Every component of your operating system contributes somewhat to the consumption of your battery. The more active components you have at a particular instance, the more quickly you should expect your battery to be drained out. This is exactly why some people who prefer their laptop’s battery to last long want to enable low graphics mode. Therefore, in this article, we will explain to you the different methods with which you can enable low graphics mode in Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04.
Enabling Low Graphics Mode in Ubuntu
For enabling low graphics mode in Ubuntu, you can make use of any of the two methods discussed below:
Method # 1:
To enable low graphics mode in Ubuntu by making use of the CompizConfig Settings Manager, you will need to perform the following steps:
First of all, you will need to install the CompizConfig Settings Manager. For doing that, you need to launch the terminal by pressing Ctrl+ T or you can click on the Activities icon located on your desktop and then type terminal in the search bar that appears and double-click on the search results to launch the terminal. Moreover, you can also right-click on your desktop and then select the Open Terminal option from the menu that pops up. The newly launched terminal window is shown in the image below:
Now type the following command in your terminal and then press the Enter key:
sudo apt-get update
Running this command will make your system ready for installing all the latest packages from the Internet. This command is also shown in the following image:
After the successful execution of this command, type the following command in your terminal and then press the Enter key:
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
This command will take some time to execute depending upon your Internet speed. It is also shown in the image below:
Once this command is executed successfully, click on the Activities tab located on your desktop and then type compiz in the search bar that appears followed by pressing the Enter key as shown in the following image:
As soon as you will do this, the CompizConfig Settings Manager window will appear on your screen. Now click on the Desktop tab from the left pane of this window as highlighted in the image shown below:
Click on the Ubuntu Unity Plugin from the Desktop pane. However, if this plugin is not present over there by default, then you can simply install it by typing the following command in your terminal and then pressing the Enter key:
sudo apt-get install unity
This plugin is shown in the following image:
In the General tab of this plugin, scroll down to find Enable Low Graphics Mode option and check the checkbox beside it to enable this option as highlighted in the image shown below:
Now restart your PC for once for the newly made changes to take effect.
Method # 2:
To enable low graphics mode in Ubuntu via Ubuntu Terminal, you will need to perform the following steps:
First of all, you will need to launch the terminal in Ubuntu. For doing that, you can press Ctrl+ T or you can click on the Activities icon located on your desktop and then type terminal in the search bar that appears and double click on the search results to launch the terminal. Moreover, you can also right-click on your desktop and then select the Open Terminal option from the menu that pops up. The newly launched terminal window is shown in the image below:
Now type the following command in your terminal and then press the Enter key:
nano ~/.config/upstart/lowgfx.conf
Running this command will open up a configuration file that you need to edit in order to enable the low graphics mode. This command is also shown in the following image:
As soon as this command will execute successfully, a file will open up on your screen. Type the following script in your file, save it, and then exit.
start on starting unity7 pre-start script initctl set-env –g UNITY_LOW_GFX_MODE=1 end script
This script is also shown in the image below:
Now restart your PC. Once it is restarted, launch the terminal again. Type the following command in it to update your PC and then press the Enter key:
sudo apt-get update
This command is shown in the following image:
Finally, type the following command in your terminal for upgrading your PC and for the newly made changes to take place, and then press the Enter key:
sudo apt-get upgrade
This command is also shown in the image below:
Once the above-mentioned process takes place successfully, the low graphics mode will immediately be enabled.
Conclusion
The two methods discussed in this article are very effective for enabling the low graphics mode in Ubuntu. The second method however requires a lesser number of steps and that is why it may be preferred by most of the users.