Linux on AW15 R2

Any success or failure stories?

 

Sorry, but i need my Alienware for playing. So only Windows!!!

 

I don't know about the 15r2 but I am using ubuntu without issues on 17r2. The wireless card Killer 1525 didn't work at first but I was able to get it working through some guides on the internet.

 

Cool, yeah, I read the killer wireless issue is manageable. Is 17r2 an optimus machine? If so, did you get bumblebee to work?

 

btw any quirks around sleep/suspend. I fired up an ubuntu 15.10 live usb and the system became unresponsive after I pressed the sleep button.

 

Just for your awareness, there is Steam for Linux. The choice of games is perhaps better than expected, although of course, Windows is better for pure gaming

Anyway, let's not turn this thread into Windows vs Linux.

 

17r2 is an optimus machine, yes. I should probably mention that I am a total linux noob. I have downloaded it recently to learn linux so I didn't know about bumblebee until you mentioned it. I will give it a try and tell you the results. Also I don't have issues with sleep button or anything. I installed linux by a dual-boot configuration so maybe you get problems because you are using live usb? Not sure though.

 

Will poke around and report back. Bumblebee should work by all web accounts I've read so far.

 

So killer 1535 doesnt work on ubuntu or mint (omg mint cinnamon looks so good). Need to compile those drivers into the kernel from backports. Laptop uses iGPU by default but mint specifically contains bumblebee package so expect no issues getting dGPU to work Battery life is on par with windows. No probs with sleeping/resuming.

 

Hi,
I'm running Fedora 23 on my AW 13. Switchable graphics, Wifi, Alien FX, ..., is working. Bluetooth is not working so far. Currently I have a problem with shut down (acpi S5) - machine doesn't power off. It was working before but some kernel or graphics update broke it.
Here's a nice article how to get things done: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Alienware_13
Filip

 

How did you get Alien FX to work in Linux? Alienware only makes the software to control the lighting for windows. I have seen the python framework which is supposed to allow alien FX but was out of date for the older machine to my knowledge. I did get my Killer 1535 working after manually installing the firmware/drivers for it in Arch Linux. I didn't mess with bumblebee because it is confusing as **** and I felt like it would not work as well as windows Optimus solution ( in regards to power saving ). So I just ended up dual booting Arch and Windows; I sure wish I could run Linux 100% of the time but its just so limited on the gaming side of things and native optimus support sucks.

 

I think Atheros Killer wifi got recently supported in Linux kernels. So these should work out of the box, or after OS update.
For AlienFX check the Arch wiki. The thing is AlienFX is registered as usb device. You can send data to this usb by using libusb. You can check here for more info: https://github.com/snooze6/hack-alienfx. In the /seq folder there are some schemas you can use. I think it is even possible to create a schema file on Windows and on Linux send it to AlienFX. Note that my libusb was telling that the device is busy, but with root user it is working. I'm not enough Linux yet to tell why Regarding gaming, and bumblebee it's not that difficult. You just tell what program you want to be rendered on your muscular card. I use Steam, so I just type optirun steam. There are some nice games available for Linux. Also I'm going to try this thing: https://www.playonlinux.com/en/.
I've just realize you're using AW15R2 so this hack-alienfx is most likely not going to work for you. But maybe there's a similar project.

 

Issues with Alienware 15 R2 on linux. Confirmed problems on xubuntu, arch, manjaro i3.

1) Killer 1535 Wireless Card missing drivers. Manual copy QCA6174 drivers from github kvalo master tree failed on all distributions with exception of Arch.
2) Plugging in headphones does nothing (sound still from laptop no sound from headphones). The jack on laptop is a dual type jack IE headset or just headphones.
3) On system suspend / lid close screen goes black after waking up. System still running in background and can play music just black screen. Possible kernal / graphic driver issues with manjaro 15.12 i3, xubuntu 15.10. Issue is not present on Arch linux or Xubuntu 14.04-4.
4) Power consumption much worse than in windows 10. Example idle system windows 10 gets 10+ hours on full battery, all linux distos test with using powertop optimization only gets 8 hours if lucky. 6-7 watt usage idle system with windows and 10-11 watt with linux.

With all these issues it is hard for me to migrate to using just linux and is frustrating!

 

Some1 got Killer 1535 on ubuntu working? If yes, how?

 

Any linux work (ubuntu versions and fedora 23 i tested), with kernel 4.3 (support for Skylake, it is really needed, with lower numbered versions simply not the same) and the right board.bin and firmware.bin. I used the killernetwork.com tutorial. There was some kind of problem with the board bin (somewhere was written to try out the board bin from windows driver, and i tried). So some little game was needed but after first success it worked. I cant really remember on details as it was 6 month ago almost.

 

Have you tried using TLP and Bumblebee?