Prime Indicator is a small, helpful Ubuntu AppIndicator for Nvidia Optimus users running Ubuntu 14.04 which allows users to quickly switch between Intel and Nvidia graphics cards.
Update: Prime Indicator was abandoned, but it was later forked, and it now includes quite a few new features. The Ubuntu PPA installation instructions in this article now install the fork (called Prime Indicator Plus). For more about Prime Indicator Plus, see this article:
As we pointed out a while back, it's possible to switch between Nvidia and Intel graphics in Ubuntu 14.04 and to do this, you must open Nvidia Settings, change the graphics card, enter your password, then log out and log back in. Using Prime Indicator you can do this easier: a single click will automatically switch the graphics card and log out.
This is useful if you often need to switch between Nvidia and Intel graphics cards (to play games under Nvidia grapics for instance). Or at leat it will be useful, since Ubuntu 14.04 hasn't been released yet.
Since this is an "indicator", it also indicates the running graphics chip as an icon (it displays the Nvidia or Intel logo on the panel).
Prime Indicator probably also works in Ubuntu 12.04 with the newest hardware enablement stack, but I didn't test it so the PPA provides packages for Ubuntu 14.04 and newer only however, you can manually install the deb under Ubuntu 12.04 if you want to give it a try (there's a deb download link under the PPA installation instructions below).
Install Prime Indicator in Ubuntu
To add the PPA and install Prime Indicator in Ubuntu, use the commands below:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install prime-indicator-plusIf you don't want to add the PPA, you can manually download the deb from HERE.
Prime Indicator should start automatically when you log in so to start it for the first time, log out and log back in.
For source code, bug reports and so on, see Prime Indicator @ GitHub.
Thanks to Alfred for the tip!
