hvassaa / arch-dell-xps-7590-with-nvidia

My setup for arch on the dell xps 7590

Installation of Arch Linux (With Gnome) on dell xps 7590 (With Gtx 1650)

• Installation of Arch Linux (With Gnome) on dell xps 7590 (With Gtx 1650)
  • Do the normal UEFI installation
  • User setup
  • Configure pacman
  • Esential packages
  • Make GDM always use Xorg instead of Wayland
  • Fix GDM's complaints about entropy
  • Fix GDM hanging on boot
  • Optional, for SSDs
  • Optional, install powertop, tlp and thermald
    • Powertop
    • tlp
    • thermald
  • Setup hibernation
    • Setup kernel parameters in grub
    • Add hook to mkinitcpio
    • Hibernate
  • Desktop setup
    • Adjust xdg-mime
  • Nvida setup
    • Install these need packages
    • Enable runtime power management for the Nvidia card
    • Set tlp to always enable runtime power management
    • Launch programs with Nvidia
    • Check that it worked
  • (OLD VERSION, I think it is better to use the official nvidia prime offload) Optional, use optimus-manager to power card completely down
    • (Maybe install yay)
    • Install gdm-prime and optimus-manager from aur
    • Usage and gotchas
    • Enable runtime PM for nvidia card

Do the normal UEFI installation

I went with

• 3 partitions
  • One for boot (/boot)
  • One for swap
  • One for root (/)
• Ext4 for root (and FAT32 for boot)
• Grub as a bootloader

User setup

• Install "sudo"
• Create user
• Make sure user is in the wheel group
• Allow users in wheel to sudo (via "visudo")

Configure pacman

• Add The color feature
• Add multilib
• Add ILoveCandy feature

Esential packages

base base-devel git neovim man-db man-pages

Make GDM always use Xorg instead of Wayland

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GDM#Use_Xorg_backend

Uncomment #WaylandEnable=false in /etc/gdm/custom.conf

Fix GDM's complaints about entropy

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GDM#GDM_does_not_start_until_input_is_provided

The processor supports the RDRAND instruction, so just add the following random.trust_cpu=on to the kernel parameters. Then regenerate grub.cfg:

# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Fix GDM hanging on boot

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GDM#Black_screen_on_AMD_or_Intel_GPUs_when_an_NVidia_(e)GPU_is_present

Add intel_agp i915 modules to the array modules in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf, so you end up with

MODULES=(intel_agp i915)

plus whatever else you had before or need.

Then regenerate regenerate initramfs:

# mkinitcpio -P

Optional, for SSDs

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Solid_state_drive

Essentially, just enable the systemd timer fstrim.timer, for sustained long-term performance and wear-leveling on SSD:

systemctl enable fstrim.timer

Optional, install powertop, tlp and thermald

Powertop

Install powertop, to monitor power usage.

tlp

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/TLP

Install tlp and tlp-rdw, for power saving features. (Also, use NetworkManager for this). Then:

• Enable NetworkManager-dispatcher.service
• Mask systemd-rfkill.service and systemd-rfkill.socket
• (See under the Nvidia section for always enables runtime pm)

thermald

Install thermald and enable it. It helps regulate an Intel cpu's temperature.

Setup hibernation

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Power_management/Suspend_and_hibernate

Setup kernel parameters in grub

Add resume=UUID=uuid-of-my-swap-partition (check /etc/fstab). Regenerate the grub config:

# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Add hook to mkinitcpio

Add resume to hooks under /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. The line should look something like

HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard resume fsck)

Regenerate the initramfs:

# mkinitcpio -P

Hibernate

Hibernate with systemctl hibernate

Desktop setup

Adjust xdg-mime

See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xdg-utils

Install xdg-utils, then something like the following should be sufficient:

xdg-settings set default-web-browser firefox.desktop
xdg-mime default evince.desktop application/pdf

Nvida setup

The goal here is to have a nvidia prime setup. This means the dGPU is powered down, when it is not in use, and is only powered on when you explicitly want it.

Install these need packages

Install nvidia related packages

• nvidia
• lib32-nvidia-utils
• nvidia-prime
• optionally, mesa-demos for glxinfo/glxgears
• optionally, nvidia-settings

Enable runtime power management for the Nvidia card

Put the following into /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia.conf:

options nvidia "NVreg_DynamicPowerManagement=0x02"
blacklist nouveau

and this into /lib/udev/rules.d/80-nvidia-pm.rules

# Remove NVIDIA USB xHCI Host Controller devices, if present
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x0c0330", ATTR{remove}="1"

# Remove NVIDIA USB Type-C UCSI devices, if present
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x0c8000", ATTR{remove}="1"

# Remove NVIDIA Audio devices, if present
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x040300", ATTR{remove}="1"

# Enable runtime PM for NVIDIA VGA/3D controller devices on driver bind
ACTION=="bind", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x030000", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="auto"
ACTION=="bind", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x030200", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="auto"

# Disable runtime PM for NVIDIA VGA/3D controller devices on driver unbind
ACTION=="unbind", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x030000", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="on"
ACTION=="unbind", SUBSYSTEM=="pci", ATTR{vendor}=="0x10de", ATTR{class}=="0x030200", TEST=="power/control", ATTR{power/control}="on"

Set tlp to always enable runtime power management

It seems tlp normally disables runtime pm when on AC. This can be fixed with these two lines in the config (/etc/tlp.conf):

RUNTIME_PM_ON_AC=auto
RUNTIME_PM_ON_BAT=auto

This might also be needed, haven't tested it through:

RUNTIME_PM_DRIVER_BLACKLIST="mei_me"

Launch programs with Nvidia

Now, run prime-run program to run a program under the Nvidia card.

Check that it worked

Check that

cat /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/power/runtime_status

returns suspended, when you are not running anything under the dGPU.

cat /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/*/power

Should return Runtime D3 status: Enabled (fine-grained)

Finally, check the power draw via # powertop while on battery and no peripherals connected. It should be ~2W (at least for me).

(OLD VERSION, I think it is better to use the official nvidia prime offload) Optional, use optimus-manager to power card completely down

(Maybe install yay)

See https://github.com/Jguer/yay

Install gdm-prime and optimus-manager from aur

See https://github.com/Askannz/optimus-manager

• Install gdm-prime from the aur. Remove the repo supplied gdm before. Make sure the wayland is disabled, as above.
• Install optimus-manager from the aur, and reboot.

Usage and gotchas

I have a bug, where I can't switch graphics, unless I first run prime-offload. (As of 12th January 2021)

Then you can switch with

optimus-manager --switch intel # for intel graphics
optimus-manager --switch nvidia # for nvidia graphics
optimus-manager --switch hybrid # for hybrid graphics

See Askannz/optimus-manager#356

Enable runtime PM for nvidia card

See https://linrunner.de/tlp/faq/powercon.html#faq-powercon-hybrid-graphics

It seems my nvidia card does not power down in intel mode. This can be fixed with the following:

• First, check if runtime pm is "bad" for nvidia card under the tunables section in powertop.
• If it is, it might help to set RUNTIME_PM_DRIVER_BLACKLIST="mei_me" under /etc/tlp.conf.

This makes my system draw ~2W when idling.