Installing Linux Mint on a 2018 Razer Blade 15
Before You Wipe Windows
First, you’ll need to make sure that your BIOS is updated to version 1.05. My unit shipped with BIOS version 1.01 and there was no support for the trackpad in Linux. Fortunately, after the issue was raised, Razer issued a BIOS update within days to fix the issue. The BIOS must be updated from within Windows, as it’s only distributed as a Windows application. This is unfortunate, but at least they fixed the issue.
It should also be noted that before you wipe your Windows partition (if that’s what you intend to do), you set your RGB key lighting to the way you like it. After a reboot and Linux install the lighting will stay where you put it, but there’s no RGB lighting software for Linux at the time of this writing so you likely won’t be able to change it after you install Linux Mint.
Linux Mint Installation
Linux Mint is easily installed from a USB drive. You’ll want to make sure you press F1/Delete during boot to access the BIOS and ensure that Secure Boot is disabled. If you had to update your BIOS, all of your BIOS settings will be reset, so make sure the rest of the BIOS options are set where you want them (if you initially made any changes).
The installation wizard portion of Mint is beyond the scope of this installation, and I’m assuming that if you’re reading this article that you’re looking for “gotchas” and fixes involved with the installation on this specific hardware and know how to perform base system installation.
For my installation, I chose to wipe the entire disk, and chose to encrypt the disk. This means that you’ll have to enter two passwords during boot – one to decrypt the system volume, and a second to log in to your user account. It does take a bit longer, and boot takes roughly 5-7 seconds longer, but if your device is stolen at least your data will be secure.
The rest of the installation is straight-forward and all aspects of the hardware, including all of the secondary functions on the function keys as well as the Wi-Fi works out of the box.
Setting up NVIDIA Drivers
After installation, there is some work involved in getting your nVidia drivers set up. The 2018 Razer Blade 15 uses a GeForce 1060 Max-Q, but also has an Intel video card. It can switch between which card is active, and uses Intel when doing normal desktop tasks, and switches to the nVidia card when playing games or using applications that support GPU acceleration. In Windows, this can be done automatically, but in Linux it’s more of a manual process.
The following command should show you the latest version of the nVidia driver that exists in the Mint/Ubuntu repository:
sudo ubuntu-drivers devices
As you can see, it recommends the package nvidia-390. You should check this yourself and install the latest driver.
Before you install the driver itself, you’ll want to install nvidia-prime. This is a framework that allows us to switch between Intel video and nVidia video.
sudo apt-get install nvidia-prime
You can then install the nVidia display driver
sudo apt-get install nvidia-390
Finally, you’ll want to install the nVidia graphical control panel. This will allow you to change card settings, and switch back and forth between Intel and nVidia devices without using the command line.
sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings
That’s it. At this point you’ll want to reboot the Blade and log back in. When you do, you should have an nVidia icon in the system tray area. You can use that icon to access the nVidia control panel, just like you do in Windows.
You’ll see an option on the left for nVidia Prime, which allows you to switch between nVidia and Intel video. Note that to do this will require a reboot.
Command Line Options
GUI aside, you can use command line commands to check the current display device and to switch between nVidia and Intel video.
prime-select query
This command will show you which adapter is the active adapter. Note that if you change the adapter via the GUI or command line, the output of this command will show you the active adapter as it’s selected in the configuration, but when switching adapters you must still reboot for the change to take effect.
sudo prime-select intel sudo prime-select nvidia
The above two commands will let you change the active adapter. Note again that a reboot is required for the change to take effect.
Conclusion
That’s it! You should now have a fully functional 2018 Blade 15 running Linux Mint and all hardware should work just fine.
It’s worth a note that the function of the way the function keys and FN key is reversed here when compared to how they worked in Windows. Pressing the keys without also pressing the FN key will result in the corresponding F key being pressed. So if you press F1, you’ll get F1. If you press FN + F1, you’ll get the hotkey for Mute.
Other than that, everything else is fairly normal. I hope this guide helped!
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Great post. After one month, how is your Blade 15 going with Linux? Any other issues? Did you try other distros?
No issues at all so far. It’s been a very solid laptop. I haven’t yet tried any other distros, but I imagine all of the Debian-based distros like Mint would be as solid as this after the above fixes.
Hey. Just cancelled my new 2018 Razor Blade15 delivery because of the lack of support for Linux only to stumble on this page. Do you know if it’s possible to dual boot with Kali Linux on the Razor Blade laptop?
I didn’t install my setup in a dual-boot scenario, but if it boots to Linux with Grub there should be no reason why you shouldn’t be able to dual boot with Linux and Windows. Install Windows first, leave some space for your Linux installation, and then install Linux and use Grub to boot between the two. It should be pretty simple. I have to say though that after the BIOS install, and after the nVidia/Intel driver fix that I explained here, Linux works like a dream on the Blade.
Hi there,
Just got a Blade Pro 17.
RTX 2080 Max Q
9th Gen Intel i7 9750
I am wanting to start using Linux for programming studies.
I have been told Mint Cinnamon is the best beginner Linux.
Will be doing a clean install.
Will these instructions work for this machine?
Any help would be much appreciated. I have the ISO on USB and haven’t touched the BIOS yet.
I understand that the track pad and chromo lighting have issues. Will these be the only issues on my model.
Any help from anyone would be welcomed.
Benny
I am considering purchasing a new laptop, compatible with linux and with good thermal performances for occasional heavy CPU work for reasonable prolonged time. Do you think this machine is a good choice?
I work most with numeric/scientific programming, i.e. heavy CPU loads from time to time and occasionally for a prolonged time (up todays, not always a cluster is available). I was looking at the latest Dell and Lenovo Thinkpad, but a gaming machine may offer better thermal performance. I am not a gamer at all, but a dedicated GPU would be nice because I like to work with 3 to 5 monitors at the same time.
I don’t think you’ll be able to run 3-5 monitors off of this all at once. You can run one off of the HDMI port (4K at 60Hz with HDMI 2.x) and one off of the Thunderbolt port (4K at 60Hz). I ran one off of the Thunderbolt port with a Thunderbolt to HDMI 2.0 adapter (I was using a TV) and that worked well. If you’re going to need heavier GPU performance I’d definitely get the 1070 model instead of the 1060. The only thing that would concern me using this as my primary piece of equipment is Razer’s questionable customer service. I’ve never had to RMA equipment to them but I’ve not heard good things. That being said I haven’t ever really EVER heard good things about RMAs with the other brands you mentioned either. OF the brands you mentioned, if you’re a DIY’er, Lenovo typically offers the greatest repairability with their laptops and their parts are always easy to order. They also have really good documentation for replacing and upgrading parts in their laptops traditionally. If I was going to have one non-Mac laptop that I was going to use as a workstation, it would probably be a Lenovo in all honesty.
I just did a quick search and it looks like you can do 3 external monitors at once with the 2018 Blade 15 for what it’s worth. One via HDMI, one via Thunderbolt, and one via the DisplayPort port.
Just an FYI for anyone who reads this – the built-in video card in in the Blade WILL do monitor mode / packet injection under Kali, out of the box and with no special drivers!
How is the battery performance with Linux ? Satisfactory compared to running the shipped Windows with it ?