Linux – Superhero Ninja

So after a long while I wanted to get back to CS:GO on my Thinkpad X1 Extreme with hybrid Intel/Nvidia GPU, and the performance was horrible!

Long story short: (re)install the Nvidia drivers to get the Nvidia card working.

First: Testing if the NVidia card is active

You can test if you are actually using the NVidia card by running this command:

 ~  glxinfo|egrep "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"
OpenGL vendor string: Intel Open Source Technology Center
OpenGL renderer string: Mesa DRI Intel(R) UHD Graphics 630 (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2) 
 ~ 

You can see in the example above that Intel means that you’re still using the Intel onboard graphics card for all your OpenGL stuff (including games like CS:GO)

And Intel GPU is not good for gaming.

Note: If it actually says NVIDIA in your output then don’t continue with the solution below.

Solution: (Re-)Install the NVidia driver

Check if you have the driver currently installed:

dpkg -l |grep nvidia

Notice: If the package is installed on your system then the package name is preceded by ii

There should be driver package named nvidia-driver-xxx installed. Where xxx is the version number.

In my system it looks like this:

~  dpkg -l |grep nvidia                         
ii  libnvidia-cfg1-470:amd64                470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA binary OpenGL/GLX configuration library
ii  libnvidia-common-470                    470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             all          Shared files used by the NVIDIA libraries
rc  libnvidia-compute-435:amd64             440.31-1pop1~1573485407~19.04~af08493                                amd64        Transitional package for libnvidia-compute-440
rc  libnvidia-compute-455:amd64             460.67-1pop0~1616430777~20.04~71e1ad1                                amd64        Transitional package for libnvidia-compute-460
rc  libnvidia-compute-460:amd64             465.31-1pop0~1623777959~20.10~a3ca7f3                                amd64        Transitional package for libnvidia-compute-465
rc  libnvidia-compute-465:amd64             470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~20.10~f9815ed                             amd64        Transitional package for libnvidia-compute-470
ii  libnvidia-compute-470:amd64             470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-compute-470:i386              470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             i386         NVIDIA libcompute package
ii  libnvidia-decode-470:amd64              470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii  libnvidia-decode-470:i386               470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             i386         NVIDIA Video Decoding runtime libraries
ii  libnvidia-encode-470:amd64              470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii  libnvidia-encode-470:i386               470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             i386         NVENC Video Encoding runtime library
ii  libnvidia-extra-470:amd64               470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        Extra libraries for the NVIDIA driver
ii  libnvidia-fbc1-470:amd64                470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii  libnvidia-fbc1-470:i386                 470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             i386         NVIDIA OpenGL-based Framebuffer Capture runtime library
ii  libnvidia-gl-440:i386                   470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             i386         Transitional package for libnvidia-gl-470
ii  libnvidia-gl-470:amd64                  470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii  libnvidia-gl-470:i386                   470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             i386         NVIDIA OpenGL/GLX/EGL/GLES GLVND libraries and Vulkan ICD
ii  libnvidia-ifr1-470:amd64                470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA OpenGL-based Inband Frame Readback runtime library
ii  libnvidia-ifr1-470:i386                 470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             i386         NVIDIA OpenGL-based Inband Frame Readback runtime library
rc  nvidia-compute-utils-460                460.73.01-1pop0~1620243205~20.10~9a91ef9                             amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
ii  nvidia-compute-utils-470                470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA compute utilities
rc  nvidia-dkms-460                         460.73.01-1pop0~1620243205~20.10~9a91ef9                             amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
ii  nvidia-dkms-470                         470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA DKMS package
rc  nvidia-driver-460                       460.67-1pop0~1616430777~20.10~71e1ad1                                amd64        NVIDIA driver metapackage
ii  nvidia-driver-470                       470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA driver metapackage
rc  nvidia-kernel-common-460                460.73.01-1pop0~1620243205~20.10~9a91ef9                             amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
ii  nvidia-kernel-common-470                470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        Shared files used with the kernel module
ii  nvidia-kernel-source-470                470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA kernel source package
ii  nvidia-settings                         470.57.01-0ubuntu0.21.04.1                                           amd64        Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver
ii  nvidia-utils-470                        470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA driver support binaries
ii  screen-resolution-extra                 0.18build2                                                           all          Extension for the nvidia-settings control panel
ii  xserver-xorg-video-nvidia-470           470.57.02-1pop0~1627044105~21.04~f9815ed                             amd64        NVIDIA binary Xorg driver
 ~ 

Re-Install the driver package by installing the latest nvidia-driver-xxx package to your system with the following command:

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-xxx

Accept the additional packages and after the installation, reboot your system. You should now have the correct output when you run the glxinfo command in the first paragraph.

glxinfo|egrep "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"

Example output:

~  glxinfo|egrep "OpenGL vendor|OpenGL renderer"
OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
OpenGL renderer string: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti with Max-Q Design/PCIe/SSE2
 ~

Gnome has been my favourite Window Manager for ages, to me it feels like a cosy blanket meaning that I’ve arrived at home 🙂

Part of that feeling is because of the awesome extensions that so many enthusiasts have made over the years. If you don’t know, the extensions add so much productivity and possibilities to an already great window manager.

I’ve put my favourite extensions in the list below. This list is part so that I can remember myself but also to explain why some of these extensions are so cool to use (to me at least)

Click the Extension name in the table below to go to the extensions web page on extensions.gnome.org

Extension	Awesome index (1-5)	Why it is so awesome
Activities Configurator	3	Allows you to customize the Activities logo and fine tune the menu bar
Caffeine	2	Disable the screensaver and auto suspend, great for watching video’s or extreme prolonged pondering of diagrams
Clipboard Indicator	5	Clipboard manager for Gnome. I ALWAYS use a clipboard manager, doesn’t matter if I’m working on a Windows, Linux of OSx machine, it is one of the first things I install. Such a productivity booster. Clipboard indicator is one of a few clipboard managers in the extensions repository, I like the simplicity.
Dash to Dock	5	A dock for the Gnome Shell. One of the most popular extensions because it turns the dash into a dock! (What’s in a name) Makes switching and launching of applications easier.
Desktop Icons NG (DING)	2	Adds icons to the desktop (for the ~/Desktop folder)
Draw On You Screen	3	This extension allows me to draw on the screen when making screencasts. You can toggle the drawing on/off with a keyboard shortcut.
gTile	5	Makes it easy to order your windows in a grid. Very nice productivity tool. I mostly use the 5×4 grid, with browsers having a size of 2×4 and terminals sized 1×4. You can switch on the fly between three (configurable) grid presets
Internet Radio	4	Small widget which streams internet radio. I most often listen to Pinguin Radio and some of the local Dutch radio stations. Note: Does not listen to the keyboard media keys Favourite radio stations: Pinguin Radio: http://streams.pinguinradio.com/PinguinRadio192.mp3 Radio 538: http://22353.live.streamtheworld.com/RADIO538AAC.aac Radio Veronica: https://20873.live.streamtheworld.com/VERONICA.mp3 Radio 3FM: http://icecast.omroep.nl/3fm-bb-mp3
Quick Close in Overview	5	Very simple yet effective: Middle mouse button in Overview (Win-key) closes the application
Sound Input & Output Device Chooser	4	Shows all the input and output devices. I love this since I have several audio in- and outputs (USB amp / headphones / HDMI output via monitor) for different purposes. This extension gives me the current selected in- and output as well as letting me choose quickly.
System Monitor	5	One of the simplest and cleanest looking system monitors (CPU, Mem, Storage, Network, Load) It takes minimal space in the bar, yet gives me exactly the information I want on a glance. The extension works with colors (Shades of yellow, orange, red) to show how busy a resource is. For me this is very convenient if I want to know IF my CPU is being used heavily. One click on the pane and you see the top 5 of each category in a handy overview.
VirtualBox applet	3	Shows a list of running VirtualBox machines. I use this widget mostly to check if there is any running Vagrant stuff I forgot after a day of work
Workspace Scroll	3	Allows me to scroll anywhere in the top panel to change the workspace. Very convenient when working with multiple workspaces.
Wallpaper Changer	4	Changes the wallpaper based on several providers, I have it set to pick a picture from a folder every 30 minutes. It also serves a little like a pomodoro timer that way.
Tray Icons	4	Always handy to keep the tray icons in sight.