Razer Blade

This page aims to document the problems and solutions that occur when running the latest Ubuntu on a Razer Blade. Due to the young age of this laptop this page is a work in progress, so feel free to contribute. Please note that this page is not for the Pro or the Stealth. Following is the support status of various parts of the different models when running Ubuntu 16.10.

Legend

• (works out-of-the-box)

• (works after modifications)

• (doesn't completely work)

• (doesn't work)

• (not yet documented)

Suspend

The OS does not detect that the lid has been opened if the laptop is suspended. This can be fixed through the following modification:

1. Edit the default grub config:

• sudo nano /etc/default/grub

2. Add button.lid_init_state=open to the end of the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT option, like this:

• GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash button.lid_init_state=open"

3. Run the following command to update grub one you are done:

• sudo update-grub

Basic Graphics

Works fine out-of-box.

Switchable Graphics

There are two parts to switching between the Intel graphics and the NVIDIA graphics.

Per Session

If the official NVIDIA driver is in use, and the nvidia-prime package is installed, it is possible to switch either in the nvidia-settings GUI or using the CLI. To switch using the GUI, run nvidia-settings and then click PRIME Profiles in the menu to the left. To switch using the CLI, run prime-select <GPU> where GPU can be either nvidia or intel.

The main drawback of using this method is that it requires you to completely logout and log back in for the switch to happen. As in, all open programs have to be closed.

Per Application/Game (Offloading)

Offloading can be done through the old (but still working) Bumblebee package, or with the help of NVIDIAs official PRIME, or using the nouveau driver.

Bumblebee & NVIDIA driver

This method is not recommended since it is terribly old and no longer supported. It is also a very hacky way of doing it. Several guides are available around the internet on how to do it. Except for being very hacky, it is also not possible to forward the external ports (such as the HDMI port) to the Intel graphics in an easy and fully working way.

NVIDIA PRIME

Recently development for supporting Optimus through the official driver has finally picked up the pace. It is still in its early stages, but as of April 3rd, 2017, it should be possible to offload certain applications to the NVIDIA GPU, as well as to make the external ports (e.g. the HDMI port) available to the Intel GPU. The latest development (and guides) can be found in this thread. Feel free to add to this wiki if you find a working method.

nouveau driver

Offloading is supposedly already supported when using the Nouveau driver. The commands for controlling it are the same as for NVIDIA PRIME:

xrandr --listproviders
xrandr --setprovideroutputsource
xrandr --setprovideroffloadsink

External Monitor

There are a few different parts to the problem of connecting an external monitor using the HDMI port (unknown how the USB-C works) depending on which driver and graphics are in use. The HDMI port is directly connected to the NVIDIA graphics, therefore modifications are needed for the Intel graphics to be able to output to it.

NVIDIA driver: Using the Intel graphics

Through the use of Bumblebee (as described in the Switchable Graphics section), combined with some additions to the Bumblebee xorg config, and creation of an Intel xorg config, it is possible to get the external monitor working. However, as of now, the currently tested modifications are extremely experimental. They will only allow a low resolution on the external monitor, and they also bring a slew of other problems (such as the laptop monitor not working, even after unplugging the external monitor).

Tested NVIDIA version: 378

NVIDIA driver: Using the NVIDIA graphics

This is the only configuration that allows an external monitor to work out-of-the-box. However, a major bug in Unity 7 prevents you from using both the external and the internal monitor in an extended configuration (the desktop will appear stretched out over both monitors, instead of actually being extended). Using only one of the monitors, or the mirror mode, works fine. Other desktop environments seem to work flawlessly, such as GNOME 3.

Tested NVIDIA version: 378

nouveau driver: Using the Intel graphics

This configuration suffers from the same problem as when using the NVIDIA driver. However, so far it is not known how to output to the HDMI port. It should be possible according to this documentation page, but running the xrandr --listproviders command only yields one provider, the Intel (aka modesetting) one. The first step in figuring this out is to get it to detect the second provider (nouveau).

nouveau driver: Using the NVIDIA graphics

No testing has been done with this configuration, as it is unclear how to switch to the NVIDIA graphics using the nouveau driver.

Keyboard

Works fine out-of-box.

Chroma

At the moment there is neither a GUI nor a driver for managing the Chroma on the Blade. However, there are a few projects that might get there eventually:

• https://github.com/cyanogen/uchroma

• https://github.com/terrycain/razer-drivers/issues/214

Multimedia Keys

Works fine out-of-box.

Touchpad

Tap-to-click might not be enabled out-of-box. Everything else (two-finger scrolling, the buttons, navigation etc.) works fine. If the Xorg Synaptics library (xserver-xorg-input-synaptics) is in use, tap-to-click can be enabled from the interface (Settings -> Mouse & Touchpad). If you are running a newer version of Unity/Gnome etc. libinput (xorg-input-libinput) might be in use instead. As of April 3rd, 2017, the "Mouse & Touchpad" configuration interface does not support all the options of libinput, therefore the CLI has to be used.

How to change the touchpad settings via the CLI

1. Execute the following command and note down the ID for the last item in the Virtual Core Pointer list:

• xinput list

2. Execute this command to list the available settings for the touchpad:

• xinput list-props <device ID>

3. To change a property, execute this command:

• xinput set-prop <device ID> <prop ID> <new value>

Wireless

Works fine out-of-box.

Bluetooth

Works fine out-of-box.

Sound

Works fine out-of-box.

Microphone

Works fine out-of-box.

Combo Jack

Works fine out-of-box.

Webcam

It activates but it is unusable due to graphical glitches. There is no known solution at the moment. Reportedly, decreasing the resolution of it might fix it.

Fan Control

Feel free to add to this section (and to the table above) if you have experimented with controlling the fans. Other than that, they run fine out-of-box. Similar to Windows.