Bash Script to start VMware Workstation under Bumblebee Primus/Optimus hybrid drivers
Information and history on this blog post: http://www.totalnetsolutions.net/2012/12/08/bumblebee-primus-and-vmware-workstation-nvidia-optimus-graphics-on-ubuntu/
To new users, especially those coming from other forum posts: Please check the issues tab. I only have Ubuntu, but other developers have added Fedora, OpenSUSE, Arch, and Debian support. I'm using the Issues to track things that aren't working, and as you can see, this is still actively developed, but it needs feedback for that to work.
Last Updated 2018-07-24
To use: mkdir -p ~/bin cd ~/bin
git clone https://github.com/docsmooth/vmware-bumblebee.git
OR
wget https://github.com/docsmooth/vmware-bumblebee/blob/master/vmware && ln -s ./vmware vmplayer
This will place the scripts as executable in your $HOME/bin, so they can be launched from anywhere.
For the first time, or after any update to this script OR VMware Workstation, run "sudo vmware -i" to install the helper.
To use normally, just run "vmware" or "vmplayer" and your default path SHOULD pick this up before the default VMware installed version in /usr/bin/vmware
There are flags "--no" and "--yes" to force disable/enable 3d. If you're on battery, the script should NOT launch the 3d routines, and VMware might complain about a missing 3d compatible video card. That's OK and by design.
Thank you in advance for any help with bugs, issues, comments.
As of July, 2017, my primary laptop does NOT have an NVidia card, so I'm personally not using this daily anymore, but still have the hardware, it still runs 100% of the time, and I'm still active on this project.