TB16 Dock Linux Support

@tfnico hmm... it looks like in February Ubuntu brought out Ubuntu 16.04.02 with kernel 4.8. Were you aware of this and what made you go for kernel 4.9 never the less?

I checked my kernel and it's version 4.4 even though I order the laptop well after February. I have asked Dell support about this but no response so far.

Found this link [2] showing how to upgrade Ubuntu 16.04 to 16.04.02 and it looks like by default it does not include upgrading the kernel but there is an option to include the kernel.

Waiting to hear from Dell  before I decide what to do...

[1] wiki.ubuntu.com/.../Support

[2] askubuntu.com/.../upgrade-16-04-2-lts-to-kernel-version-4-8

@tfnico: Thanks for the quick response.

So Dell support walked me through upgrading the kernel from 4.4 to 4.8 and after that the external monitor and suspend / resume problem is fixed! :-)

Mysteriously on subsequent reboots with kernel 4.8 the bluetooth did not work any more :-( dmesg said "Bluetooth: hci0: Failed to load Intel firmware file (-2)". I fixed it by following the instructions here [1] to re-install the bluetooth firmware.

[1] askubuntu.com/.../ubuntu-16-04-2-on-intel-nuc7i3-bluetooth-not-working

Mysteriously on subsequent reboots the bluetooth did not work any more :-( dmesg said "Bluetooth: hci0: Failed to load Intel firmware file (-2)". I fixed it by following the instructions here [1] to re-install the bluetooth firmware.

[1] askubuntu.com/.../ubuntu-16-04-2-on-intel-nuc7i3-bluetooth-not-working

I've been using the TB-16 for several days and it seems stable. So far I would actually recommend buying it if your use case is the same as mine. Here are a few notes about my setup if it helps anyone else.

1. I have the XPS 13 9360 running Ubuntu 16.04 and kernel 4.8.
2. I upgraded the BIOS to version 1.3.5. To do this I could simply put the downloaded .exe in /boot/efi and select BIOS upgrade in the boot menu.
3. I upgraded the Thunderbolt firmware in the laptop to 3.21.00.008. This could only be done in Windows so I booted Windows 10 from a USB hard drive.
4. I keep WiFi turned off when docked. If I turn it on then the dock connection will drop every minute or so giving a huge load of PCI error messages in dmesg, or even freeze the laptop completely.
5. Bluetooth is on because I need it for my mouse, and that doesn't seem to be a problem.
6. My wired network is 100 Mbit. I haven't tested 1 Gbit, but some other people have reported issues with that. Network appears completely stable. I have a 15 year old switch so there was no need to set 100 Mbit manually.
7. I have three monitors in the DP, Mini-DP and HDMI ports, all using adapters to DVI. The monitors are only 1280x1024.
8. Booting with the dock connected is unreliable at best, usually crashing somewhere between GRUB and the login screen. I suspect this might be because WiFi is always enabled at boot. For now I'll just keep booting without the dock and turning it off manually.
9. The 3.5 mm audio output on the back isn't working, but the headphone jack is fine, so I'm using that instead.

I noticed on the parallel TB15 support forum that someone has had success with most issues (bar booting) with the latest 4.12.4 kernel. Has anyone tried this with the TB16? If so, do you aware if there are any issues running the 4.12.4 kernel under Ubuntu 16.04?

I recently purchased a TB16 dock and I'm running with following configuration:

• XPS 13 9350
• One external Dell P2415Q monitor connected through the mini-displayport
• Keyboard & mouse connected through USB
• Dell P2415Q monitor built-in USB hub connected through USB
• Logitech webcam plugged in through the built-in USB hub on the P2415Q monitor
• Wired ethernet at 1 Gbps
• Headphones connected through audio port on the front of the dock
• Ubuntu 16.04 (updated with the latest hardware enablement stack)
• Kernel 4.12.8 from the ubuntu mainline archive

Before connecting the dock, I updated to the latest BIOS (1.4.18 for the 9350) and also updated the thunderbolt firmware and associated windows drivers according to the instructions provided by tfnico (using a bootable Win10 USB drive).

Much to my relief, everything just worked after connecting. The Gbps ethernet issue was fixed in a recent kernel update (some time around 4.12.4 I believe) and it's been rock stable for the past 3 days with no connection errors. As such, it's no longer necessary to limit the connection speed to 10/100 with the latest kernel (it's possible the patch will be backported to the current Ubuntu kernel). Haven't experienced hangs when I boot with the dock connected, nor when I hotplug or unplug after boot. Also haven't yet run into any suspend/resume issues either in various combinations of plugging and unplugging the dock before/after suspend.

The next 4.13 kernel will apparently include several updates to the thunderbolt infrastructure, including control of security levels and firmware updates. I'm hopeful this will finally allow for native firmware updates without the need for a Win10 USB. All in all it looks like the TB16 is in good shape when running with the latest firmware updates & linux kernel.

Just to add, the backport fixing the TB16 ethernet issue is currently in the xenial-proposed repository:

bugs.launchpad.net/.../1667750

It's awaiting verification so perhaps it's worth installing the latest 4.10 hwe kernel from the 'proposed' repository.

Positive status report on the TB16:

I'm using a Dell XPS 13 9350,

Current Debian testing (Buster)

Most recent Vanilla Linux kernel 4.14.2

Most recent news for me: Cold boot works now, the setup is now quite stable!

Summary of working things:

o Cold boot (also with notebook lid closed)

o Network

o USB sound (rear jack not tested turned work before)

o USB network

o Suspend to RAM:

 All USB devices (so quite everything but the external screen get lost after wakeup!

 After replugging the dock, everything would be fine again, but I found

 a workaround somewhere in the WWW to "replug in software" without messing the external screens:

 echo "1" > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:01\:00.0/remove

 sleep 2

 echo "1" > /sys/bus/pci/rescan

You have to be root, to make the commands working. The sleep command in between probably

is not needed. I put the lines to a script file and invoke it via a keyboard shortcut.

I bought a brand new XPS 13 9360 and I am so far ok with it. I also want to connect my two monitors like I did with my 3 year old zen-book. I got a TB16 for that. I can connect the monitors ok-ish (resolution on the RGB is not good). Problem is all USB devices connected to the TB16 are dead (no keyboard, mouse, LAN...). I updated to the newest BIOS 2.3.1 since I was reading many threads and a newer Bios seemed to work for all. but no me! I tried to contact dell support but the site forwards my to a Japanese site and my kanji is a little rusty :)  I am currently out of options so I would appreciate input.

Certainly, unbelievable, but you have to configure the Bios ->Settings ->System Configuration ->Thunderbolt Adapter Configuration to "Security level - No Security" for best user experiences ... ;-)

That's interesting about the external screen, only 1 of my screens (the older one) does not turn on correctly after sleep or screen lock mode. It actually flashes on, I see the content, then it goes dark. I am pretty sure it think that there is no input signal on the dvi port and so some restarts of the monitor usually helps it find the dock video signal. I'll try the full thunderbolt (01) soft reset to see if that helps.

I received a TB16 a few days ago.  For some reason I was surprised/disappointed that the USB ports AND ethernet AND BOTH audio outputs failed to work.

OS: Ubuntu 17.04 x86_64
Model: XPS 15 9560
Kernel: 4.10.0-42-generic
Shell: bash 4.4.7
Resolution: 1920x1080, 1920x1080, 2560x1440
DE: Unity:Unity7
WM: Compiz
WM Theme: Ambiance
Theme: Ambiance [GTK2/3]
Icons: Ubuntu-mono-dark [GTK2/3]
Terminal: gnome_connectio
CPU: Intel i7-7700HQ (8) @ 3.8GHz
GPU: Intel Integrated Graphics
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile
Memory: 8182MiB / 15896MiB

The laptop shipped with Win10, but I made it dual boot.  Under Windows, I updated the BIOS to 1.6.2 and ran all of the other Dell updates (including Thunderbolt).  Still no luck getting those items to work under Ubuntu.

So, ultimately, the TB16 -- under Ubuntu (in my experience) -- is a pricey external display adapter.

Certainly, unbelievable, but you have to configure the Bios ->Settings ->System Configuration ->Thunderbolt Adapter Configuration to "Security level - No Security" for best user experiences ... ;-)

So... I thought I had tried everything.  Turns out, this was the trick.

Thanks!!