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Just bought new laptop. Going to attempt Linux as daily driver (wish me luck)

2K views 31 replies 8 participants last post by  enorbet2 
#1 ·
This might end up as a "stream of consciousness" (that's like a boring/uncool version free styling) so feel free to include your sarcastic replies below. Or wish me luck. Whichever.

I just bought a fancy AlienWare 15" gaming laptop...I know...I know... I think the number of ports and possible upgrade paths is what sold me on it over other options. I actually did browse System76 (OEM linux system seller) for a little while. They had some comparable configurations with more hard drive expansion slots but couldn't meet the price spec-for-spec. Maybe in 6 or 7 years when I upgrade again. The main thing that made me stop and hesitate on this alienware was the Killer wifi card. I wish I could have opted out of that. I've read nothing but bad things about killer working with linux. Maybe I can swap it out.

My current laptop is a Sager/Clevo purchased in February of 2013 (it's the one in my signature). Actually there's nothing wrong with it. It can play all the games I have, it has lots of usb ports, it can power my two 21:9 monitors without any problems....no issues what-so-ever. Except the fans seem to constantly run even when idle. Probably needs a good dust blow out and maybe thermal re-paste. I could have kept upgrading it with more RAM and larger and larger hard drives in perpetuity. Until the actual CPU and GPU were some where less then intel IGP or something. I mean if that ever happened. Probably another 6 years I could have kept it going. That would be like...11 years of one laptop.

Technically the GPU can be upgraded but the for whatever reason the upgrade kits around $700 for a minor bump up and as much as an actual laptop with a newer card for the higher end upgrades which...seriously, why bother with an upgrade kits if it's that much? Maybe the price of the gpu upgrade kits would be down to reasonable in another 6 years.

I don't have any idea how long/far I'll make it with linux as a daily driver. Nor do I know which Linux I'll settle on. Probably Mint since inevitably I'll ending up need proprietary drivers. That's still a thing right? Mint coming with proprietary hardware drivers?

Since I still need Windows at home for certain work functions I'll have to explore my options for that. Maybe if there's an RDP client for linux I can connect to a virtual windows instance in Hyper-V then use that for whatever. Or possibly some other option. Maybe virtualbox would work. Full screen virtualbox with win 7.
 
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#2 ·
To long, didnt read, haha, but based on the title, do it! Linux is pretty user friendly these days, just look for a popular distro that lots of people seem to be using and go for it. Probably a few things to get used to over the first few days and you'll be fine.
 
#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by spinFX View Post

To long, didnt read, haha, but based on the title, do it! Linux is pretty user friendly these days, just look for a popular distro that lots of people seem to be using and go for it. Probably a few things to get used to over the first few days and you'll be fine.
Oh. Someone replied. Weird. And to think this is one of my shorter thoughts. If anything it's entirely abrupt.
 
#5 ·
If it's like your sig rig it should be alright with Linux, the Intel + nVidia combo is usually solid, the WiFi card sounds really dodgy... but apparently uses an Atheros chipset so that bodes very well.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Petrol View Post

If it's like your sig rig it should be alright with Linux, the Intel + nVidia combo is usually solid, the WiFi card sounds really dodgy... but apparently uses an Atheros chipset so that bodes very well.
Unfortunately alienware isn't anything like the Clevo machines. Completely different set of hardware and a "killer" brand wifi chip. I think I found the latest kernel version might be able to deal. But generally Linux doesn't do well the the Killer network things.

Generally I think Clevo laptops are a good way to go by the way. Like I said mine has lasted 5 years. I don't think you'll find that many instances of that with gaming laptops. Helped that I didn't move it around a lot.
 
#7 ·
I just bought a laptop as my daily driver for the sole purpose of using Linux regularly. Its not for gaming (for that I use my Win 10 Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop) but I use it for everything else. I picked up a Dell Inspiron 13" 2 in 1 (5379) for $700. So far its been awesome.

I started my search first deciding what Desktop Environment (DE) I wanted to use. After researching I decided on KDE as to me it was the most modern, aesthetically pleasing, and customizable DE. I then started a search for a distro that had a KDE flavor and was well supported. I considered Kubuntu, Mint KDe and Neon. Kubuntu was riddled with issues (a big one was you couldnt type the password at the disk encryption screen). I found out Mint will be dropping KDE since Kubuntu has it. Neon is basically Mint for KDE. All 3 based on Ubuntu and I presume all 3 sharing the same issues.

I then found Manjaro. It is based on Arch Linux which is highly regarded by avid Linux users, is a rolling release (no need to reinstall when an update happens) and has a well supported KDE version. It worked wonderfully with my hardware. I had also tested it on a Dell workstation laptop with a Nvidia card and it installed the proprietary drivers. Manjaro makes it easy to install and handles drivers and kernels really easily (they have entries in the settings app to handle both in a GUI). Ive been using it for about a month now and its awesome. The community is also very good and its easy to get help.

I thought finding software may be an issue but between the official repos and AUR (the arch linux user managed repo) I have found everything I need.

As for the wifi, Killer is owned by Qualcomm afaik and historically has good support for Linux.

I have a Windows server at home and RDP all the time using a program called Remmina. Its the closest thing to Windows 1st party RDP program I could find and has some additional features too.

I have an external m.2 enclosure I use for VM's, one of which is a Windows 10 VM just in case I need to use any Windows software. I host/run it via KVM and it works perfectly.

If you dont have prior Linux experience be prepared to research stuff and work out the kinks. Its really no different then building your own machine and using Windows, with the exception that you may be much more experienced fixing/avoiding issues with Windows. In other words if you like to learn, great you'll have chances. If you just want it to work Linux may not be for you.

Id recommend trying out some distros via live cd or VM first and figure out which DE/Distro you want before installation as your daily driver. distrowatch is a great site to check out popular distros and get a small blurb about each along with some reviews.

EDIT: btw, what you pay extra for from something like System76 is the peace of mind knowing that it will work with Linux. Most people only think about driver support. The sad truth is many other things important to your computer may be designed with only Windows in mind. For example BIOS updates that are only in .exe format (Windows executable). The recent Intel ME vulnerability update that some OEM's are releasing may not have a Linux package for some models of their laptops (Windows only patch). Stuff like that is why you pay extra, to know its supported.
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zer0CoolX View Post

I just bought a laptop as my daily driver for the sole purpose of using Linux regularly. Its not for gaming (for that I use my Win 10 Acer Predator Helios 300 laptop) but I use it for everything else. I picked up a Dell Inspiron 13" 2 in 1 (5379) for $700. So far its been awesome.

I started my search first deciding what Desktop Environment (DE) I wanted to use. After researching I decided on KDE as to me it was the most modern, aesthetically pleasing, and customizable DE. I then started a search for a distro that had a KDE flavor and was well supported. I considered Kubuntu, Mint KDe and Neon. Kubuntu was riddled with issues (a big one was you couldnt type the password at the disk encryption screen). I found out Mint will be dropping KDE since Kubuntu has it. Neon is basically Mint for KDE. All 3 based on Ubuntu and I presume all 3 sharing the same issues.

I then found Manjaro. It is based on Arch Linux which is highly regarded by avid Linux users, is a rolling release (no need to reinstall when an update happens) and has a well supported KDE version. It worked wonderfully with my hardware. I had also tested it on a Dell workstation laptop with a Nvidia card and it installed the proprietary drivers. Manjaro makes it easy to install and handles drivers and kernels really easily (they have entries in the settings app to handle both in a GUI). Ive been using it for about a month now and its awesome. The community is also very good and its easy to get help.

I thought finding software may be an issue but between the official repos and AUR (the arch linux user managed repo) I have found everything I need.

As for the wifi, Killer is owned by Qualcomm afaik and historically has good support for Linux.

I have a Windows server at home and RDP all the time using a program called Remmina. Its the closest thing to Windows 1st party RDP program I could find and has some additional features too.

I have an external m.2 enclosure I use for VM's, one of which is a Windows 10 VM just in case I need to use any Windows software. I host/run it via KVM and it works perfectly.

If you dont have prior Linux experience be prepared to research stuff and work out the kinks. Its really no different then building your own machine and using Windows, with the exception that you may be much more experienced fixing/avoiding issues with Windows. In other words if you like to learn, great you'll have chances. If you just want it to work Linux may not be for you.

Id recommend trying out some distros via live cd or VM first and figure out which DE/Distro you want before installation as your daily driver. distrowatch is a great site to check out popular distros and get a small blurb about each along with some reviews.

EDIT: btw, what you pay extra for from something like System76 is the peace of mind knowing that it will work with Linux. Most people only think about driver support. The sad truth is many other things important to your computer may be designed with only Windows in mind. For example BIOS updates that are only in .exe format (Windows executable). The recent Intel ME vulnerability update that some OEM's are releasing may not have a Linux package for some models of their laptops (Windows only patch). Stuff like that is why you pay extra, to know its supported.

Well ya. I mean I have some linux experience. Some of which is linked in my signature (that virtualbox took me forever and the router thing...well speak for itself...). More recently I was experimenting with different distros on an old laptop (some off brand thing/effectively a netbook but the battery is incredible) eventually settling on Arch. I had that Arch install process down pretty well at one one point and I was experimenting with different DEs/etc.

Only anxiety I guess comes from not being able to do something that's required for my job or etc. on short notice. That and the idea of not being capable of playing some chunk of my steam game library. That's a lot of money invested. I can use the old laptop as effectively a game console (connected directly to the TV and wired directly to the router) so I can hypothetically stream any game I can't run in linux or WINE if I really wanted to. I mean if the old laptop couldn't run it effectively even at 1080p so I had to run a game on the new one I could try WINE first. I don't know of situation where that would be required. I mean unless I wanted to really amp up the graphics in 21:9 which would make the old laptop choke and/or burst into flame. Only a few example of that though.

I still need to try and get Manjaro to work. Seems like the last time I tried I couldn't get it to install for some reason. I don't remember the details. It will just be a re-adjustment period. I think I can manage as long as there's no menu covered in animated ads for apps/candy crush/etc. I think I can deal with about anything if it means I never have to see an ad for candy crush again.
 
#9 ·
If you use something like rufus to make a USB installer make sure you use DD mode or it wont work for Manjaro.

I get what your saying about missing out on Windows stuff. My situation is a bit different as I have a Windows gaming laptop but it isnt the kind of thing you sit on the couch with. So I got a nice slim 2 in 1, put Manjaro on it and other than gaming evenything I do is mostly on Linux now and I dont miss a thing. Its actually the other way around I generally miss Manjaro when I am on my PC. Ive had it like a month and I am already trying to use Manjaro keyboard shortcuts when I am on Windows and get confused when it doesnt work lol.

You could setup your machine dual boot. Boot Windows to game, boot Linux for all else. This would essentially be no different performance wise than 1 or the other. The only downside to this is the time it takes to reboot and the space you slice out for one or the other.

Personally the only safety net I really needed was having a Win 10 VM with Office 2016 (please dont be the person who tries to tell me that LibreOffice or anything else comes close to MSO) in case of emergency and even that is on an external drive I can carry with but only use when needed. In a month I havent had to use that VM other than to actually set it up.

I have started to realize that the typical "PC" isnt the requirement to accomplish 99% of what I do. The atmosphere has changed and we have so many viable options for most of what we do. Linux, ChromeOS, Android, all the way to streaming boxes and smart TV's and everything in between (tablets, etc). The only thing I can say that I still rely on Windows for is gaming and to be honest an xbox or ps4 (I have a PS4) could likely be a viable substitute for most people who arent #PCMasterRace.

I am not even all tin foil hat about Windows 10. Hell collect anything not personally identifiable you like, but do it quite and without hindering my experience. The most annoying thing to me about Win 10 isnt what most people complain about (omg they now what hardware i use?!?! or *** they make me update!), its the damn apps they preinstall and the stupid tweaks I need to remember to opt out of crap like suggestions that magically seem to toggle back on after updates. To be honest Android has a similar problem with apps ignoring notification settings which annoys the hell out of me. You turn off notifications for an app but bc its black friday they just ignore it and toss a notification in case you didnt know it was black friday and that they sell stuff.

/end rant

Have you gotten anything setup on the laptop yet? Btw you may want to wait to put Linux on it solely so that you can flash the recent Intel ME firmware update to fix a security issue (my laptops only have a Windows exe for it, some machines are getting a BIOS update) so I gotta figure out how to try and run that on my Manjaro laptop when they release it. Likely have to do something like bootable FreeDOS.

EDIT: took a peak at your VM post, good stuff. I am sure you had your reasons at the time as the post is a couple years old but if you havent yet you should check out KVM. ESXi is great and all but has some limiting hardware requirements (specifically in the NIC area) that make it a tough choice for personal use. KVM is kind of halfway between baremetal like ESXi and a hosted VM like Virtualbox. KVM can do cool stuff like nested VM's (I have for ex: Manjaro>KVM>CentOS Guest>KVM>CentOS Guest 2) and has great performance.
 
#10 ·
Well I only just bought it so I won't actually get it until December 8 or something.

My plan was to use the OEM win 10 to run stress tests and back up the drivers so I can dban and reinstall 10 if I needed. Also I firmware updates where needed.

As for dual boot I'm going to avoid that. Too easy to switch back to Windows and stay there. Maybe a USB 3 SSD or... something, just as for firmware updates and holidays. Only way to really switch to linux is total immersion. I've been "linux curious" since... Sh?t 1998? Damn I'm old. Anyway, I've been almost this for a while now.
 
#11 ·
I get it, I have been in the same boat. Ive tinkered with Linux at home off and on for about as long. I just couldnt ever commit to it, I always felt like it was "less" than what Windows was offering. Now I use it at work alot, mostly on the server side of things. I needed to immerse myself in it to give myself a practical means to learn it. In other words not just text book smarts and not just limited experience in server environments but really get comfortable with it. I would say me a month ago before diving into it and me now is a night and day difference using Linux.

I am a really big fan of Manjaro KDE so far. It worked perfect with my laptop, looks sleek/modern but also very functional and customizable.

The reason I recommended dual boot however is for gaming. There is no way you are gonna get decent performance in Windows games using wine, playonlinux, or a VM. It may work, but it will come at a cost vs playing on Windows. In my opinion wine and playonlinux or even a VM are great for office work, that "one" program you just cant replace, etc. They often incur a penalty of being less stable, less fast, or having to use older versions to be compatible. That usually isnt a deal breaker for something like note taking, office documents, etc but for gaming it can render games unplayable (especially at the rate they get updated).

For me the answer was a external SSD, KVM and a Win 10 VM which it brings me much happiness to say I havent felt the need to use at all.
 
#12 ·
Regarding gaming, ZeroCool's comment about Linux performance is quite conditional. It all depends on the games you like. If you instantly buy the latest AAA titles boasting about awesome DirectX graphics, then Linux is a slight step down, at least in graphic performance. Linux does still have a superior TCP/IP stack which I can verify by having games installed on a shared NTFS partition and comparing not only the feel but the numbers. Linux also has less latency which effects the response time of whatever you prefer as a controller.

Also if you are not the above type (and here I should mention that Gabe Newell's crusade has begun to work since a native Linux version of the latest Deus Ex, Mankind Divided, came out thanks to Feral within one month of the Windows release) and you carefully choose games based on gameplay you really won't suffer hardly at all.

I should also mention that I totally respect and agree with OPs choice to avoid dual boot, at least until falling back is basically out of the question.

Regarding BIOS/UEFI updates, extremely few if any modern mobos come without having a built-in updater whether you choose to download from within it or use a USB drive as a source for the bin file , so it shouldn't be much of a concern these days. If any such enemies of Linux exist that rely solely on Windows for such chores, not only would I, and do I, refuse to buy them, I write the manufacturer and tell them exactly why they lost my business and support. For the friendly ones I also write them to explain how important Linux compatibility was in my buying choice. The latter seems particularly effective since so few users contact manufacturers for good things. Usually it's all about problems and complaints.

By the way, if you'd like to do a serious test run I highly recommend -- Live Slack -- not only because I love it but for one of the more important reasons why. Most live disks are crippled by being the barest of systems just as an incentive to use the included graphic installer. Live Slack is a FULL system and even has persistence PLUS comes with numerous boot options including to blacklist nouveau and use nVidia driver. It also boots directly to X. All you need do is write down or otherwise remember the default login credentials since you are greeted with a login screen so you can choose from several different WM/DEs - KDE, Plasma, Xfce, Mate, Fluxbox, and several others. No graphic installer is required with Live Slack as a simple DD can do the job... or grab an iso and install it your way.

Whatever you choose, Good Fortune to you, Bro.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by subassy View Post

I don't have any idea how long/far I'll make it with linux as a daily driver. Nor do I know which Linux I'll settle on. Probably Mint since inevitably I'll ending up need proprietary drivers. That's still a thing right? Mint coming with proprietary hardware drivers?
On the drivers, once you have Mint installed, launch driver manager. It will allow you to download the drivers.

This a nice site I use when fresh installing certain Linux distros.
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/Home
 
#14 ·
My comment about gaimng was regarding native Windows games vs wine, playonlinux or a VM not regarding native Linux games vs native Windows. If they have Windows games they want to play that have no native Linux version, performance on a dual boot/native Windows will be a much better experience then trying to get it working on one of those 3 options.
 
#15 ·
Well, Zer0CoolX, even that is conditional both from what I read and my own experience. Granted, way back when Orange Box was new HL 2 was substantially faster on Windows. Maybe that's where, or rather when, you got this idea. However last year, when Deus Ex: The Human Revolution came out I got it immediately and ran it both in Win 7 and in wine on Slackware Linux. Frames per second was on a par with just a wee edge to Win 7 after I did the workaround for the problem of 360 turns which was solved in a day. True, that game was single player so it didn't benefit from the superior TCP/IP stack Linux has but it did more than make up for the slight difference in FPS with the response time on my mouse.

Even that was before wine-staging which has considerably upped it's game. There is a reason so many of the classics were written in Linux and then ported to Windows and that was even before nVidia got their Linux drivers up to awesome. There is also a reason why writing games in Linux fell off and that was proprietary DirectX and Billy and The Boys realizing how important games are to OpSys sales. Gabe Newell is beginning to change that by offering incentives to game developers and everybody knows Steam is a major force in gaming.

Anyway as I said, Windows does still have the advantage on some, maybe even many games, but the gap is closing and to be frank, many new games are rubbish. There is simply no real shortage of decent games that run great in Linux whether native or on wine, and the list is growing fast. So I'm responding to tell you that in my experience " native Windows will be a much better experience" is just no longer true, at least across the board. Some games do run substantially better than in Linux and a few don't run at all, but then if you own a diesel vehicle you can't just pull in to any old gas station, but that doesn't prevent many from owning them.
 
#16 ·
I was going to keep around my current laptop with windows on it. And as an option stream games from there to the new PC. Wouldn't be taking advantage of new hardware but at least I wouldn't have to install it or otherwise deal with other things. Now whether it is limited to native resolution (1080p) while stream to different sized screen (21:9) I don't know since I haven't tried yet.

Also I blew out dust and put in a fresh application of thermal paste yesterday. First time for both since I've owned it. Very nice drop in in temps. And also made me realize it has a m.2 slot. Not sure I realized that before. Or maybe I just dismissed though in 2013 since relevant capacities were expensive. Anyway, pretty nice.
 
#17 ·
I spent pretty much all day Saturday trying to install Mint on the Alienware to limited to no success.

I was installing to a regular 2.5" mechanical laptop drive (having physically removed the Nvme to avoid unnecessary variables). Very inconsistently the install will freeze on up on "copying files". As in the entire system will freeze up. Even if I disconnect the network cable and uncheck the "install proprietary software" box. And then the next attempt it won't freeze up. I do seem to have more luck successfully installing when I boot the live desktop in "compatibility mode". Just not sure how to boot the actual install in safe/compatibility mode. There's no timer or anything it just jumps straight to booting Mint.

I tried the Cinnamon, Mate and Xfce versions of 18.3 without success. I actually manage to get it installed and booted up once or twice but then i would reboot to a black screen, again with no response from keyboard or mouse.

I did actually install 17.2 successfully. But that version doesn't recognize my NIC or wifi card. I knew I was going to have issues with that stupid Killer NIC. So I could could disable the NIC in the BIOS and physically replace the internal wifi card. Just have to use a usb nic in that case. Damn thing only has three USB ports, one of which is USB C (for some reason).

I found a few suggestions on how to get past these issues. But I don't know enough about how Mint works to make them work. It's a little frustrating. I haven't tried the latest Ubuntu or other "bleeding edge" distro like Fedora. Maybe I'll have more luck. I guess technically I could try installing Arch. At least it would be relatively easy to find the place I add that kernel line that way. That was one of the suggestions. Adding an extra kernel line.
 
#18 ·
Hello subassy and let me say I sympathize with install problems so let's see if we can fix that. You say little about the 2.5" drive other than copying files caused a freeze so first it would be wise to insure that drive is functioning properly and setup right. I highly recommend using a GParted type live disk to setup drives before attempting installs. An excellent one is Hirens Boot CD and boot the Linux GUI system. Use the utilities to check drive and setup any Linux partitions you want, at least a swap partition and one for the install you want. Give yourself plenty of room. 100GB is not at all unreasonable, though it is possible to get by with much less. If you can afford the space just use all available.

Once formatting has completed recheck the main partition to be sure it passes. Now reboot to your install disk and try again especially since the installer should recognize both new and valid partitions as possibilities. Confirm and go for it.

Assuming you know the installer media as well as the install-to disk are both proper, the only thing left that can cause a freeze is either heat or some other bad hardware. I have never owned a Killer NIC but it does use rather common chips so it shouldn't necessarily present a problem. These days only a very few wifi nics are problematic. Don't assume they won't work. Even if they don't that shouldn't stop a local install although net installs will fail in that case. Just avoid net install and you should be G2G. Then you can discover if either of the nics work or not, AFTER install has succeeded..
 
#19 ·
The WiFi NIC might still work, try to find out what its chipset is and there might be a firmware binary for it. I dunno about Mint but Debian doesn't include proprietary firmware in the default repos so they aren't that easy to find... but once you have the file it's literally just a copy/paste operation to install it.

The freezing issue could be caused by issues with the installation media, how did you copy the image to it?
 
#20 ·
The kernel being used often has alot to do with drivers/hardware working properly. Not sure what kernel Mint is on, but I do know Mint is based on Ubuntu and is typically based off the older LTS version. Generally speaking it is far from the latest version of anything (De, kernel, base Ubunutu, app packages, etc). Stable Manjaro versions offer up to kernel 4.14 and 4.15rc (likely 4.15 in a couple weeks).

Not trying to sound like a broken record, but try Manjaro. Its a rolling release, so all updates are in place (no need to reinstall to upgrade). It very easily handles proprietary drivers. It make installing and switching kernels very easy (via a GUI). I also find their forum to be extremely helpful when I need help. I'd especially recommend it given all the problems you have had with Mint.

Unless you removed the nvme SSD to keep Windows on it, I see no reason to remove it and use a hdd for Linux. Its just going to be terribly slow if you are used to using ssd's.

As for your wifi card, I had read online some people were able to get Dell to send them an Intel wifi card to replace the Qualcomm one. You may even be able to take it some place (possibly a Dell certified place) and have them swap it for you. However, try other distros and see if they work better with it before doing anything drastic. Some distros work well on certain hardware and not others. So while Manjaro has worked great for me, and Mint has worked well for others...it could be another distro that works well for you. The nice thing about Linux is they are basically all free and have live cd's you can try them out without installing first.
 
#21 ·
Wow guys, thanks for all the suggestions. Sorry I've been lite on details. update: this turned into kind of combo update-since-last-post as well as replying as best i could. Sorry if I missed something addressed and thanks again!

For boot media I use this special usb enclosure. I has firmware built-in where you set it "hdd mode" and copy ISOs to a special _ISO folder then set it to "ODD mode" and use a little dial to select the ISO you want. So it emulates a cd-rom drive. As as as the BIOS/UEFI/OS is concerned it is an optical drive. But more specifically no, I didn't do a SHA1 check against the ISO the verify it (didn't very any of the ISOs, actually). I did use this device and same ISO to install Mint on a netbook though. So not a common method but it works for me (the usb enclosure as an unrelated 2.5" ssd in it so at least installs are quick!).

For the mechanical drive, I was at first just experimenting before committing to over-writing the nvme drive that came with it. Because if linux didn't install I'd be really without an OS that wouldn't be great. So I took out the nvme drive it came with and tried installing and two different mechanical drives (different ages, brands and capacities). I did run SpinRite on at least one of them and it came back clean. But both drives had the same result. The live desktop/installer actually seems to work much better in "compatibility" mode. Even when successfully finishes and I reboot it will come up to a black screen with no response from kb/mouse. At some point over the weekend I ordered a second nvme drive to use as a boot drive. Guess I'm paranoid about wiping the OEM OS. And dban doesn't see the drive.

I believe Mint-via-ubuntu is based on the LTS editions which would be 16.04 as far as I know. Not sure what the kernel is but I guess from their versioning convention we're due for a new one in april. If nothing else I'll find out if the latest kernel works between now and then.

I find a few 15 r3 specific pages, like this one on the arch wki describing freezing. There wa another guide that mentioned freezing during the install specifically as well that I can't find right now. I am more and more convinced it's a kernel thing.

I found a few other pages that are kind of old, like this one for ubuntu 14.04 (although now that I read it on a screen larger than 6 inches it seems like there a few things I haven't tried).

Last night I installed a fresh copy of windows 10 for the first time on my new nvme drive. Even that takes a while to figure out. I've never even owned an nvme drive before this. Apparently it's tricky. Using this new win 10 install I downloaded a bunch more linux ISOs so that is what I plan to do tonight: some how install Fedora or ubuntu 17.10.1 and see if I can get it to work.
 
#22 ·
nvme SSD shouldnt be any issue with a modern OS. Ive installed Windows 10 and Linux on multiple NVMe SSD's and they just work. No different than a standard SSD/HDD.

A quick check on Mints site seems to indicate that 18.3 uses kernel 4.10, which isnt old but also not new. There has been alot of work done in the kernels between 4.9 (last LTS) and the current 4.14 release (and upcoming 4.15). Its possible a newer kernel may resolve many of your issues. You may consider seeing if you can create install media for Mint or another distro with a newer kernel.

The external drive you mentioned and linked to is very interesting. While I agree it should work, it is also another layer of complexity you may be able to eliminate in trying to get your laptop up and running, especially when your additional drive arrives and you dont need to worry about overwriting OEM install. I would at that point create an installation USB (or DVD if you have either a built in or external physical DVD drive) and first try booting to a Live environment and seeing if there are any notable issues (unable to see screen, flickering, crash/freeze, etc). If not run the install and go with the most basic options to see if you can get past install and boot.

If you can boot, as with almost any Linux install you will have some tweaks, customizations and fixes to implement. Run updates fro your distro, if a newer stable kernel is available I would recommend trying upgrade.

Also just a warning about Arch Wiki, it can have a bunch of great information in it but keep in mind it all applies to Arch. Manjaro is based on Arch and even then some of it doesnt apply. I would imagine less so for a ubuntu or other base distro
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zer0CoolX View Post

nvme SSD shouldnt be any issue with a modern OS. Ive installed Windows 10 and Linux on multiple NVMe SSD's and they just work. No different than a standard SSD/HDD.
I don't know what the deal is then. Windows 10 setup could see the drive but refused to install to it. Until I went into the bios and set it to UEFI. Then all of a sudden it would install. But after that initial reboot UEFI couldn't seem to find the drive so I set it back to "legacy" and the setup continued as normal (cortana speaking away in the background). This is the first fresh install of 10 I've done on this particular laptop. Maybe those are the steps for any OS. I don't know.

After the install and I had booted into the desktop a few times I inadvertently booted 10 in UEFI mode and it worked. So I still don't know what the deal is with how it works. Maybe it's just a weird alienware thing.
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A quick check on Mints site seems to indicate that 18.3 uses kernel 4.10, which isnt old but also not new. There has been alot of work done in the kernels between 4.9 (last LTS) and the current 4.14 release (and upcoming 4.15). Its possible a newer kernel may resolve many of your issues. You may consider seeing if you can create install media for Mint or another distro with a newer kernel.

The external drive you mentioned and linked to is very interesting. While I agree it should work, it is also another layer of complexity you may be able to eliminate in trying to get your laptop up and running, especially when your additional drive arrives and you dont need to worry about overwriting OEM install. I would at that point create an installation USB (or DVD if you have either a built in or external physical DVD drive) and first try booting to a Live environment and seeing if there are any notable issues (unable to see screen, flickering, crash/freeze, etc). If not run the install and go with the most basic options to see if you can get past install and boot.

If you can boot, as with almost any Linux install you will have some tweaks, customizations and fixes to implement. Run updates fro your distro, if a newer stable kernel is available I would recommend trying upgrade.

Also just a warning about Arch Wiki, it can have a bunch of great information in it but keep in mind it all applies to Arch. Manjaro is based on Arch and even then some of it doesnt apply. I would imagine less so for a ubuntu or other base distro
Not sure it really says anything but I tried the live boot of the latest fedora last night and it only got as far as attempting to boot X where it stopped at a black screen. I although I could still switch to the other tty so it may not have been frozen. I'd like to try that again. Only reason I mention it is my assumption it has the latest kernel. But not that meaningful.

As soon as I get a chance I'm going to try manjaro. I think this has worn me down enough I'll settle for almost any distro at this point.
 
#24 ·
Couple points to touch on (that I likely take for granted doing installs). These are mostly OS agnostic (ie: pertains to any OS)

I would recommend sticking with UEFI. This means:

- Setting it as such in your BIOS
- Creating your bootable media as UEFI enabled
- Booting from said media via its UEFI entry in the boot menu (ex: a USB stick maybe listed in the one time boot menu under BIOS (or some terminology representing BIOS) and then under a group titled UEFI (or some other wording representing it) and you would want to start install by selecting its entry under the UEFI group.)

Doing the above should partition the drive properly to support UEFI during the OS install presuming you select automatic options for this. I would imagine support for NVMe is better under UEFI than legacy/BIOS installs.

The issue you had with Fedora sounds like a graphics problem. Presuming whatever distro you use is systemd based, you may see if you can get into the multiuser.target (essentially terminal, no GUI) which should allow you to do things like get networking up (presuming the drivers are present) and update packages and possibly the kernel. After getting things worked out you could then try booting/switching to the graphical.target and see how it works.

Be aware if you do try Manjaro and are using a utility like Rufus to make the USB stick that you must use DD mode to make it or it wont boot. My experience was that with an older dell workstation laptop Manjaro installed the proprietary Quadro driver and Broadcom wifi driver that other distros simply didnt have. I was able to for example on CentOS on the same laptop get the GPU driver and wifi driver manually which took hours of troubleshooting and quirky tweaks to get working.
 
#25 ·
Wow...this new OCN is going to take some getting used to.

Anyway, while the site was down I finally get a version of linux to install: ubuntu 17.10 and...i forgot which environment. I was honestly just so grateful I got the thing to run and consistently boot up without crashing I was hardly even paying attention.

I also found a RDP client that seems to be working relatively well. Also, when the lid is closed I can bring the thing back up from "suspend" using the external usb hub. Although I actually figured out what I doing wrong and had that working in windows 10 as well.

I'd still like an even better version of an RDP client. One that can span my two monitors for instance like the windows RDP client. That's my only real complaint so far. I've been working on a different project though so I haven't had a chance to really explore it yet.

I do have both my screens up at native resolution. That also took me a while to figure out. Actually I had made it harder than necessary as usual. More my fault than the default of the device.

I might eventually switch over to one of the cool distros like some version of Arch. But for now I'm going to stay on the thing that decided to work.
 
#27 ·
I'd suggest playing around with Ubuntu for a couple more weeks, and once you feel more comfortable I'd suggest recreating that setup (mainly the desktop environment) in Arch.
If you preserve your /home dir between installs, you can keep most of your personal configuration intact.
 
#26 ·
Yea new site meh...

I use remmina for RDP and like it very much. Not sure if it does spanning across monitors but otherwise it seems to be very similar to MS RDP and has some features other clients do not have.

Config and tweaks will be a challenge. I would recommend documenting and/or saving configs you change to a safe place in case you need to do it all over (external drive, cloud storage, server, etc). It is satisfying once you get things set just the way you want.

Manjaro is based on Arch. It is easier to install, takes care of drivers/proprietary drivers easily, and gets updated frequently but not bleeding edge. Arch may test packages for a day, Manjaro may have things in testing for a week. I would say Manjaro averages about 1-4 updates a month from what I have seen. My understanding is that Arch is much more frequent (so potentially less stable). Both are rolling release which is nice. Manjaro can make use of AUR as well (Arch User Repo).
 
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