Running Linux on the Alienware M18x and 18

Hi all,

I'm wanting to dual boot my Alienware 18 with a linux os (alongside my windows 8.1). I've had linux running on previous laptops but I've read that there can be issues with getting a linux os to run "out of the box" on Alienware machines (I think due to nvidia gfx cards).

I've done some googling but cannot find any concrete evidence of any linux distro running straight from install without any issues. Basically, I want to install the OS, have most of my drivers working from scratch (wireless, sound, video card) and then, if necessary, update any drivers using the in-built update manager. I do not want to be fussing around with anything that does not involve any basic install/update process.

My alienware 18 specs are as follows:

Alienware 18 running 64bit windows 8.1
32GB RAM
CPU - Intel Core i7-4900MQ,
GFX - SLI 780m.

Has anybody been able to get a linux distro to run, without any tweaking, out of the box? If so, which one have you used?

I suppose I could experiment but, to be honest, I haven't the time or patience for it.

Look forward to any replies.

Many thanks/

 

We have a thread for this. There are a few people running Linux on the Alienware 18.

I ran Mint for a little while on the R2. The trick to getting it to work is running on the Intel graphics until it is installed and fully updated. Install the NVIDIA drivers first, then switch from Intel to NVIDIA graphics. If you try to run the NVIDIA graphics during installation it will fail... at least it always did for me.

 

I have never seen a single problem with linux (ubuntu 13.04, linux mint, opensuse 13.1, xubuntu 14, and I will try arch later today), I also use legacy boot alongside windows 7. Tbh I think the only issues you should face are lower battery life, because it might not use nvidia optimus and these other "goodies". AMD gfx cards DO drain battery, and you need some small tweaks to fix the drain.

 

Ok Mr Fox. I'll try and search the forum for the thread you refer to.

Thanks for the reply.

EDIT; Ah, looks like you've already moved my post to the linux thread.

 

One of the reasons I stopped using it is that I could never figure out how to get SLI working correctly. That, plus my overall ignorance of Linux at an advanced level was simply requiring far more time, research, effort and desire than I had available. I certainly like it well enough and truly wish it was far enough along in the evolution process to be a direct and full replacement for Windows the way I want it to be. I would like to be free from the Micro$haft command and control thing, but I'm not willing to make any kind of sacrifices for anything in the process. I also really hate that almost none of the games I enjoy playing run under Linux. I do not enjoy playing any of the Indie stuff, strategy games or the MMORP/RPG games. Understandably, Linux developers use their time to work on the stuff they like, using the hardware they have available. I would do the same thing in their shoes. I think what they like most and the hardware they have to work with often differs a great deal from what I like and the kind of hardware I have.

I guess one of the things that makes it great is also an Achilles heel. While trying to develop more advanced Linux knowledge and skills, one of the things I found very frustrating and a disincentive to devote any time to learning was the inconsistency among Linux variants. Installing software never seems straightforward. What works for one distro fails on another, or even breaks something. Every time I turned around I was doing something to screw up my X configuration and fumbling around with trying to get the UI to work again. If everything was more unified and consistent among the distro flavors I think that I (and maybe others) would be more excited about becoming a Linux expert instead of remaining a newb for so many years.

 

Very well put. I do "like" Linux and the main reason is simply so I can put 2 fingers up to MS and use something truly free. That said, for me to fully embrace Linux really would require a monumental effort by the Linux community to make it a true replacement to Windows. I predominately use my laptop for gaming (I suppose that's a silly statement considering I have an AW!) and, as you mention, the Linux gaming library is just too small and niche for it to even start to compete with Windows as a gaming platform.

The only way I would consider using Linux at the moment is (a) as a dual boot and a small partition and (b) if it works out of the box. Looks like (b) is a non-starter at the moment.

 

I actually really had to dig for where to find out how to enable sli in Ubuntu recently. Contrary to popular belief the number of Linux users who have sli machines must be very small to find almost no information on it.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

There is hardly anything posted about it. I found some stuff that was several years old that never worked for me. I think you are correct... probably very few Linux experts with SLI and CrossFire. It's probably safe to say that many of the Linux experts are (or originally were) highly motivated by opensource software because it is free and the driver of free is frequently lack of money. Linux is very popular, with a lot of smart people working on it, in other countries where money and fancy computer hardware are not very plentiful.

 

Trust me when I tell you that the number of SLI users *everywhere* is so minuscule it's a joke. Even though Steam hardware checks are padded due to the massive number of people with extremely old/bad PCs and laptops just playing TF2 or DoTA 2 all day, there's still a really low number of people with multigpus (can't find this specific statistic now). Heck, the most popular GPU is the Intel HD 4000 graphics, and about 19% of all users have intel graphics. The most popular screen resolution is 1920 x 1080, but only ~33% use this.