Developers fix logind and GDM3 compatibility issues

Sep 20, 2018 13:52 GMT  ·  By

Ubuntu developer Alberto Milone is calling all hybrid laptop users running either the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) or the upcoming Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) operating systems to test Nvidia PRIME support.

With the release of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) as the first LTS (Long Term Support) Ubuntu release to ship with the GNOME desktop environment by default instead of Canonical's in-house built Unity desktop, hybrid laptop users with Intel and Nvidia GPUs lost the way Nvidia PRIME worked in the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) series.

But it looks like some Ubuntu developers like Alberto Milone never stopped looking for a fix, and he and his team have successfully released a patch for the bug causing increased power consumption when using the power saving profile with the Nvidia GPU turned off, as well as the inability to switch between power profiles when logging out.

"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," said Alberto Milone in a blog post. "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."

Users urged to test Nvidia PRIME support in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and Ubuntu 18.10

According to Alberto Milone, who invites both Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) and Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) users with a hybrid laptop with an integrated Intel GPU and a dedicated Nvidia GPU supported by the proprietary Nvidia 390 graphics drivers to test Nvidia PRIME support, the logind fixes are now available while the GDM3 (GNOME Display Manager) compatibility still needs some work.

However, please note that if you're using the LightDM or SDDM login managers, Nvidia PRIME support might not work as expected. The developer is still working on some fixes to add compatibility with these login managers, which he says that they will be made available in the next update, so stay tuned for more details soon. To test Nvidia PRIME support now, see the information available here.