Alienware 13 R3 with Linux

After some experimenting, here's what I was able to come up with for my preferred linux setup with minimal extra configuration. I figured it would help people here get it working.
Distributions tried: Mint, Ubuntu, openSUSE, Arch, Solus

Distribution Chosen: Solus (https://solus-project.com/ r/SolusProject)
Make sure you run rufus in dd mode or make the disk in dd in order for the usb to boot properly
Two fixes required:
When booting into Solus for the first time after installation, you will need to add the nomodeset flag to boot. Once you're booted, you will just need to install the Nvidia graphics driver (under hardware drivers) to have it boot cleanly each time:
-When the boot screen comes up, press e
-Type "nomodeset" at the very end

Brightness adjustment also doesn't work. Two scripts were created to fix this:
Brightness up: https://pastebin.com/80RcAvfY
Brightness down: https://pastebin.com/VsWNm7bg
Use "chmod +x /path/to/script" on each script to ensure that they can be run.

And then link those scripts to keyboard shortcuts in the keyboard tool using: bash /path/to/script 2>&1 /dev/null

Works flawlessly.
Linux power users that have more need for odd packages I'd recommend Arch. You can use my brightness up and down scripts for any linux distribution.
As a gamer, I'd recommend using q4wine to manage wine prefixes. Makes things easier.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions. I'll update the post if I run into anything.
EDIT: Obligatory desktop screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/GjtZdeC.jpg