Linux on the Mac — state of the union

Posted Dec 1, 2016 8:04 UTC (Thu) by shalem (subscriber, #4062)
Parent article: Linux on the Mac — state of the union

"Apple is the only remaining vendor to build a multiplexer into hybrid graphics laptops" oh, how I wish that were true. Unfortunately that statement is false, e.g. the Lenovo P50 and P70 (both current gen laptops) still contain a mux between the igpu/dgpu and the panel.

Linux on the Mac — state of the union

Posted Dec 1, 2016 23:59 UTC (Thu) by ncm (guest, #165) [Link]

But randr knows how to operate it. Mostly.

At one point I had 1920x1080 on the built-in panel and on an HDMI monitor, and 2560x? on a DP monitor. For a long moment.

But I read about people using a VM directly operating the NV chip and external monitor, while the Intel thing is used natively on the built-in panel. I have not tried it yet.

Linux on the Mac — state of the union

Posted Dec 2, 2016 1:36 UTC (Fri) by Lekensteyn (guest, #99903) [Link]

I think that Lukas referred to hardware muxes which you can switch at runtime. The class of laptops you mention ("gaming" laptops, often i7-6700HQ + Nvidia GTX 9xxM/10xx) have a mux that can only be switched in the firmware setup ("BIOS"). If that option exists at all... (It does exist for the Clevo P6xxRx family.)

Perhaps you can actually control the hardware from software, but since the ACPI tables have no MXDS/MXMX methods to do this, it will be very hardware-specific. (Microsoft has forbidden this mux switching in their Win8 (10?) hardware certification requirements, probably due to bad UX from flickering during the switch.)

Thanks Lukas for writing this, very informative!