:                Name (_UID, "NVIF")
> Acer_Aspire_7530G_nv.dsl:                        Return
> (\_SB.PCI0.IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
> Acer_Aspire_7530G_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
> Dell_Studio_XPS_13_nv.dsl:                Name (_UID, "NVIF")
> Dell_Studio_XPS_13_nv.dsl:                        Return
> (\_SB.PCI0.IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
> Dell_Studio_XPS_13_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
> Elitegroup_GF8100VM_nv.dsl:                            Name (_UID, "NVIF")
> Elitegroup_GF8100VM_nv.dsl:                                    Return
> (^^IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
> Elitegroup_GF8100VM_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
> MSI_EX630-034US.dsl:                            Name (_UID, "NVIF")
> MSI_EX630-034US.dsl:                                    Return
> (^^IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
> MSI_EX630-034US.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
> MSI_EX630_nv.dsl:                            Name (_UID, "NVIF")
> MSI_EX630_nv.dsl:                                    Return
> (^^IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
> MSI_EX630_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)
> Toshiba_Qosmio_X305_nv.dsl:                Name (_UID, "NVIF")
> Toshiba_Qosmio_X305_nv.dsl:                        Return
> (\_SB.PCI0.IXVE.IGPU.NVIF (FUNC, SUBF, ARGS))
> Toshiba_Qosmio_X305_nv.dsl:                    Method (NVIF, 3, NotSerialized)

There are about 50 DSDTs in that ubuntu feature request.
A sub-set of them include a WMI device
that calls itself "NVIF":

            Device (WMI0)
            {
                Name (_HID, "*pnp0c14")
                Name (_UID, "NVIF")
                Name (_WDG, Buffer (0xC8)
                {

Likely that name is the result of it appearing in some
nvidia reference AML/WMI code someplace; for use with
the associated Windows WMI driver.  Not immediately clear
what the capabilities of that WMI device are...

I happen to have a Sony VGN-Z540 with a stamina/speed switch.
It's BIOS does not supply a WMI device with this name.

-Len Brown
Intel Open Source Technology Center

Re: another discrete nvidia switch on/off for an assortment of laptops

[Norbert Preining]

On Mi, 30 Dez 2009, Len Brown wrote:
> I happen to have a Sony VGN-Z540 with a stamina/speed switch.
> It's BIOS does not supply a WMI device with this name.

I assume you know of
	http://global-social.net/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=3
which uses a slightly extended sony-laptop module (maintained by me,
but I am in discussion with Mattia about pushing as much as possible
upstream) and several other things to enable switching on linux.

Best wishes

Norbert
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Re: another discrete nvidia switch on/off for an assortment of laptops

[Matthew Garrett]

On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 10:30:47PM +0000, Albert Vilella wrote:
> Hi again,
> 
> In this occasion not providing a working module, but just a grep to
> show 5 different laptop
> models that use an almost identical ACPI call to report on the
> discrete nvidia graphics switch:

The NVIF interface is not the correct one to use. There's a _DSM method 
on the Nvidia PCI device that will call the appropriate methods. nouveau 
should support this in the current kernels - right now it'll just set 
the graphics to whatever state the BIOS has programmed. A module 
parameter to change the default might be interesting.

If you want to do this with the nvidia binary driver, you'll need to get 
nvidia to add support.

-- 
Matthew Garrett | mjg59@srcf.ucam.org