Linux advice

Hi just received my recoil II and thinking of installing Linux mint 19.1

Has anyone succeeded in making the touchpad work under Linux mint? Also not as important as the touchpad but what about the keyboard backlight? Any workarounds for that too?
 

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Hiya, I’ve moved your post to it’s own thread, please don’t hijack others. I’m not a Linux man but someone will be along shortly I’m sure.
 
Hello.

My message was relevant to that thread because many people have touchpad issues. But if you think it belongs to a separate category then it's ok by me.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
If you check this thread I've linked to some people's experiences with various laptops and Linux including the Recoil:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?60811-Linux-Laptop-Compatibility

BTW, I didn't have any touchpad problems. (Mint 19 is apparently using kernel 4.15, so that must be why it was fine.)
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/foru...x-on-Recoil-ll&p=427025&viewfull=1#post427025

Edit: ok, good news! I saw the last updates in https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=200787 and it seems that it will be available in 4.19: "Just installed the latest official 4.19.0 Release Candidate v8 and it has this fix merged in there. Thanks again Simon."https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?59216-Linux-on-Recoil-ll&p=424223&viewfull=1#post424223
(also includes a link to the bugzilla thread)

I'm not familiar with mint of Linux in genreal but a quick google says Mint 19.1 uses kernel 4.15.0.20. So it might actually work out of the box?

Take an image of your system before installing and see what happens I suppose, if you're happy with that.
 
I'm not familiar with mint of Linux in genreal but a quick google says Mint 19.1 uses kernel 4.15.0.20. So it might actually work out of the box?

Take an image of your system before installing and see what happens I suppose, if you're happy with that.

Nah the touchpad on linux mint 19.1 live usb won't work. I Also tried to install it on hard drive and now it will even stuck showing a black screen after trying to log in

I will have a look at the links tho. See if I have more success with ubuntu maybe.
 

Stephen M

Author Level
I am not familiar with Mint but it is built on Debian and Ubuntu. One black screen problem with Ubuntu can be caused by Graphics drivers. Can you open a tty terminal from the black screen: ctrl+alt+f2, if yes you can try purging the nvidia drivers with sudo purge nvidia*
Then run sudo apt-get update
Then reboot
If at log in you are offered a choice, there may be a small cog-wheel icon by the log in, click on that and see if it offers a log in with wayland, that solves some Ubuntu problems.
 
Hi. No luck either Ctrl+alt+f2 won't even work.

Maybe I messed things up during the partitioning? (I saw somewhere that I had to create a FAT32 partition for UEFI support so that's what I did) or maybe my NVMe hard drive is incompatible with linux mint?
 

Stephen M

Author Level
What NVMe do you have. I usually find easiest install is to use the automatic partitioning, it will still let you choose the size but does everything else.
 
500GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3400MB/s R | 2500MB/s W)

I also tried automatic partitioning but I got a grub error (grub installation failed grub-efi-amd64-signed) and the installation crashed. I tend to believe it's linux mint's fault. I'm gonna try again with ubuntu probably.

It's a bummer I really wanted to use linux mint on my Recoil II
 
Seems like so. Will post back if I find anything as well but I'm most likely going to install Windows 10 after all that hassle. Thanks for your interest.
 

Stephen M

Author Level
Unfortunately the one major thing i have come across so far is "WD suck when it comes to after service", so a solution from them seems unlikely from them but it is an open question on the Ubuntu fora and they have a fairly good record for help, there are already a couple of possible work arounds. Hopefully someone will come up with something by the time W7 is officially dead.

My two main guesses are it will either be a driver or Linux kernel fix, if so that could be soon. Do you have another drive in your Recoil? Not an ideal solution but if Mint would run on that it would be a stop gap until the WD can be used, although it would seriously hack me off if I had to put the OS on a lesser drive we do know from other users that Linux works on the Recoil, albeit with a few issues.

Another stop gap option if you want to go down that route is an external drive with Mint on it, not fast but certainly usable. My first PCS machine was a Voyager, forget the spec but very basic with little RAM and did not like running VMs so I had a collection of 'nix USBs, Mint was among them, along with Fedora, Zorin and a couple of others. It was when I was just starting with Linux and unsure which way to go so had those for extensive trials and they were OK but I think it depends on how long you would have to wait before getting the machine running Mint from the WD. Do you still get the free upgrade option or would you have to pay for W10, I would certainly think about the other options if paying Microsoft a large bucket of cash was needed.
 
I have some good news. You were right from the start. It was Nvidia Graphics issue. Once I entered software rendering mode ( with nomodeset as shown here https://linuxmint.com/rel_tessa_cinnamon.php ) I was then able to install the proprietary Nvidia drivers and the problem solved. Additionally in order for the touchpad to work I had to install the latest linux kernel 4.20 using ukuu. Now the only issue is that I can't control the keyboard's backlight color but I don't really care a lot for this.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
I have some good news. You were right from the start. It was Nvidia Graphics issue. Once I entered software rendering mode ( with nomodeset as shown here https://linuxmint.com/rel_tessa_cinnamon.php ) I was then able to install the proprietary Nvidia drivers and the problem solved. Additionally in order for the touchpad to work I had to install the latest linux kernel 4.20 using ukuu. Now the only issue is that I can't control the keyboard's backlight color but I don't really care a lot for this.

If you haven't already done so might I suggest yo give Stephen M some +ve rep? You can do that by clicking the star icon below his avatar on the post(s) that most helped you. :)
 

Stephen M

Author Level
What GPU do you have, it would be good to get a list of GPUs which are problematic with 'nix, so far the 960, 1050 and 1050ti have caused log in loops that I know of.

I am still a little unsure of the WD as it has featured on other fora with related problems but nothing has been resolved on them. I hope it is just a GPU thing as I like WD drives, although the company could help a little by simply responding to emails, even if it to only say they were not aware of a problem, continued silence leads to skepticism.
 
Yeap I have the 1050ti GPU. After booting with software rendering I was able to install the very latest GPU Driver (415) along with the mainline kernel 4.20. It was the only combo that worked for me. The only thing is that I'm now experiencing some screen tearing here and there but I don't think I can do much for this.

Moreover there doesn't seem to be a problem with neither my 500GB WD Blue™ 3D NAND 2.5" SSD nor with my 500GB WD Black™ M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD The OS is installed on the NVMe one.

Thanks again for your interest I gave you that reputation star thing.
 

Stephen M

Author Level
Thanks. An issue I had with the 1070 in Ubuntu was a complete failure to log in, even after the nvidia purge and stuff but the solution was quite simple, the sort of thing we all tend to ignore while going for more complex stuff, it was to choose the Ubuntu on Wayland option.

I am glad the WD is working with 'nix as it is quite a money saver and almost as quick as the Samsung. I shall have another look at the sites complaining about WD, if I can find them as it would be interesting to know if there really ever was a problem, my guess for no good reason would be a kernel thing and the latest are fine with it.

Probably a silly question about the screen tear but are you definitely using the Nvidia drivers and not X.org, the OS wil reset to Nouveau after the Nvidia purge and you need to go into Software and Updates to return to Nvidia.
 
inxi -G says I'm currently using the Nvidia. The funny thing is that the tearing occurs when using the Nvidia driver. After I switch to Intel graphics (from within the Nvidia settings) the problem disappears. Well We can't have it all.
 
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