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I am OVER having to use Windows. My old MSI (GT 680R) was a perfect candidate for dual booting and I found myself in Linux far more than windows. Now I have a new MSI but am a little unsure of the install. I specially ordered it with Win 7 Pro so no UEFI issues, but it has an intel and Nvidia 970M video card in it (yes, it is a laptop). Not sure if the switching tech is out there for Linux to be able to work on this or am I going to be stuck with just the intel if I boot into Linux? Has anyone successfully installed a dual boot to this machine yet? My goal is to dual boot for a couple of months then migrate back to ubuntu totally.

Philthy
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  • While Windows 7 will not support UEFI secure boot, it can be installed in UEFI or BIOS boot modes. And Windows 7 may not have drivers for all the new features of a gen6 system. Microsoft is trying to get vendors to not develop drivers for older systems, only Windows 10. Post this just to confirm if UEFI or BIOS. sudo parted -l This was GS60 but older chip:http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2297815 Skylake:http://askubuntu.com/questions/691216/no-version-of-ubuntu-can-be-installed-with-any-skylake-6th-generation-intel-proc I might try 16.04, but it is not final till April. – oldfred Feb 07 '16 at 17:38

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I was finally able to install Linux Mint 18 on my 6th gen MSI GS60 ghost pro 002. It would not work until I updated my firmware to the latest (it became available on April 2016 via the MSI website). After installing the latest graphics drivers via the Linux Mint update software, I can even select between my two graphics cards. I was only able to complete the installation using my entire 2nd hard drive (internal hard drive) and you must go to your BIOS and select legacy mode (not UEFI) for it to work.

Everything via Linux works great. Dual/external monitor support isn't quite as good as in Windows, but everything else runs even better/faster.

Andrea Lazzarotto
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T. Bach
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  • Very helpful thank you. What about things like volume and brightness controls (Fn + direction)? – Ray Sep 18 '16 at 15:34
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Ubuntu has pretty good compatibility with normal (non-hybrids/tablets) computers, even ones that are 14 years old. Newer computers can have issues, but installing the latest Ubuntu version usually avoids any problems.

As for your graphics situation, I don't see any potential problems. Once you install and boot Ubuntu, just open the Additional Drivers app and install the proprietary NVIDIA drivers. Reboot and you'll be using NVIDIA. If there's a period of time where you don't need performance and want battery life instead, just open the NVIDIA X-server Settings app (might not be the exact name -- searching NVIDIA should find it), go to PRIME Profiles and select the Intel option. There is a way to switch from Intel to NVIDIA for certain apps, like in Windows, but I can't vouch for its stability. The feature is called Bumblebee.

My recommendation for you is to install Ubuntu 15.10. 14.04 is LTS, but it might have problems with your computer.

Use Rufus to burn the ISO to a USB stick.

There is a possibility that you'll have some issues with video. If you try to boot the installer and are greeted with scrolling text containing the word Nouveau, you'll need to take an extra step to start the setup. When the options to Try Ubuntu or Install Ubuntu come up, select the Try Ubuntu option and press E. Use the arrow keys to scroll the cursor to the end of the Linux line and type nouveau.modeset=0. Press F10 to boot into the setup.

You shouldn't have to put that in after the installation, although you might see the same text. Once you install the proprietary drivers for NVIDIA, this text should disappear.

The dual-boot setup should be an option shown in the setup. There are already multiple questions on this site about removing Windows and keeping Ubuntu, so a quick search should find everything you need on that.

TheWanderer
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I have installed Linux Mint 18 on my MSI GS60 6QE GHOST PRO(4K).

I have a dual boot with UEFI and that works splendid.

To get everything to work properly I had to get the 4.8 Kernel of Linux. This was to get the WiFi to work properly.

Also I had to patch the bluetooth to get it to work.

After that I installed the nvidia 375 driver. When I start the system after install Cinammon will crash. Go into the Nvidia X Server program and switch to low power mode to use the Intel card and after reboot it will work.

EDIT: This unfortunately doesn't use the Nvidia driver. So I'm back to square one with the graphics.

POJ
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