So, I know there are many options to multi-monitor setups, and I know many issues come hand in hand when using a laptop for various reasons. I'm relatively ignorant of the many intricacies that come with linux, just doing some daily-driving as a normal user for a year and not getting into most of the nitty-gritty technical stuff. So I'll start at the top.
I want to set up a monitor so that I can put some background video on while I work. The catch is, the Legion 5's HDMI and USB-C ports video-out are all hardwired in to the Nvidia graphics card. I have the AMD card set as my main render on the screen because I want more than 5 minutes of battery life when I'm not running power in. Then I just use prime-run %command% to launch games through the more powerful Nvidia card in my day-to-day. You know, a common manual workaround for something most laptops do automatically. The joys of taking some control back, thanks Micro$oft.
I understand from some research that the basic "solution" to this problem is just to use the Nvidia card as my primary and take the hit. But lets be honest; This isn't a real solution, it's a lazy patch that ends up with me only using half of the card I paid for. But the other side of that coin is not using any of the video ports I specifically got this laptop for.
Is there any way to set it up so that when I plug in a monitor it fires up the Nvidia card and renders the output on the monitor? Or, if not, just a way to change the primary card for the entire computer over when a second monitor is plugged in? I don't need the full card 85% of the time, so it seems wasteful to do otherwise.
System:
Kernel: 6.1.9-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.1
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=8a83484f-281e-4911-85ab-18297d3c3e0d rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
loglevel=3 ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.26.5 tk: Qt v: 5.15.8 info: latte-dock
wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 82RG v: Legion 5 Pro 16ARH7H
serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 v: Legion 5 Pro 16ARH7H
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: LENOVO model: LNVNB161216 v: SDK0T76461 WIN
serial: <superuser required> UEFI: LENOVO v: JUCN51WW date: 08/29/2022
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 82.7 Wh (100.0%) condition: 82.7/80.0 Wh (103.3%)
volts: 17.5 min: 15.4 model: Sunwoda L21D4PC1 type: Li-poly serial: <filter>
status: full cycles: 10
Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Mouse MX Master 2S
serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
status: discharging
CPU:
Info: model: AMD Ryzen 7 6800H with Radeon Graphics bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4 level: v3 note: check built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm)
family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x44 (68) stepping: 1 microcode: 0xA404102
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 8 tpc: 2 threads: 16 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 512 KiB desc: d-8x32 KiB; i-8x32 KiB L2: 4 MiB desc: 8x512 KiB
L3: 16 MiB desc: 1x16 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 1693 high: 4280 min/max: 1600/4784 boost: enabled
scaling: driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: schedutil cores: 1: 1365 2: 1600
3: 1374 4: 1600 5: 1355 6: 4280 7: 1600 8: 1600 9: 1872 10: 1597 11: 1396
12: 1375 13: 1595 14: 1555 15: 1600 16: 1327 bogomips: 102208
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GA106M [GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile / Max-Q] vendor: Lenovo
driver: nvidia v: 525.85.05 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 525.xx+
status: current (as of 2022-12) arch: Ampere code: GAxxx
process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.0
chip-ID: 10de:2560 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: AMD Rembrandt [Radeon 680M] vendor: Lenovo driver: amdgpu
v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22
pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,
DP-2, DP-3, DP-4, DP-5, DP-6 bus-ID: 34:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:1681
class-ID: 0300 temp: 39.0 C
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.6 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.7
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,nvidia
unloaded: modesetting,nouveau alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa dri: radeonsi
gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0 screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1600 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x423mm (26.65x16.65")
s-diag: 798mm (31.43")
Monitor-1: HDMI-1-0 size-res: N/A modes: N/A
Monitor-2: eDP pos: primary res: 2560x1600 hz: 165 dpi: 189
size: 344x215mm (13.54x8.46") diag: 406mm (15.97") modes: N/A
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 Mesa 22.3.4 renderer: AMD Radeon Graphics (rembrandt
LLVM 15.0.7 DRM 3.49 6.1.9-zen1-1-zen) direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: NVIDIA GA106 High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 8 link-max: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s
lanes: 16 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228e class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Rembrandt Radeon High Definition Audio vendor: Lenovo
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
bus-ID: 34:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:1640 class-ID: 0403
Device-3: AMD ACP/ACP3X/ACP6x Audio Coprocessor vendor: Lenovo
driver: snd_pci_acp6x v: kernel
alternate: snd_pci_acp3x,snd_rn_pci_acp3x,snd_pci_acp5x,snd_acp_pci,snd_rpl_pci_acp6x,snd_pci_ps,snd_sof_amd_renoir,snd_sof_amd_rembrandt
pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 34:00.5 chip-ID: 1022:15e2
class-ID: 0480
Device-4: AMD Family 17h/19h HD Audio vendor: Lenovo driver: snd_hda_intel
v: kernel pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 34:00.6
chip-ID: 1022:15e3 class-ID: 0403
Sound API: ALSA v: k6.1.9-zen1-1-zen running: yes
Sound Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
Sound Server-2: PipeWire v: 0.3.65 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: MEDIATEK MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Lenovo driver: mt7921e v: kernel pcie: gen: 2 speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1
bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:0616 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Lenovo driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
port: 4000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Foxconn / Hon Hai Wireless_Device type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
bus-ID: 3-3:3 chip-ID: 0489:e0d8 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 953.87 GiB used: 151.02 GiB (15.8%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Samsung
model: MZVL21T0HCLR-00BL2 size: 953.87 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 type: SSD serial: <filter>
rev: CL1QGXA7 temp: 39.9 C scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 953.57 GiB size: 953.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 150.99 GiB (15.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 32.6 MiB (10.9%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:1
ID-3: /home raw-size: 953.57 GiB size: 953.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 150.99 GiB (15.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 953.57 GiB size: 953.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 150.99 GiB (15.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 953.57 GiB size: 953.57 GiB (100.00%)
used: 150.99 GiB (15.8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:2
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 14.82 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 44.4 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 39.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 364 Uptime: 10m wakeups: 4 Memory: 14.82 GiB
used: 3.86 GiB (26.1%) Init: systemd v: 252 default: graphical
tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 12.2.1 clang: 15.0.7 Packages: pm: pacman
pkgs: 1686 libs: 532 tools: octopi,paru Shell: fish v: 3.6.0 default: Bash
v: 5.1.16 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.24
Garuda (2.6.14-1):
System install date: 2023-01-26
Last full system update: 2023-02-22
Is partially upgraded: No
Relevant software: snapper NetworkManager mkinitcpio nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot: No/Undetected
Failed units:
