Configuring Optimus Manager V1.3 On Manjaro Linux

Photo: Unsplash - Samule Sun

My main daily laptop is a Thinkpad P52 which contains an Nvidia/Intel graphics setup. I have written before about how I have the drivers setup for mobile and docked use cases. I use the Optimus Manager program to allow me to switch between graphics cards and this works well especially as I am mainly at a desk these days.

An update in Manjaro Linux recently meant that Optimus was updated to V1.3, I experienced a loss of my external monitors. I discovered that although I had set Optimus Manager to always start up using the NVidia card, it was loading the Intel card by default. I discovered that the V1.3 release of Optimus Manager has now decided to depreciate the –set-startup command which was previously used to set a default card.

The solution I found was to create a file in /etc/optimus-manager called optimus-manager.conf. Obviously, if you have one then the change I am about to describe should be added the existing file. Once you open your optimus-maager.conf file you need to add the following

startup_mode=nvidia

(Obviously, if you want to load the Intel card by default then set that instead).

If you have created the file instead of editing an existing one then you will need to add

[optimus]

To the top of the file.

Once you have created the file you can reboot and the card you specified in the .conf file will be set to load. Multiple monitors once more.

If you have any questions about configuring Optimus Manager then let me know via twitter or email.