Recently I move back to use my (around) 4 years old laptop, HP Pavilion dv3. It has NVIDIA graphic card. But since I (re-)installed Arch Linux 64 bit on it, I failed to run the X11 with the proprietary NVIDIA driver. As a result, I used the Nouveau module instead. Then, I tried several times and finally successfully run the X11 with NVIDIA driver.
To use the Nouveau module, in the mkinitcpio.conf, we have to add in “nouveau” module, then build the initramfs (refer to wiki page). And use the “Xorg -configure” to generate the xorg.conf.
But in order to use the NVIDIA driver, firstly, has to identify the NVIDIA graphic card and download the related drivers. Secondly, since I am using 64 bit, but also running 32 bit packages, so I have to install all the corresponding lib32 NVIDIA packages. Moreover, the nvidia*-libgl are conflicted to mesa-libgl, which is used by Nouveau. After installing NVIDIA, use “nvidia-xconfig” to generate the xorg.conf.
We can also disable the splash screen (logo) when starting the X11, by adding
Options "NoLogo" "1"
in the “Device” section in the xorg.conf.
Then after using the NVIDIA, I face a serious problem, that is the xrandr (in fact I am usign ARandR) cannot change the screen resolution. This is troublesome as I need to make the changes towards the projector (2nd screen) frequently, such as two screens (left screen and right screen), laptop only (disable the projector), or clone (both laptop and the projector share the same screen). With the NVIDIA, xrandr cannot detect other resolutions, consequently I cannot make clone of the screen. So, I decided to use back Nouveau.
However, I have another serious problem with Nouveau module, that is, adjusting the backlight brightness (screen brightness). When I use xbacklight, it shows
No outputs have backlight property
I cannot adjust the backlight brightness using the usual keyboard key with Xfce4 Power Manager. Some forums stated that adding “acpi_backlight=xxxx” to the kernel parameter. But none of them works.
In my /sys/class/backlight, there are acpi_video0 and nv_backlight. Actually, I can change the backlight by echo the value to the acpi_video0/brightness, with “su”. Yet the nv_backlight does not show any effect.
I found that, I can use the keyboard key to adjust the brightness before start the Xfce4. Once the Xfce4 started (with Power Manager), the brightness change takes no effect. And the changes of the brightness is affecting the nv_backlight/brightness. So, I concluded that it is actually fixable by fixing the Xfce4 Power Manager.
As a result, I patched the Xfce4 Power Manager by editing the source code, to remove the “nv_backlight” from the priority. Install this patched package, restart the Xfce4, and now, it works!
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