egpu-switcher

Description

The goal of this CLI is to lower the barrier for Linux users to use their eGPU on the Linux Desktop. With the egpu-switcher config command the user can choose their external GPU. On every bootup the service will check if the eGPU is connected and if so, make X.Org prefer it.

[!NOTE] No hotplugging is possible. Users still need to reboot their computer to connect / disconnect the eGPU.

Requirements

• Running X.Org
• Thunderbolt connection to eGPU is authorized
• Necessary graphics drivers for eGPU are installed

Installation

Ubuntu (apt)

The PPA is no longer maintained for now (see #90)

Arch (aur)

paru -S egpu-switcher

[!TIP] :deciduous_tree::zap: Save time and energy by using the pre-compiled egpu-switcher-bin package

Manual

Installation and setup

Download binary from latest release

Copy binary to /opt, apply proper permissions, and link it in /usr/bin

sudo cp  /opt/egpu-switcher
sudo chmod 755 /opt/egpu-switcher
sudo ln -s /opt/egpu-switcher /usr/bin/egpu-switcher
sudo egpu-switcher enable

Uninstall

sudo egpu-switcher disable --hard
sudo rm /usr/bin/egpu-switcher
sudo rm /opt/egpu-switcher

Build

Prerequisites

Install the go toolchain

Installation and setup

git clone [email protected]:hertg/egpu-switcher.git
cd egpu-switcher
make build -s
sudo make install -s
sudo egpu-switcher enable

Uninstall

sudo egpu-switcher disable --hard
sudo make uninstall -s

Commands

Usage:
  egpu-switcher [command]

Available Commands:
  config      Choose your external GPU
  disable     Disable egpu-switcher from running at startup
  enable      Enable egpu-switcher to run at startup
  help        Help about any command
  switch      Check if eGPU is present and configure X.org accordingly
  version     Print version information

Flags:
  -h, --help      help for egpu-switcher
  -v, --verbose   verbose output

Use "egpu-switcher [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Configuration

The config file is created automatically and can be found at /etc/egpu-switcher/config.yaml. Below you can see an example of a configuration file, annotated with additional information.

…

Custom X11 config

Since version 0.20.0, a custom x11 config template can be configured by creating a file at /usr/share/egpu-switcher/x11-template.conf. The default template is shown below, you can use it as a starting point.

# autogenerated by egpu-switcher
{{if .Modesetting}}
Section "Module"
    Load           "modesetting"
EndSection
{{end}}

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "{{.Id}}"
    Driver         "{{.Driver}}"
    BusID          "{{.Bus}}"
    Option         "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration"
    Option         "AllowExternalGpus" "True"
EndSection

[!TIP] For safety, and to stop egpu-switcher from printing warnings, the file should be owned by root:root and have a mode of 644.

Troubleshooting

If you run into problems, please have a look at TROUBLESHOOT.md before reporting any issues.