As a Razer Blade Stealth owner, since Stealths have a few known issues with their Linux compatibility here is a good place to start for work-arounds and temporary fixes :
In this page I listed all the fixes and workarounds I had to implement to get a working version of Linux Mint 19.1 on my RBS. It was not very difficult and not a frustrating experience at all.
I have not encountered all the bugs listed in Roland Guelle's GitHub so I have not yet applied all the fixes he proposes. Some of them were of assistance though.
My Stealth Model is a RZ09-0239
Following Roland Guelle's instructions, the first things I did before attempting to install Linux in dual boot were :
Key rule in systems : if it works, don't break it
Apparently this issue was encountered on some laptops running different versions of Ubuntu from 16.04 upwards.
This fix uses pm-utils which is usually installed on fresh installs of mainstream distributions. We backup the configuration file we will tweak just in case.
sudo apt-get install pm-utils sudo cp /etc/systemd/logind.conf /etc/systemd/logind.conf.bak sudo gedit /etc/systemd/logind.conf
Uncomment the following lines and change the values accordingly :
HandleSuspendKey=suspend HandleLidSwitch=suspend HandleLidSwitchDocked=suspend LidSwitchIgnoreInhibited=yes
Edit the Grub conf file and add this value :
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="button.lid_init_state=open"
The screen flickering issue causes the screen to flicker to black for an instant. You can check this by running :
dmesg | grep 'ERROR'
You have the issue if you see one or more lines like theese
[drm:intel_cpu_fifo_underrun_irq_handler [i915]] *ERROR* CPU pipe A FIFO underrun
A work-around to this issue is adding the following parameter to the kernel :
intel_idle.max_cstate=4
To make the change apply on every boot add it in the file
/etc/default/grub
at the following line :
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="intel_idle.max_cstate=4"
Run :
sudo update-grub
and reboot to apply.
You can check which parameters were passed to kernel at boot by running :
cat /proc/cmdline
Screen seems to randomly go black on external monitor.
Setting the sound output to “HDMI / DisplayPort - Built in Audio” seems to fix the issue.
Another workaround if the previous option is not available could be to plug an audio output to the 3.5 jack → This needs to be validated by experience (23/06/19)
This requires to be using libinput instead of synaptics. You can check this by running these commands using the proper device ID.
xinput list xinput list-props <DEVICE-ID>
Install the following packets :
sudo apt install xdotool wmctrl libinput tools git clone http://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures cd libinput-gestures sudo ./libinput-gestures-setup install
Add your user to 'input' group and log out/log in to validate the change :
sudo gpasswd -a $USER input
To start the process, or restart it :
libinput-gestures-setup start|stop|restart|autostart|autostop
Note : the autostart/autostop will enable the app to start/stop automatically on login
The configuration file is located at /etc/libinput-gestures.conf and a user-specific one can be created at ~/.config/libinput-gestures.conf
More ressources on libinput-gestures github
Install the OpenRazer Daemon :
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openrazer/stable sudo apt update sudo apt install openrazer-meta
Install the Polychromatic Controller :
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:polychromatic/stable sudo apt update sudo apt install polychromatic
Add user to plugdev group :
sudo gpasswd -a $USER plugdev
Note : Hardware security signing features need to be disabled in BIOS for the daemon to work properly.
Horizontal scrolling is deactivated on the touchpad by default. You can check this by running
xinput list
A list will appear looking like this
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Razer Razer Blade Stealth id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Razer Razer Blade Stealth id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ ELAN Touchscreen id=14 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ 1A586757:00 06CB:8323 Touchpad id=15 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ USB Camera: USB Camera id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Razer Razer Blade Stealth id=11 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Razer Razer Blade Stealth id=16 [slave keyboard (3)]
My touchpad id is 15. You can list the device properties by running
xinput list-props 15
Change the following line from 0 to 1
libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (284): 0
By running :
xinput set-prop 15 284 1
Change your device ID and libinput property if required (respectively 15 and 284 here).
To render this change permanent at every boot, add this command at startup :
xinput set-prop "1A586757:00 06CB:8323 Touchpad" "libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled" 1
Device IDs and libinput property numbers may vary so it's best to use the full identifiers in this case.
There might be a way to edit the config file located at /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf and adding something but I haven't been able to make it work that way yet.
When it came to selecting an eGPU to use under Linux the Razer Core X seemed to be a great value for the money in fall 2021.
I chose the Core X over the Core X Chroma because the price difference was huge (220€ vs 365€) with the only benefit of an added 4 USB 3.0 ports, a 1Gbps Ethernet port and of course some LED lighting. Although having those ports directly on the thunderbolt bus would be great and works well in Windows and MacOS, people have reported issues in Linux (as of 2020) due to a few bugs in the integration of the USB controller used in the Core X Chroma.
Although the Thunderbolt implementation reserves a 10Gb/s bandwith specifically for other devices than PCIe (i.e. network, USB, etc.) and the problem above might one day be solved by new patches in the Linux Kernel, there are plenty of USB 3.0 adapters/hubs that also include Gigabit Ethernet for a lot less than 150€, and the Razer Blade Stealth has 2 USB 3.0 ports available.
$sudo apt install bolt thunderbolt-tools
$boltctl
This is the same as 'boltctl list' and should list the Razer Core X
$boltctl authorize xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx
Replace the last argument by the UUID of your device. Do this step only if the status is 'connected' and not 'authorized' when using 'boltctl' at previous step
$lspci
The eGPU should appear in a line starting with 'VGA compatible controller […]
Install appropriate drivers for the eGPU you are tunneling through Thunderbolt.
You need to write an xorg.conf file to force X11 to use the eGPU. Create/Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add the followin lines :
Section "Module" Load "modesetting" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Device0" Driver "nvidia" BusID "PCI:7:0:0" //Switch this to your BusID as revealed by using 'lspci' command Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" Option "AllowExternalGpus" "True" EndSection
One of the drawbacks of eGPU usage in Linux is the lack of hotplug functionnality. The above xorg.conf file must be removed or commented out after unplugging the eGPU so as to have X11 not rely on it anymore.
Which brings us to this simple tool developped to simplify the loading/unloading process : GSwitch Git Hub
Simply follow the instructions to install and setup (very easy and straightforward) and it will swap from external to internal gpu using the following commands :
$sudo gswitch egpu $sudo gswitch internal
Note that the thunderbolt device has to be in authorized status for this to work, and this has to be done manually at every connection (unless you automate it).