path: root/posts/2015-01-31-ubuntu-on-dell-xps13.org



Being fed up with Yosemite, I decided to order the new
[[http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd?ST=dell%20xps13&dgc=ST&cid=79646&lid=2024370&acd=123098073120560][Dell
XPS13 (2015 edition)]] after reading a few reviews. I've installed
Ubuntu 14.10 on it.

Installing Ubuntu was (as expected) straightforward:

-  you go to the BIOS (F2 when the Dell logo shows up on screen)
-  boot from an USB disk with Ubuntu (page to the instructions)
-  use an ethernet -> usb adaptor since the wifi doesn't work out of the
   box with the broadcom driver
-  select what ever you want for the disk setup (I went with dm-crypt /
   llvm / btrfs)
-  once it's installed and you're logged in as your user, install the
   wifi package (apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source)

then at this point you have a “functional” laptop.

Sadly, there's still a few issues so far with Ubuntu 14.10:

-  no sound (I don't really mind for now, I use my phone/tablet to
   listen to music / watch youtube and stuff). There's a
   [[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1413446][ticket]]
   to track the problem
-  as is the keyboard (there's a bug where a key can be repeated a few
   time)
-  the touchpad is ... touchy. I need to hold the button down for a
   second before it get registered, and there's some kind of issues
   where it get lost. But I think this is fixed with newer kernel (need
   to test).

#+BEGIN_HTML
  <script src="https://gist.github.com/franckcuny/70b6959eef1892d00197.js"></script>
#+END_HTML

But there's also the good stuff!

-  the screen! really awesome definition. The resolution was properly
   detected, didn't tweak anything
-  the keyboard is nice, however I'm looking for a solution to swap fn
   and control
-  the battery last, I get about ~7 hours of battery life with normal
   usage

** Hardware

The hardware is attractive. It's really small (smaller than the MBPr
13”, but probably a little bit bigger than the MBA 11”). It's light.
There's 2 USB ports, 1 SD card (that's one of the reason I went with
this model instead of the carbon x1).

My main complaint is the 8GB limit, I would have prefered 16GB. Not
having a broadcom wireless card would have also been nice (maybe they
will change this for the developer edition ?). But (and that's the main
difference with Apple :), there's a
[[ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_xps_laptop//xps-13-9343-laptop_Service%20Manual_en-us.pdf][manual]]
and instructions on how to replace the wireless card. The good
alternaties seems to be the
[[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GUNZUG0/][Intel 7260ngw]] (I might
replace the card).

For the curious, here's the output of
[[https://gist.github.com/franckcuny/02da991e4b4c6bcaabef][dmesg]] and
[[https://gist.github.com/franckcuny/bc9a486dc17e8c9acef1][lspci]].

I'll update this page with more details / information in the next few
weeks (I'm currently on a 3.16, I'll try the 3.18 during the weekend).

/Updates/

-  I've replaced the wireless card with the Intel 7260ngw. Opening the
   laptop is easy, but replacing the card was not that easy. Fixing the
   antenna is kind of a pain. However, the quality of the signal is way
   better now.
Being fed up with Yosemite, I decided to order the new
[[http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-13-9343-laptop/pd?ST=dell%20xps13&dgc=ST&cid=79646&lid=2024370&acd=123098073120560][Dell
XPS13 (2015 edition)]] after reading a few reviews. I've installed
Ubuntu 14.10 on it.

Installing Ubuntu was (as expected) straightforward:

-  you go to the BIOS (F2 when the Dell logo shows up on screen)
-  boot from an USB disk with Ubuntu (page to the instructions)
-  use an ethernet -> usb adaptor since the wifi doesn't work out of the
   box with the broadcom driver
-  select what ever you want for the disk setup (I went with dm-crypt /
   llvm / btrfs)
-  once it's installed and you're logged in as your user, install the
   wifi package (apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source)

then at this point you have a “functional” laptop.

Sadly, there's still a few issues so far with Ubuntu 14.10:

-  no sound (I don't really mind for now, I use my phone/tablet to
   listen to music / watch youtube and stuff). There's a
   [[https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1413446][ticket]]
   to track the problem
-  as is the keyboard (there's a bug where a key can be repeated a few
   time)
-  the touchpad is ... touchy. I need to hold the button down for a
   second before it get registered, and there's some kind of issues
   where it get lost. But I think this is fixed with newer kernel (need
   to test).

#+BEGIN_HTML
  <script src="https://gist.github.com/franckcuny/70b6959eef1892d00197.js"></script>
#+END_HTML

But there's also the good stuff!

-  the screen! really awesome definition. The resolution was properly
   detected, didn't tweak anything
-  the keyboard is nice, however I'm looking for a solution to swap fn
   and control
-  the battery last, I get about ~7 hours of battery life with normal
   usage

** Hardware

The hardware is attractive. It's really small (smaller than the MBPr
13”, but probably a little bit bigger than the MBA 11”). It's light.
There's 2 USB ports, 1 SD card (that's one of the reason I went with
this model instead of the carbon x1).

My main complaint is the 8GB limit, I would have prefered 16GB. Not
having a broadcom wireless card would have also been nice (maybe they
will change this for the developer edition ?). But (and that's the main
difference with Apple :), there's a
[[ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_xps_laptop//xps-13-9343-laptop_Service%20Manual_en-us.pdf][manual]]
and instructions on how to replace the wireless card. The good
alternaties seems to be the
[[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GUNZUG0/][Intel 7260ngw]] (I might
replace the card).

For the curious, here's the output of
[[https://gist.github.com/franckcuny/02da991e4b4c6bcaabef][dmesg]] and
[[https://gist.github.com/franckcuny/bc9a486dc17e8c9acef1][lspci]].

I'll update this page with more details / information in the next few
weeks (I'm currently on a 3.16, I'll try the 3.18 during the weekend).

/Updates/

-  I've replaced the wireless card with the Intel 7260ngw. Opening the
   laptop is easy, but replacing the card was not that easy. Fixing the
   antenna is kind of a pain. However, the quality of the signal is way
   better now.