Linux+M15x

hey guys i'm looking to install Ubuntu 10.04 and i was wondering if i install that OS will the keyboard light still work? also anything you guys know i should be aware of before installing?

 

The light effects are all controlled by the Command Center... and there's no CC for linux so you definitely won't be able to change all the light colors and so on. But there's a chance that the lights are on by standard... though I haven't installed Linux so far on this machine so can't tell you this for sure.

It's worth a try I'd say.

 

Hmm, maybe Wattos's app can help ya. Its still worth a try. Check it at the newcomer's page.

 

the lights still display the last settings you configured in windows, there is a linux app to control them

 

I've had Ubuntu 10.10 installed before as well as BackTrack 4 and whatever my lights were in Windows stayed on, but I haven't had Linux as a standalone or had morph/pulse on, but I imagine they would moprh/pulse regardless.
@Bitwize mind providing a link to said app? It would be much appreciated!

 

how is it running for you? can you play game? if so what are you using to play with it? WINE?

 

I dual boot Ubuntu 10.04 and Win 7. The keyboard still lights up as others have said. It uses your last settings from windows. There's also a program called AlienFx Lite that you can use to modify the color scheme. http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/458528-alienfx-lite-linux-windows-alienfx-tool.html#post5863565

It works great. I never have a morph/pulse theme, so I can't comment on the implementation of those features in the application.

Overall, Lucid Lynx runs brilliantly on the M15X. I've run into the odd problem every now and then, but most of the time it's user inflicted damage. Linux runs so much lighter and quicker, it's absurd.

 

Yeah, Ubuntu is incredibly light compared to Windows 7. I had to compare two Operating Systems for my Introduction to Computer Applications & Software class this week, so I chose to compare Windows & Ubuntu. I thought you guys might find this site's comparison really interesting.


The Linux Experience: Windows 7 vs. Ubuntu 10.04 Beta 1

Ubuntu's desktop idle (after boot) uses 22% less memory resources than windows 7. I believe that lower hardware prices, too, as the author suggests aren't a reason for poor optimization of hardware

 

I no longer have it installed, but it ran great when I did.
I never played games on it (I left that for my Win7 boot), so I can't comment on that, sorry.
I can say, though, that i was happy to find a driver available for my 460M, so if that's what anyone else is using, know that that's there!

 

ugh i want to make it my daily i dont want the hassle of dual booting just to play starcraft 2!

 

I dont know if this counts but I'm running Jolicloud and my lights are working fine as are the morphing theme I have on, recently My windows have been acting weirdly where when my laptop boots my colours are set to really dim to bright going left to right so the right side of my keyboard is light up and morphing but the left side is extremely light to the point that I cant even tell that its light up but I can see the lights underneath morphing and my touch sensor, power button, alien head on lid, and mousepad lights are off so since I booted into Jolicloud they stayed that way, otherwise when I boot into windows and the AW CC loads then all my lights come back on according to the theme I have on.

 

a little off topic, but how's Jolicloud?

 

It runs pretty well, I still get the same amount of battery life that I do from windows and obvs it still throttle down without the charger, otherwise it runs pretty smooth and looks amazing on the 1080p screen everythings optimized and runs well. I havent made a seperate partition but have it dual-booted with windows, and the Joli OS runs from a folder in C:/ called Jolicloud, quick boot up access to all my Windows files, You should try it out Havent tried out much on it though except for browsing, music, mail, documents, and HD movies

 

An operating system can affect battery life? If so, does Ubuntu improve battery life? Silly question but you stated that you still get the same battery life which lead me to believe that a different operating system improves battery life?

 

Thanks! I'll have to install it sometime soon...

 

To tell you the truth, Joli OS is the first OS I've used thats a Linux OS but AFAIK it should make a difference, I may be wrong,but from my point of view Windows takes more resources than other OS's do so with less stress and less load on the CPU and GPU it should make somewhat of a difference