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TB15 Dock Linux Support
Today I received the new TB15 dock. I'm disappointed to find it doesn't work on Linux, unlike the WD15, with which some Linux users have had some success.
My experience thus far:
- XPS 15 9550. Windows edition wiped with only Ubuntu installed.
- Ubuntu 15.10, Kernel 4.3.3
- Connecting the dock *does* charge the computer (yay!) but when restarting, BIOS gives a warning saying it's only charging at 60W instead of the recommended 130W. I have the 230W power brick attached to the dock, so I'm not sure if that message is accurate.
- Unfortunately, other than charging, the dock doesn't seem to do anything. No USB replication, headphones, ethernet, or any of the monitor ports work. Indeed, nothing is seen by the system at all. I'm a bit surprised as I expected firmware level support for the dock, such that at least the USB ports would work within even BIOS screens.
- Other USB-C adapters I've had great luck with: VGA, DisplayPort, and Ethernet dongles all work flawlessly.
- The one function that does work is the power button on the top of the dock. Pushing this button prompts Ubuntu to Sleep/Restart/Shutdown, as though I'd pressed the power key on the laptop.
What has been others' experiences with this dock and Linux?
UPDATE (July 26, 2016): Multiple users (including myself) have confirmed that the TB15 dock is now *mostly* working in Linux, including display ports, USB, and ethernet (with caveats). The key change seems to be upgrading the BIOS using "Dell XPS 15 9550 A10 System BIOS". For more info see this comment: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/p/19678284/20922879#20922879
dragon_788
24 Posts
0
November 29th, 2017 05:00
Can you try using `sudo systemctl suspend` if you have systemd and see if that is more stable?
dragon_788
24 Posts
0
November 29th, 2017 05:00
If you get to the 4.12 kernel they have apparently fixed the network speeds issue where you have to negotiate down to 100, you can now use full speed.
jose.marino
10 Posts
0
November 29th, 2017 08:00
@dragon_788: have you confirmed that the ethernet port works fine? I am running kernel 4.14.1 on a TB16 dock and the ethernet port still doesn't work right. ]
mariog1
7 Posts
0
December 17th, 2017 10:00
To all who have working sound:
Can you use both audio jacks? Do you have auto headset recognition working?
If so, could you please share your configuration with me?
aappddeevv
66 Posts
0
December 17th, 2017 11:00
Both audio jacks work on the TB16 but I have to manually switch the output to headphones (the front jack) using PulseAudio Volume control. It's so nice having that rear jack work. I even stream via bluetooth from my ipad/iphone to my laptop and have it go out my dock speakers/headphones...all out of the box.
The configuration is in kernel 4.13+ I think. You have too look for your udev rules (90-pulseaudio.rules) and pulseaudio profile-set (/usr/share/pulseaudio/alsa-mixer/profile-sets/dell-dock-tb16-usb-audio.conf on my fedora system). The udev rule probably needs to be changed to activate on the proper PCI id though for the TB15 if its different than the TB16. I think the alsa layer always worked and it was always a pulseaudio configuration problem that was the issue.
The dock works good for me under fedora, but I have notice that it cannot sleep/hibernate without a resume crash if I plug in the dock, unplug it and then sleep. Sleeping while plugged in works fine and sleeping when not having plugged into the dock works fine. Just if I undock and then sleep/hibernate. I also have to power cycle an old monitor for some reason upon resume, nut sure why as the other, newer monitor wakes up fine.
I am pretty sure that when something goes wrong, such as when I use a virtual machine, the i915 video driver is responsible for problems. It's alot better than a year ago, but when I use a virtual machine, problems appears. Occasionally, USB through the dock is lost but I just unbind/bind all the USB drivers and all is good.