Anyone tried Linux on an MSI laptop?

Not using a laptop, but rather a mobile, mighty, mini-itx build (see sig). I concur with this approach. I am running something similar, but using Linux Mint for the main OS.

Just check all the hardware make/model of your components, video card, ethernet adapter, SATA controller, sound card, etc. If you search for those and add "Linux", you should be able to tell if someone's tried and succeeded. Worse case, download and install the "Live" ISO. For example, Linux Mint's installer is a bootable ISO, and Red Hat has a "Live" bootable ISO.

Assuming you can boot USB drives, find a 4 - 8GB flash drive, use rufus within Windows to burn the ISO to the USB drive, boot up the live device and see what works out of the box.

 

The nvidia graphics support has a very decent level of support in ubuntu 16.04+. I recommend you 16.04 as it is a LTS version as a user said before. For the CPU level, you have not to worry at all, you will easily notice an even faster performace than on Windows without any tweak and with no problems.

Where you have to worry is on the SSDs support. I strongly recommend you to ensure you don't lose any vital information on Windows during the instalation. I use to put all my important files and documents in Drive/Dropbox/GitHub for that purpose. Also, you have tools for saving your progress in games if no cloud storage is present in that game.

I also recommend you to free the desired space for Linux from the Windows side, where you know you have the appropiate drivers to perform such riskful tasks.

That's all I can say man. Hope you are lucky, I think you will be!

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

On current generation Linux distributions, I don't expect you to run into any show stopping bugs, save for:

1. The nouveau module lock-up with Pascal GPUs. Easily fixed by blacklisting it prior to booting up the live install media. Press E to edit the grub configuration prior to boot up and add nomodeset to the Linux boot options, then proceed to start up. The rest will be taken care of after you install NVIDIA's proprietary driver as its' installer automates the blacklist procedure for you.

2. Intel's IMSM RAID on Skylake+: Not yet supported. However, independent storage, such as M.2's and SATA bays will work as expected.

 

https://github.com/stevelacy/msi-keyboard
and it works for me msi laptop on linuxmint

 

@Mr. Fox

j00 s33 why I can't use this Linux man...

I just booted off a Linux Mint Cinammon 18.3 USB Flash Disk

First warning message I get is I am running in Software Rendering mode because of no video driver and this may cause high CPU usage...

okkk...... I can download a driver I guess...

but wait, my WiFi card is not recognized.... so I say...screw it....I am going back to the Redmond Mafia!

I find it pretty pathetic that at this day and age, after so many versions and updates of Linux, it can't get the most basic thing to work out of the box like your video card driver. Really? The GeForce 10XX series was released almost 2 years ago! With no WiFi, I can't do crap either to download anything or any updates for the OS!

 

My Dear @Phoenix,

Was that the 'Live' Boot installer, where the desktop has a CD-ROM icon that states 'Install Linux Mint' or something like that? If so, then the problem might be that the Live CD doesn't come with GPU specific drivers. I believe those only are installed upon install to a disk drive, they aren't present in the downloadable 'Live Boot'.

It's only after installation during the 'Welcome' screen you'll see the 'Drivers' section in the upper-right corner. When clicking 'Drivers', you'll see the dialog to change to nVidia based drivers.

Do you see the 'Welcome' app during Live Boot? Again, I don't know if it let's you install the drivers, as I only did this post installation of Mint.

Spoiler: Welcome Dialog

Spoiler: nVidia and Intel Drivers

Dunno what to say about the Wi-Fi drivers for the Killer WiFi cards. Linux Mint had no problems with drivers for intel AC 8265. Although I *did* have to enable the Wi-Fi in BIOS/UEFI. If it was set to 'Automatic' or 'Disabled', there's nothing in the OS that I could find that would enable/disable Wi-Fi state specific to any hardware. I just have it 'enabled' in the BIOS, and then I can enable/disable the Linux Wi-Fi service once logged in.

Spoiler: My Wifi and Network Notification Area

 

oh yes I was booting off the live USB.

Guess I'll try creating a partition for Linux and installing it then to see how that works

 

I can try to help, but not having the MSI machine myself means I may not be able to answer all questions.

For example, I cannot say for certain if the Killer WiFi drivers are found by the installation. The big thing would be ensuring the WiFi is active/enabled before install. Another thing is RAID-0. I cannot recall if you currently are using RAID or not using RAID. If you are using RAID, I think it should find the drive in the dmraid/mapper stuff...

Hopefully it goes off without a hitch.

 

You can try Xubuntu 16.04.4 LTS if you need more recent kernel upgrades and etc etc...
As for Killer NICs and Wifi module follow this link from Killer
Or use 1.171 which I'm using. You can try 1.173 here https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware

 

I wonder what this part of the sentence means - "...though you may need to update your wireless firmware:"

So, what does Phoenix (or anyone else for that matter) need to do? Just use the drivers? What about updating the Wi-Fi firmware? How does one know what to do? What did you *explicitly* do in your case?

TBH, that is the kind of half-*ssed support message that tends to drive people away from Linux. The 'out of the box' experience is critical for most people.

 

Well I know I didn't put all my efforts into it but man, every time I even think of trying it, I stop right at the door. I never reached a point where I actually got that piece of crap to work, just give me basic internet and VGA drivers out of the box FFS! This is 2018 not 1998!

If anyone wants to use Linux on a laptop, this is the only choice: System76

 

In regards to System 76 laptops, maybe (but you need to keep an eye on the OS)... If you're used to Windows and liked the way things used to work in Windows 7, the problem is their Pop_os! Linux Mint and the Cinnamon Desktop is a natural for me. When I try things like Gnome Desktop or xfce, I find it counter-productive.

FWIW, my retired x7200 is running System76's Pop_os!.

In any case, you could still go forward with the Linux Mint install and see if it picks up your (enabled) Killer wifi. It will still install, but worse case there would be no wifi, and you have to wait for specific instructions from @Vasudev to enable that portion of it. Note, any instructions you get for Ubuntu should also work in Linux Mint (as Linux Mint is based of of Ubuntu).

Do you have any wired network connections or is everything wireless? If wired, what type of network adapters? Perhaps, Linux Mint would find them...

 

Right, so 2 more questions

1) Does Linux Support RAID Arrays?

2) I have a 1TB 850 EVO + 4TB 850 EVO setup as a single 5TB partition as a spanned drive.

Would linux be able to see if? since it's NTFS or would I need to format it using the Linux file system? Does Linux support spanned drives?

 

The x7200 has the Intel "FAKE" RAID BIOS, and I have it installed on a mirrored volume. So it worked in regards to Pop_os!. But I'm pretty sure FAKE RAID is the same for all Linux - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installing_with_Fake_RAID

Does MSI use the same type of intel RAID BIOS stuff or does MSI do something different? I would think if it is close to the intel RAID found in Clevo, hopefully Linux Mint installer would detect the device under the dmraid/mapper stuff - you'll know because you'll see the 5GB device with some non-sensical name.

The partition / drive Dialog of the installer should show the spanned volume as an installable device, but note, both drives may show up as well. You just have to know the /dev/mapper/... device is your RAID volume, and to select only that device as the installation location, and not the real drives themselves. (Sorry. I cannot fully remember if the stand alone drives showed up or not. )

In regards to existing partitions. I don't think Linux can boot off an NTFS partition. So you'll need at least one ext4 partition. I believe you are quick at reinstalling any OS, so if you don't care if you lose any data, just wipe your existing NTFS partitions, and let the installer create new ext4 partitions for the install. If you DO need to save the NTFS drives, you can look at re-sizing the partitions and going with a dual boot situation.

 

Yes, you can. I have a RAID 0 of three m.sata ssds in my gt70. It is partitioned in an ext4 partition where ubuntu 16.04 is installed and also serves as the boot partition, a swap partition and a bigger ntfs partition where windows 10 is located (alongside the other 2 minipartitions mandatory in the windows installation). And from linux I'm able to see and have full access to the windows ntfs partition.

I suppose it will be fine with your two SATA SSDs...

The Killer network adapter (both WiFi and Ethernet) works out of the box in ubuntu with no problems at all. It gives a slightly less stronger wifi signal than on windows. I have never tried to change the default wifi drivers because I never needed it.

EDIT: This is only for raid 0. For spanned drives I don't know... Sorry

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

I don't know about RAID and never tried it. I always used AHCI since my BGA BIOS wasn't allowing Linux to install last year. This time you can try it since most RAID arrays are seen/detected by Linux.
As for nvidia driver download the .run file from ngreedia for amd64 arch.
Disable Secure Boot if you want ngreedia drivers to work, otherwise sign the driver modules for secure boot validation to work flawlessly!

That's what was given below using wget, a deb file.
You need to install that FW if your kernel is 4.4 or 4.8. Anything greater than that already has the code to enable full power of Killer 1535 card.
Out of the box, 1535 works but you won't get extreme range unless you install that FW. It takes a minute to install.

 

@Vasudev What firmware?
How do yo install FIRMWARE on a wireless card?
How do you do that in windows?

I've never seen onboard firmware before.....

 

You will see bin files written as eeprom_xxx.bin files in Killer Installer folder. In Linux ath10k is the module containing 1435,1535.
You see, in software or OS some people tend to use the word FW like Apple or MSFT does. Some others call them drivers or patches. Different terminologies that mean "New lines are added/removed or even tweaked".
Essentially everything is just a SW written as per hardware specs to get HW up and running.

 

@Falkentyne - not to 'dis' Vasudev, but here's a bit more information

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/Firmware

 

Its their POV about FW.
I just gave a basic layman explanation. FW, patches simply looks like an update to end users.
What did you mean by "dis"?

 

In this usage/context, it means to put down/disrespect.

 

Yep! I added the Ubuntu link as it gives a description on how firmware 'initializes' the hardware and the driver does the rest, and also in Windows how those two components (firmware / driver) are merged into one piece - the Windows driver.

However, you gave a nice description. I didn't want to seem like I was disrespecting your response.

 

I understand your point. I don't have any problem if you correct me.

 

Most wireless (and audio devices) require binary blobs, known as firmware, to run low level H/W initialization as the device driver loads.

The fastest way to do this would be as shown below:

1. Cloning the linux-firmware tree.

2. Building and installing its' artifacts.

Steps:

For firmware, run this to build and install the latest blobs from upstream:

mkdir -p ~/linux
cd ~/linux
git clone https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/
cd linux-firmware
sudo make install -j$(nproc)

 

To Phoenix: I just found a method to create RAID on linux. https://raid.wiki.kernel.org/index....d_installing_mdadm_-_the_RAID_management_tool

 

mdadm will work just fine even with raw devices.

It does not mandate FakeRAID support, but rather provides support for the IMSM format by Intel (on supported systems).

I'm not able to get IMSM RAID to assemble on post-Skylake systems to date.

 

At the moment, this doesn't seem like a high priority at Intel.

What makes it worse are OEMs like Lenovo, among others, switching to RAID mode only without a fallback to AHCI mode, essentially locking out *nix.

Matthew Garrett's article explains this better.

 

It's a very big shame how free OS users are treated even today, when Linux is waaay more big and mature than it was 10+ years ago. They just ignore us on a daily basis when it comes to hardware support. Even enormous and crucial companies as Intel... Not promising at all.

Enviat des del meu SM-J510FN usant Tapatalk

 

Software is one thing. Hardware is another.

And when it comes to vendors, obscurity serves them better (financially).

The future of the Linux desktop is still eons away, at this rate.

 

On my FX603, have ran Ubuntu, Linux Mint 12 through 17.3 & currently Linspire (subscription based Xfce distro). Linspire was a time limited holiday gift from PC/OpenSystems.

http://www.pc-opensystems.com/2018/01/freespire-30-and-linspire-70-released.html

Runs great also, as did Linux Mint & to a lesser degree, Ubuntu, which I didn't care much for. Also ran Ubuntu MATE when first released on the FX603.

However, the FX603 is a legacy BIOS notebook, UEFI models of various brands may not run Linux. At first, my Samsung didn't, now runs Mint fine. I'd say look on the OEM's support forum & browse through the Topics, and see if anyone is running Mint of the MSI model one desires. Research is the key to finding what does & doesn't work, because if one has this question, it's been asked & answered thousands of times already.

One thing to make sure of after install and updating. Check the Hardware Drivers tab, this is where one activates Intel CPU microcode & if installed, drivers for NVIDIA discrete cards. A reboot will be required between each. One cool thing about Linux that Windows doesn't have, is the option to truly enable the NVIDIA GPU globally, and holds between reboots. If the need to save power arises, like going out or running in battery mode, then can switch to the onboard (Intel HD) graphics. I wished it was that simple for Windows & why they've yet to add the feature.

Those with older AMD GPU''s will have to rely on open source drivers, unless running a distro such as Linux Mint 17.3 or Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (supported through April 2019).

Good Luck with Linux Mint of the MSI notebook!

Cat

 

Concerning UEFI: In the present state, UEFI is very well supported on a majority of products out there, such as laptops, desktops and server motherboard platforms.

Infact, UEFI boot is mandated for compliance with TPM 2.x compliance, and attempting to provision a TPM 2.x device in a legacy boot (or CSM mode) will result in initialization failure.

The issues you'll run into with UEFI, where applicable, are as follows:

1. Some UEFI implementations are simply cancerous. For instance, in the way some platforms handle EFIVARS, where userland utilities such as efibootmgr cannot correctly update the boot priority. For such cases, you can try an alternate boot loader such as rEFInd. See my battle with the broken UEFI implementation on an Asus G750JM-DS71 laptop.

2. Some vendors make it hard(er) than it should be to get into the UEFI setup environment, either by not documenting the entry point shortcut key or enforcing fast boot mode by default. This may make toggling off some options, such as secure boot, much harder than they should be. Secure boot is well supported by modern Linux distributions, but you'll want to keep it disabled if you're using any proprietary drivers (that cannot be signed).

3. Some vendors, namely Lenovo and co, ha(d)ve intentionally left RAID mode as the only storage mode in the BIOS, essentially "locking out" Linux out of these machines unless one installed a firmware update that restored that mode later. Matthew Garrett explains that better.

4. And then down to the Intel SPI platform driver(s) issue that bricked multiple laptops whose UEFI implementation(s) came from InsydeH20.

See, UEFI is complex. Much more complex than legacy BIOS implementations, and apart from the security implications here (being a low-level micro-OS running below ring 0), its' also prone to failure and shoddy engineering, as (4) up there demonstrated. Yet, when well done, UEFI's advantages in the long run are quite clear: It's easier to handle multiple boot options, the introduction of the ESP, independent of bootloader limitations, enhanced security (secure boot has its' uses), among others.

Apart from that, running Linux on modern hardware is becoming easier somewhat. And that is something I can appreciate over the years

 

By the way, how does Linspire's Desktop Environment feel with day to day use?

On Ubuntu 18.04LTS, there are times xorg segfaults under very specific workloads (the skype snap application triggers an unrecoverable crash).

 

A little help please,
I am trying to install Ubuntu 18.04
on my gp63 8re
The problem are many,
At first acpi errors were showing then i tried acpi=off, then i tried nomodeset instead of quiet splash too. But still one type of error came which was
Stdin: invalid argument
It comes for about 40-50 times then busybox opens.

In all these things secure boot, fast startup was off.

 

Did you use rufus with uefi or mbr mode? You need UEFI mode with secure boot turned off. If it doesn't work try 16.04.3 ISO.

 

I tried this

 

enable/disable nvidia modeset whilst booting the ISO. I'd try Xubuntu 18 since its smaller and faster version than stock Ubuntu. Then again, you change the environment of ubuntu to xfce.
If it doesn't work, try YUMI UEFI.

 

I even changed my undervolt to zero offsets now.
Disabled fast boot, disabled secure boot
Then changed acpi=off
Now 5 times error came of stdin: invalid argument then
Busybox started then
This came
(Initramfs) unable to find a medium containing a live file system.
Btw
When stdin error comes i can switch between this screen and ubuntu splashscreen by using arrow keys.

 

Enable/disable nvidia modeset by nouveau.modeset=0 or exchanging quiet splash with nomodeset?

 

I have left 200 gb as in for linux from hdd
I have also tried installing while that storage was unallocated too.

 

nouveau.modeset will work for you.

 

That didn't work at first(it works only for booting not for installation)
But i got through it somehow,
After 24 hrs of process of trying to run the linux, I'm as of now dual booting between ubuntu 18.04 and win 10.

Will drivers from msi's website work in Ubuntu?
And
Optimus isn't running in linux so it's using gtx 1060
Which decreases the battery life from 6 hrs to about an hour or 1.25hr.

 

use the proprietary gpu driver for nvidia PPA https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
Another PPA to add is ubuntu swat team x org drivers
https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/ubuntu/updates?field.series_filter=bionic
Use TLP to get more battery. Use iGPU to get longer battery life.

 

I undid the RAID my GT80 SLI came with (2x256GB in RAID 0 format) and installed 2x1TB SSDs that are independent, not in a RAID config. However the RAID designation in BIOS stayed. If I change it to AHCI, it does not boot at all.

 

Just bought a GS65-8SF 2070MQ for AI Object Detection on the go with the new TURING\VOLTA architecture.
And just installed Ubuntu 18.10 for the first time and all!!! hardware detected easily!

1 - disable secure boot! & install normally.
2 - system update on first boot & reboot.
3 - sudo apt update
4 - sudo apt upgrade & reboot
5 - adding graphics ppa for ubuntu from here (as always): https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
6 - additional drivers took the rest

After that installed CUDA, CUDNN, TENSORFLOW.

I am getting Doubles of FPS over my year old ZEPHYRUS GTX1080.

Easy


edit some benchmarks on stock:

 

Better to use Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for longer updates and stability. 18.10 Lifecycle is 6- months.

 

I know but!
If you want the newest and strongest out of the box this is the way in LINUX.

Works for me every time.

 

Hold up: Your WiFi card died due to heat-induced stress? WTF man

 

Not anymore, with 18.04 LTS you're eligible for latest HWE kernel 4.18, newer drivers but apps are older which can be fixed by opting into QA test builds.
If you like to get latest and greatest bleeding edge OS you're not wrong, 18.10 is the best one yet!

 

Medium sized dataset runs like BS on my PC and I limit myself to smaller data sets to prolong the laptop's life.
Its Selina the Black cat, her luck was good. If it was in my house, I won't be even alive to write this!

 

That was because of a long hot DL season.
I don't do that on laptops anymore.
We have DGX-Station for that.