Using Onboard GPU for normal Work while mining with and AMD GPU?

Quote from: notNigel on March 16, 2014, 07:29:19 PM

I want to revive this thread too, but for linux.

Say I have linux mint, a sandy bridge CPU, and two AMD cards. (I do).

How do I use the intel graphics for my desktop, and use the cards for mining with CGminer ?

This would be very nice.

I already tried, but failed. i don't really know what I am doing with the various config files and such. Maybe a cool dude has a solution ?

That is tricky thing Cool

During setup you can break you X few time, so prepare backups, liveCD and some kind of fallback with internet just in case (like laptop, smartphone, anything that could help you to find answers).

Tested on fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04, i5-3570K(HD4000), AsRock Z77extreme3 and ASUS HD7870 DC2, but it also should work as well on any other combination of Intel HD and AMD graphics. HD7870 connected via DVI and HD4000 via HDMI, integrated graphics selected as primary in BIOS.

It’s not step by step manual, as I were using a system for a while during all configure-use-reconfigure cycle, so I can’t recall all my actions and dependency resolving

But I can share all my current configs and installed software versions.

1. First of all you need to make sure that you have fglrx installed, I’ve got it installed automatically during Ubuntu installation, the version is 2:13.300-0ubuntu0.0.1. According to apt-cache policy it’s fglrx-experimental-13, also I have fglrx-amdcccle-experimental-13 and fglrx-pxpress installed. As for a xorg, I have xserver-xorg 1:7.6+12ubuntu2, xserver-xorg-video-intel-dbg 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4.4 and xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.17.0-1ubuntu4.4.

So if you don’t have fglrx, install it with

Code:

sudo apt-get install fglrx-experimental-13 fglrx-amdcccle-experimental-13 fglrx-pxpress

And if you don’t have intel driver

Code:

sudo apt-get install  xserver-xorg-video-intel-dbg

2. Next you need to create 2 xorg configs in /etc/X11/: one for intel, another for amd. Here is my files:
xorg_intel.conf

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "seat0"
    Screen      0  "Screen1" 0 0
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath     "/usr/lib/xorg/extra-modules"
    ModulePath     "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "intel"
    BusID          "PCI:0:2:0"
    Option         "AccelMethod"  "uxa"
    Option         "TearFree"     "true"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth     24
    SubSection "Display"
    	Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

xorg_amd.conf

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "seat1"
	Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
	#Option      "AutoAddDevices"        "false"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath "/usr/lib/fglrx/xorg/modules/"
    ModulePath "/usr/lib/fglrx/xorg/modules/linux"
    ModulePath "/usr/lib/fglrx/xorg/modules/drivers"
    ModulePath "/usr/lib/fglrx/xorg/modules/extensions"
    ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
	Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

As xorg and fglrx have a lot of common libraries (like libglx.so), you need to specify ModulePath to fglrx versions to use 2 drivers simultaneously.

3. To activate intel as a primary driver use switchlibglx from fglrx:

Code:

/usr/lib/fglrx/switchlibglx intel

4. Create user for mining, in my case it’s called miner. You can do it via GUI, and grant it administrator privileges or via terminal

Code:

adduser miner sudo

5. Configure lightdm: /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Code:

[SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter
allow-guest=false

[Seat:0]
xserver-layout=seat0 
xserver-command=/usr/bin/X -novtswitch -keeptty
xserver-config=xorg_intel.conf
user-session=gnome

[Seat:1]
xserver-command=/usr/bin/X -sharevts -novtswitch -isolateDevice PCI:1:0:0 -keeptty
xserver-layout=seat1
xserver-config=xorg_amd.conf
user-session=ubuntu-2d
autologin-user=miner
autologin-user-timeout=0

6. Reboot and prey Cheesy

Now you should be able to use intel HD for your main user, and in terminal just calling

Code:

su miner
export DISPLAY=:1
fglrxinfo

get access to your AMD card

Code:

display: :1  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: AMD Radeon HD 7800 Series 
OpenGL version string: 1.4 (2.1 (4.3.12682 Compatibility Profile Context 13.30))

Have fun