you might be interested to try liveiso xubuntu-bionic nvidia-390.48 a live_iso bionic-xubuntu with nvidia-390.48 prime-switchabled to experiment : it's working on Acer VN7 4GB ram boot the live iso http://sourceforge.net/projects/toysbox/ xubuntu-18.04-4.15.0-24-nvidia390.48.iso open a terminal ctrl-T : inxi -G to check on which graphic card it is running sudo prime-select query gives equivalent result on running graphic card sudo prime-select intel to switch to the intel graphic sudo prime-select nvidia to switch to the nvidia graphic The prime version here is from Mathieu Gras ( problem and partial solution originally raised up by Tim Richardson ) https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/1032482/linux/optimus-on-ubuntu-18-04-is-a-step-backwards-but-i-found-the-first-good-solution/4 but to make the whole stuff running as liveIso requires lots of sweats ...and funs !!!!! Here is a short log : $ cat Live-xubuntu-bionic-nvidia-390.log xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ cat /proc/cmdline BOOT_IMAGE=(loop)/casper/vmlinuz iso-scan/filename=/iso/xubuntu-18.04-4.15.0-24-nvidia0.iso file=/cdrom/preseed/xubuntu.seed waitusb=5 boot=casper systemd.debug-shell=1 systemd.log_level=debug systemd.log_target=kmsg log_buf_len=1M printk.devkmsg=on xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ uname -a Linux xubuntu 4.15.0-24-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jun 13 08:44:47 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ inxi -G Graphics: Card-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller Card-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 860M] Display Server: x11 (X.Org 1.19.6 ) drivers: modesetting,nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) Resolution: 1920x1080@60.02hz OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 860M/PCIe/SSE2 version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.48 xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ xrandr --listproviders Providers: number : 2 Provider 0: id: 0x23a cap: 0x1, Source Output crtcs: 0 outputs: 0 associated providers: 1 name:NVIDIA-0 Provider 1: id: 0x44 cap: 0x6, Sink Output, Source Offload crtcs: 3 outputs: 2 associated providers: 1 name:modesetting xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ glxinfo | grep NVIDIA server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation OpenGL core profile version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.48 OpenGL core profile shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA OpenGL version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.48 OpenGL shading language version string: 4.60 NVIDIA OpenGL ES profile version string: OpenGL ES 3.2 NVIDIA 390.48 xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ glxgears Running synchronized to the vertical refresh. The framerate should be approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate. 69297 frames in 5.0 seconds = 13859.334 FPS 68090 frames in 5.0 seconds = 13617.823 FPS xubuntu@xubuntu:~$ glxspheres64 Polygons in scene: 62464 (61 spheres * 1024 polys/spheres) Visual ID of window: 0xa8 Context is Direct OpenGL Renderer: GeForce GTX 860M/PCIe/SSE2 1914.953887 frames/sec - 2137.088538 Mpixels/sec 1964.035952 frames/sec - 2191.864122 Mpixels/sec Troublshootings 1 If at boot you get a black screen ...really nothing else after 2min don't panic ; Open a VT2 with ctrl-F2 Login as xubuntu user with blank password ; sudo su to get root permission lsmod | grep nvidia_drm check if module nvidia-drm.ko is loaded , in which case simply Type systemctl stop lightdm then systemctl start lightdm or simply systemctl restart lightdm If no module nvidia loaded then try switch on nvidia card by ( check presence of module bbswitch with cat /proc/acpi/bbswitch ) echo "ON" >/proc/acpi/bbswitch it will switched to good nvidia'card desktop or ...blackscreen ,then restart ligthtdm 2 The desktop boots but inxi -G shows no graphic on nvidia but only intel-graphic with intel_driver or modesetting_driver . If lsmod | grep video shows lots of nvidia modules ; it means then Xorg server auto detection scheme misses setting up GPU correctly a.k.a nvidia'graphic card as source output and intel's iGPU as sink output as defined by Optimus technology. Simply sudo systemctl restart lightdm from desktop's terminal and we get the right desktop with drivers: modesetting,nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) shown by inxi -G. 3 There are very few commands to know helping solving ,understanding the troubles lsmod | grep nvidia to make sure that nvidia-drm.ko is loaded before starting again lightdm echo "ON">/proc/acpi/bbswitch to switch on the nvidia graphic card systemctl to start systemd service 4 Of course if it happens you see "nouveau" module present on lsmod then you really need to stop lightdm before removing rmmod nouveau otherwise nvidia would conflict 5 I setup a rc-local.service to be able to give xubuntu user sudo without passwd ,and switch on nvidia card during boot time