Gathering interest on official Ubuntu support for Precision M3800

I think the sputnik programme and ubuntu based dev machines are a great programme and I was tempted to buy one - but couldn't bring myself to go with a machine of that spec - I wanted something higher-end, particularly the screen.

So I yesterday received my QHD M3800, wiped windows, and replaced it with 13.10. 

It's a fantastic laptop, and I'd love to see formal support and pre-install for Ubuntu on this beast. Can't say I'll be buying another one anytime soon, but this is great hardware for a developer like me.

Dave.Ball: So how does Ubuntu 13.10 look on QHD ?

And any compatibility issue ?

Thanks for your return !

I don't like Windows and I like to support the Development of Linux on such Hardware.

Would like to see this supported by Dell.

I have read somewhere that the boss of Ubuntu (Mark Shuttleworth) has already ordered a XPS 15... I am a freelance Java developer.
Why is it NOT possible in Belgium to buy as a professional a XPS 15 and get the 10% reduction you offer on the Black Friday period ???
Why do you force me to buy the M3800 ??? 
I don't understand you Dell !
What is the logic behind ?
Why is your website soooooooooo slow in Belgium ??? Every time I click I have to wait... wait wait wait
I have the most performant internet connection in Belgium (VOO Fiber) and it is not on my part...
If I cannot buy the xps 15 as a professional (already expensive) I do not buy any...
10% is a lot and don't tell me the reduction of price you give me default on the M3800 is comparable to the 10%...
The price of the 2 without reduction are comparable... The 10% are thus very interesting.

Gonzague75: it's the perfect mix of bonkers and awesome - incredibly crisp, and so much screen real-estate. The last few years I've found GTK3 and then unity made icons, toolbars and widgets too large for my taste, so I always reduced font sizes and themes to make them smaller (i.e. on my old 17" 1920x1200 M6500). I like lots of small detail on my screen.  So this hi-dpi screen is perfect for me. Everything it tiny, and that's how I like it.  So it's awesome, and just a bit bonkers ;-) 

That said, using it like this clearly isn't for everyone. I've had enough comments from people who can't read my old screen to know I'm a bit of a freak. I don't know if there's good ways to do scaling - I've not looked.

Compatibility issues: I think the latest driver from Nvidia (331.17 onwards) supports the, Quadro K1100M - but it looks like the latest packaged Ubuntu driver (325) doesn't. I've only tried the packaged driver, so currently not got bumblebee working. So i'm just using the intel haswel graphics at the moment, which is fine for desktop & some minecraft, but not tried anything more taxing. I've not used Bumblebee / optimus before, so there might be a simple trick to getting the Nvidia chip working, but I've not spent too long looking.

Other than that, I've not done an extensive test, but everything else I've tried seems fine...

Is it easy to disable the nvidia graphics on the 3800? I prefer to use only the Intel graphics since that always works well, gives best battery time etc.

But the previous poster said that he didn't get Bumblebee working. Therefore I wonder is there is also a BIOS switch os something?

On my current (not so good) Vaio laptop the discrete graphics draws full power until you figure out a way to disable it. Software solutions ended up not working after a suspend/resume cycle (powering on again) so I eventually ended up installing a hacked BIOS where you could disable it in BIOS.

Bumblebee will disable the discrete card by default... Please read below.

https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee/wiki/FAQ

"The Bumblebee server disables the discrete video card if no client is detected (if power management is enabled which is the default setting). This is done by keeping track of programs that request Bumblebee to run themselves on the discrete nvidia card. On such requests, a X server is started which makes use of the nvidia card. Because the frames cannot directly be displayed on the display due to the Optimus design, VirtualGL is used to copy frames to the visible display which runs on the integrated Intel GPU."

I've just checked the BIOS, and I can't see an option for this - but I'm a long way short of knowledgeable on Optimus / bumblebee.

Sorry for being inexact previously. Everything uses the Intel graphics by default out of the box.  I later installed bumblebee and as far as I can tell it has disabled the nvidia graphics. E.g.:

$ cat /proc/acpi/bbswitch 
0000:01:00.0 OFF

However I can't use "optirun" to enable the Nvidia chip. Might be something I'm doing wrong, might magically start working when I install a more recent nvidia driver.  I'm not in a hurry to find out.

I've got both an mSata SSD and a 500G 2.5" drive, and with the display at ~75% brightness I'm getting about 3.5 hours usage from a charge, but mostely use it plugged in. I'm generally used to power usage being sub-standard under linux, but this is good enough for me for now. Maybe this is something that improves if Dell decide to include the M3800 as a sputnik laptopl?

Since yesterday I've also tried the hdmi out, the usb ethernet jack that ships with the M3800, and the hdmi->vga cable I bought at the same time; all work seamlessly as expected.

Dave

Thanks !

Think I am going to buy one !

I would also but an M3800 Linux preinstalled immediately without hesitation. With only MS I am looking at other options.

Jared shared a document indicating Ubuntu was available along with a 14"FHD on the Lattitude 7440, but I see no such configuration. As usual Dell makes it very hard to find the Ubuntu preinstalled options, and it is frustrating.

Would definitely buy this is it was available with Linux pre-installed!

Would prefer Fedora but Ubuntu is acceptable.

However please offer all developer edition laptops with a matte screen or

some serious anti-glare coating.

I have been using the XPS 27 One which is a dell touch screen and it is impossible to

use in any environment, it is so glossy.

I had a daily headache from that screen I had to stop using it.

Looking forward to the Iris Pro variant :emotion-2:

Hi

Did it come? Could you sort out the installation? I installed 13.10 (dual boot - I need Windows for some stuff) but am at a loss to do something sensible with the graphics. If you succeeded in making it look half decent (scroll bars of sufficient width to grab etc) please, please post instructions or blog or something!

Regards

Tim