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16.04 => 18.04.1 upgrade anybody?
Hi,
It's been some days since the first point release of Bionic Beaver, and there's no news about the upgrade from LTS to LTS. No upgrade prompt, and no post here on anywhere else talking about upgrading.
The only reference is in the thread below, with no official answer from Dell, but an "I don't know, I'll keep you posted, etc." And some user mentioning "errors in the upgrade procedure":
https://www.dell.com/community/XPS/Official-upgrade-for-XPS-13-9370-to-Ubuntu-18-04/td-p/6114975
On the other hand, Dell repositories for Bionic were created last March but never updated with real content (but whatever "plano" is)
http://dell.archive.canonical.com/dists/
I really want to upgrade my XPS 9370, but I can't find any info about its feasibility. I mean, whether the vanilla release will give me or not all the Dell specific functionality. I have read that fwupd is broken for Dell in the vanilla release, and, on the other hand, people who say that they have actually received a firmware update after upgrading to vanilla Bionic.
So, Dell, any clue about when are we going to receive the "Dell official" upgrade prompt? And what about some official information about release dates, whether vanilla flavor is OK or not, etc?
Intro
15 Posts
0
August 5th, 2018 02:00
Another link:
https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/meta-release-lts
You won't be prompted to upgrade from 16.04 LTS to 18.04.1 until Bionic appears in that document. And that's Canonical stuff, we might need to wait a bit longer if Dell needs to tweak its distribution before releasing it.
Intro
15 Posts
0
August 14th, 2018 02:00
got it!
sgTwo
5 Posts
0
August 29th, 2018 05:00
Hello,
See https://www.dell.com/community/Linux-Developer-Systems/XPS13-9370-bought-w-16-04-updated-to-18-04-success/td-p/6154842/jump-to/first-unread-message
Bruce_Nolan
1 Message
0
September 1st, 2018 14:00
Bionic Beaver is now running on this DELL XPS 9343
Finally, got the Bionic Beaver running on the DELL XPS 9343. I spent the better part of two weeks trying to find a way to upgrade the existing system on the laptop to Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS. I couldn't find any reports of an upgrade problem like mine despite multiple searches with DELL, Ubuntu, Canonical, and others. I saw the problem as a challenge and spent many, many hours trying to remedy the situation.
The situation as I saw it was that the online upgrade from my 16.04 LTS to 18.04.1 LTS seemed to break down from the outset. I never was able to establish a GUI (graphic user interface) that permitted me to login. Initially, I got the new gnome based gdm3 sign-on screen with all of my users identified in a vertical list but anytime I chose one, I got an immediate error with the message 'Authentication Error'.
So, I went into Recovery mode using Ubuntu Linux 18.04.1 LTS version 4.15.0.32-generic. I simplified one of my user's passwords to no avail. I tried creating a new user with a new password but that didn't work either. To make a long, long, story short, I chased down many leads and tried many fixes using Recovery mode. The Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS Recovery mode features otherwise seemed to be working OK in the tty / Terminal mode but I never established a consistent GUI based interface.
.
I also had prepared a copy of Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS on a bootable USB 3.0 device. Using the BIOS Setup and booting from that device seemed to work fine on the same DELL XPS that I was trying to upgrade. I had previously backed up most of my data onto other media. Ultimately after copying a few more files from Recovery mode to backup media, I launched the option to Install 18.04.1 LTS from the USB 3.0 bootable drive. In using the USB drive, I was able to determine that I had internet connection via both ethernet and wireless options and their didn't appear to be any problems with the display or other devices. I did get a return to some unwanted sensitivity of the touchpad that I had experienced with my two previous versions of Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04 on the DELL XPS. That doesn't seem to be an Ubuntu issue.
The fresh installation from the bootable USB drive to Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS went 'very' smoothly and even by going particularly slowly and carefully with each step, the new installation took less than an hour.
In some ways I regretted not having taken that route in the first place. On the other hand, I learned a lot about the new version of Ubuntu using the Live Session from the USB drive. I also learned a great deal more about the intricacies of Ubuntu Linux from spending so much time as root in the Recovery mode.
In summary, I would suggest that if you decide to try to upgrade your DELL XPS laptop from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS or 16.04 LTS be prepared for some possible disappointment. On the chance that the upgrade wont work smoothly, have your data backed up in advance. Prepare bootable media so that you can try out Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on your system before you try to upgrade. If you do decide to try the upgrade rather than a new install over your existing hard drive, good luck! If you are unlucky with completing the upgrade using the Ubuntu Software Updater utility, I would suggest you can save a great deal of time by doing a new install from a USB bootable or similar device.
I still feel DELL Ubuntu Linux and Bionic Beaver have a lot to offer if you can get past the occasionally thrilling bumps along the road. I don't chat much but if you have comments or (simple) questions, my sign-on is:
Posted also 1-SEP-2018 at:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1743535&page=138
Thread: Graphics Resolution- Upgrade /Blank Screen after reboot
chadwiki
1 Message
0
October 1st, 2018 21:00
DId you have any issues with the laptop resuming after suspend?
DELL-Geoff D
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
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4 Posts
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October 1st, 2018 22:00
geoffsputnikguy
6 Posts
0
October 7th, 2018 15:00
Geoff, I love the XPS 13 but I have to say the idea that Dell only supports the version shipped with, limits the supported longevity of these machines to 3 years. That's okay I suppose, but I would like to see a little more than that as your hardware definitely lasts longer than that. I still love my 9333 and it serves my needs. It would be a shame if this fine equipment became unusable simply because we couldn't get a minor defect fixed in a driver.
Much appreciation for all you do. Please just extend this request from a loyal customer to your management.
geoffsputnikguy
6 Posts
0
October 7th, 2018 15:00
I am running 18.04.1 freshly installed on my Dell XPS 13 9333 and so far mostly satisfied.
Problems I am observing are as follows:
1) Trackpad mouse movement appears to have the mouse jump problem a lot of people have described in both 16.04 and 18.04. I have tried every reasonable solution I have found on and none seem to make any difference. Moving the cursor around with nothing running seems to show the behavior as momentarily the trackpad input is not received or ignored. Stops for no reason for a split second and then resumes.
2) Keyboard input seems a little laggy but manageable. Similar type of behavior, seems to just stop taking input at times, but not as bad as trackpad. Seems to take a moment even as I type for letters to appear after typing. Generally not losing letters typed though. Occasionally seems to double up on a character.
3) Battery drain - went from 6-8 hours on a full battery down to 3. This is one of the worst impacts. Looking at TLP and PowerTop as potential ways to improve. To be clear, this is an older model but until now had not experienced a rate of depletion like this.
4) Some of the animations in 18.04 seem a little laggy, but no big deal. I may just turn them off once the novelty is over.
Wifi works like a champ so far. Hoping it's improved with my phone which I will test tomorrow. REALLY like the refresh wifi feature in gnome-shell-extensions. Much needed.
Hoping Dell understands that we don't plan to replace our laptops every year and so would be nice to have some degree of support for drivers and defects on these machines for a few years. Otherwise, with all the advances of Chromebooks maybe we go that route or take our chances with other Linux friendly laptops if Dell is going to leave us on our own anyway.
geoffsputnikguy
6 Posts
0
October 7th, 2018 16:00
just wanted to add that I generally find install fresh is easiest path after years of Linux use. Sometimes on my PC I will try an upgrade path, but in general if you hit an obstacle that you cannot get around quickly, my experience has been the fresh install fixes most problems.
My theory is everyone tends to test happy path. Plus it's way harder to test for every place you might be coming from with all the stuff you have installed and uninstalled. No one will ever replicate the unique signature of your build with their upgrade tests. Testing general support for hardware with a fresh build is probably the only thing that can be tested reliably.
So just work on that strategy to keep your data and config separate such that it's easy to re-install. You can get pretty good at it! ;)
geoffsputnikguy
6 Posts
0
October 7th, 2018 16:00
no suspend issues on the 9333
geoffsputnikguy
6 Posts
1
October 17th, 2018 20:00
Update: XPS 13 9333 working flawlessly with Ubuntu 18.04
All of the issues I experienced including:
Trackpad mouse - cursor jumping and lag
Keyboard lag
Battery drain
and Animation Lag
were all due to a Gnome Shell Extension for displaying System Resource usage. Once disabled, all problems ceased. Batter life seems better, but not sure it's 100% of what it was, but now much more acceptable. 4-5 hours on a full charge.
BONUS: Wifi is now finally working consistently, even with my phone wifi. It has NEVER worked this well, even on the shipped version of Ubuntu.
Thank you so much to all those that have continued to updated and improve drivers. We appreciate your support. My XPS 13 looks set to get many years of productive life at 4 years and counting.
lmayorga
3 Posts
0
October 24th, 2018 13:00
I have a Dell Precision 5520 that came with Ubuntu 16.04 but tried the Upgrade in July but I couldn't use my computer. I wonder if now is a good time to run the ugprade.
Essanipsel
1 Message
0
February 18th, 2019 23:00
Hey, did you try again to upgrade you precision 5520? If yes would you have any advice for me? Actually I didn't try yet, but if I can avoid any time to fix bugs it would be amazing.
speedstep
9 Legend
9 Legend
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47K Posts
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March 14th, 2019 07:00
Upgrades have always been an issue for me.
Clean install starting with 18.04.2 hasn't been a problem for me.
Download the latest LTS version of Ubuntu, for desktop PCs and laptops. LTS stands for long-term support — which means five years, until April 2023, of free security and maintenance updates, guaranteed.
http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/
Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS (Bionic Beaver)
http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS release notes
Recommended system requirements:
Ubuntu-based Developer and Engineering systems (project Sputnik)
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
General
jagadesh
1 Message
0
October 21st, 2020 05:00
hi buddy did you figure out to resolve that cursor jumping issue in your ubuntu machine??
https://www.dell.com/community/Linux-General/XPS-Ubuntu-Mouse-Jumping/m-p/6209187/highlight/true#M17021