MacBookPro5,3, Fedora Linux: Disable discrete GPU and optimize power consumption

disabledgpu.sh

#!/bin/bash
echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:02\:00.0/remove

howto.md

The attached Ansible playbook helps setting up Fedora Linux on a 2009 Macbook Pro with dual Nvidia graphics.

Only applies when for the specific Macbook Pro with dual Nvidia graphics

lspci | grep VGA
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G96CM [GeForce 9600M GT] (rev a1)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation C79 [GeForce 9400M] (rev b1)

Problems solved:

1. Monitor shows wrong virtual display
2. High energy consumption

Solutions applied:

1. Disable GeForce 9600M GT permanently at boot time
2. Replace energy management with TLP

How is it done?

The Ansible playbook sets up a systemd service which turns off the GeForce 9600M GT during boot. TLP is being installed and power-profiles-daemon is being removed

Step by step

1. Connect the device with an ethernet cable
2. Install Fedora 35 (37 does not install on old Macs, 36 might - I am not sure)
3. After installation you see only a blank screen. Reboot, temporarily (only for this boot) add the following parameters to grub:

nouveau.modeset=0 rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau video=vesa:off

4. finish the installation
5. Open a terminal
6. Clone this gist into Downloads folder

git clone <this gist>
cd <this gist>
sudo dnf -y install ansible
sudo ansible-playbook macbookpro53-setup.yml

7. Reboot without the grub paramters from step 3
8. Enjoy, update Fedora 35 and then upgrade to the latest Fedora Linux

macbookpro53-setup.yml

---
  - name: macbookpro53-setup.yml
    # This is the host or host group to apply this playbook to. Set to "localhost" optionally.
    hosts: localhost

    tasks:
      - name: Deploy Script to disable discrete GPU
        ansible.builtin.copy:
          src: disabledgpu.sh
          dest: /usr/local/bin/disabledgpu.sh
          mode: 0755
          owner: root
          group: root
      - name: Restore SELinux-Context for disabledgpu script
        ansible.builtin.command: restorecon -v /usr/local/bin/disabledgpu.sh
      - name: Deploying service to disable discrete GPU
        blockinfile:
          path: /etc/systemd/system/disabledgpu.service
          create: yes
          block: |
            [Unit]
            Description=Custom startup script
            Requires=multi-user.target
            
            [Service]
            Type=oneshot
            RemainAfterExit=yes
            ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/disabledgpu.sh

            [Install]
            RequiredBy=graphical.target
          owner: root
          group: root          
      - name: Update systemd (daemon-reload) and enable disabledgpu
        ansible.builtin.systemd:
          name: disabledgpu
          enabled: yes
          daemon_reload: yes
      - name: Installing latest version of TLP
        ansible.builtin.dnf:
          name: 
            - tlp
            - tlp-rdw
          state: latest
      - name: Removing power-profiles-daemon
        ansible.builtin.dnf:
          name: 
            - power-profiles-daemon
          state: absent
      - name: Starting and enabling TLP
        ansible.builtin.systemd:
          name: tlp.service
          enabled: yes
          state: started
      - name: Masking systemd-rfkill.service
        ansible.builtin.systemd:
          name: systemd-rfkill.service
          masked: yes
      - name: Masking systemd-rfkill.socket
        ansible.builtin.systemd:
          name: systemd-rfkill.socket
          masked: yes