Linux Developer Systems

[xps_ubuntu16]

Dear Dell Devs,

I didn't want to create "just another issue thread for the XPS laptop" but instead please consider this thread to be a cumulative thread on open issues concerning the latest model of the XPS 13 (DE) 9360.

After applying the latest updates, running Ubuntu 16.04 that was shipped, I will now summarize the open issues that folks have been reporting:

• unstable Wi-Fi (I thought the drivers for the Killer NIC were open-sourced and already upstream?!) I can confirm as well that I'm constantly losing internet connection on WiFi even though I'm sitting next to my WiFi router. Plugged in through Ethernet works fine.
• Frozen Trackpad - it seems that the trackpad freezes as soon as you try to enter/type something into a form. It freezes automatically and then you can only use the touchscreen or a computer mouse (through USB/Bluetooth). This makes working on a XPS13 a real pain. Rebooting the whole machine resolves it for the time being, but is not a proper solution. This issue is reproducible and happens to me various times a day.

I will be correlating the existing threads with them, maybe the Dell folks can reply to this thread instead of having to shuffle their way through each thread.

@everyone else: feel free to report any other issues that I might have missed out here....

I'm happy to provide any logs that the Dell folks might regard useful if it helps to resolve those issues...

Resources:

Wifi not working:

• http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19985774
• http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19997529

Trackpad Issues:

• http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19997691
• http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/os-applications/f/4613/t/19997691

cheers,
theresa

[basteed]

FWIW I thought I'd share my experience with my new XPS 13 (9360) which I've now had a few days.

TL;DR New install of 16.10 (over Windows factory install and with full-disk encryption) seems to have everything working OK (machine came with 1.0.7 firmware)

First thing I did was install Yakkety. Model I have came with Windows, but I don't need dual boot. I have been following the various issues on the forum and can report (so far, touch wood) the following work fine:

• Resume from sleep (lid closed or otherwise)
• WiFi seems OK, not tested extreme range yet, but downloaded entire Bitcoin blockchain (100GB+) in one go without interruption
• No coil whine - maybe luck of the draw or I'm too old to hear it ;)
• Trackpad seems fine - very 'click sensitive' compared to Mac I'm used to, but it works & doesn't freeze on forms etc
• External monitor (TV) via USB-C to HDMI seems fine at 1080 resolution (what I set my QHD display to in any case). Lost edges very slightly, but mirroring seems to work as expected
• All in all, given the lack of issues over what others are experiencing I'd have to recommend 16.10, although package support will take a while to catch up with LTS version

All in all it is an awesome machine so far, not missing my Mac & especially not missing Apple's crazy prices ;)

Happy to run through how I did 16.10 install if anyone needs it. 

[xps_ubuntu16]

Awesome report basteed! Thanks for updating us with the latest findings in 16.10
seems like it's definitely worth a shot ;)

Yakkety is running the 4.8 kernel version, right?
In 16.04 we still have 4.4....

maybe installing the 4.8 kernel would fix the majority of the problems anyway?

[tfnico]

So, I got a fresh new XPS 13 Dev edition two weeks ago as I started at a new job. I didn't want to waste any time with Linux drivers, etc. in the new job, so therefore I chose a laptop with "official support" like this one.

So it got delivered with Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS, and that's what I still have on it. Kernel is 4.4.0-47-generic.

Here are the issues I've come across:

• Connecting to the USB 3 dock (WD15) will lead to later problems, like...
• Not being able to reboot without the display crashing while connected to the WD15.
• The bluetooth connections will suddenly just die, requires reboot to get it back.
• Regularly flickering screen, both on internal and external displays (I think this is the Chrome hardware acceleration thing, perhaps not specific to the XPS).
• Connecting external USB camera directly to the laptop works fine, but through the WD15 dock it does not.
• Running an external 4k display seems pretty much impossible. It will either just not send a signal, or the laptop will often crash. 1080p over USB-C (through WD15 displayport) is fine though.
• The touchscreen does not work after resuming from sleep (this problem and a wonky workaround has been documented fairly well around the web).
• Getting the laptop to resume from sleep without the display staying black is a game of chance. Mostly it works, often it just doesn't. Mostly it works, but if I shut the lid while still connected to the WD15 the odds drop dramatically.
• The touchpad is generally good, but some times the mouse will just "jump" to bottom left corner of the screen for no reason.
• Typing without provoking unwanted mouse taps on the touchpad is near impossible, so I had to disable tapping. Only full clicking from now on.
• The display will some times not remember its configuration, and often reverts back to default resolution when plugging/unplugging an external display.

So generally, the laptop works. I don't think a day goes by without me having to hold that power button down for 10 seconds and hard reboot though, because the display won't come back on. Or reboot in order to get bluetooth up and running again.

Some day when I get the time I'll wipe it and install 16.10 or newer, hoping that newer kernel will fix the above issues.

I didn't hear any coil whine yet, I think.

[xps_ubuntu16]

I recently contacted the Pre-Sales guys and asked for a recommended docking station for the XPS13.
The first question they asked was "which operatiing system are you running" I replied Linux/Ubuntu and they then said the official recommendation would be the Dell D3100 for Linux systems as Thunderbolt on the WD15 is not properly working for Linux systems yet.

The only downside of the D3100 is that it's *only* a port replicator meaning you cannot charge the notebook when connected to the D3100. However, I don't mind charging it directly....all I really care about is having enough ports to connect some monitors and USB devices.
The D3100 officially supports 4k monitors as far as I know....

So if you're not happy with the WD15 and don't mind charging your XPS13 directly, then I'd be looking into returning the WD15 and instead getting the D3100.

[9360_de_manu]

That's rather odd, because when trying to update from 16.04 (factory OS) to 16.10 vía update manager, screen resolution gets crazy small and unchangeable, and wifi does not work, so I had to use the recovery tool from Dell to bring it back to it's factory state of 16.04 and 4.4 kernel.

Maybe I need to install 16.10 from usb and lose all the dell stuff, that seems that it is not helping at all at the moment.

BTW: I don't know if this is being reported anywhere else, but a simple `sudo apt update` results in packages from the dell repo not updated b/c of a weak signature file.

Reported it (https://twitter.com/mgdepoo/status/797364839194755072) and Barton George himself told me they were on it (https://twitter.com/barton808/status/799014877985722369)

But no luck as of today.

As another person put it: The laptop is not that bad anyway, but the Linux experience is far from seamless, I set my expectations way high I guess.

[tfnico]

I recently contacted the Pre-Sales guys and asked for a recommended docking station for the XPS13.
The first question they asked was "which operatiing system are you running" I replied Linux/Ubuntu and they then said the official recommendation would be the Dell D3100 for Linux systems as Thunderbolt on the WD15 is not properly working for Linux systems yet.

The WD15 is not using Thunderbolt. It is USB 3.1 or something like that. You're thinking of the TB15 (which was pulled for a lot of reasons). But indeed, the WD15 is not really supported.

The only downside of the D3100 is that it's *only* a port replicator meaning you cannot charge the notebook when connected to the D3100. However, I don't mind charging it directly....all I really care about is having enough ports to connect some monitors and USB devices.
The D3100 officially supports 4k monitors as far as I know....

So if you're not happy with the WD15 and don't mind charging your XPS13 directly, then I'd be looking into returning the WD15 and instead getting the D3100.

I am actually not *that* unhappy with it. After all, a surprising amount of stuff works on it (displayport, audio, ethernet and charging). There's just the whimsical display issues, which after all I'm not sure are because of the WD15/USB-C connection, and I don't desparately *need* the 4k. Since my real charger is in the office (along with a USB-C adapter: the DA100), and the WD15 works "enough" at home, I'll stick to it for now and hope things get better over time.

Thanks for the suggestion though!

[xps_ubuntu16]

Hey 9360_de_manu,

I just replied to you via twitter.... the upgrade worked, apt is just complaining about the weak signature.

See the "All packages are up to date" bit in your screenshot...
and if you don't believe me check this:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/760796/how-to-fix-apt-signature-by-key-uses-weak-digest-algorithm-sh...

;)

[9360_de_manu]

Fair enough, thanks for the reply.

I'm still unable to upgrade to 16.10, though.

Cheers.

[abescully]

After a short bumpy ride, I'm relatively happy with the xps13-9360 (16GiB RAM, 7500u, toshiba 512GB ssd, QHD+), except for an annoying cpu throttling issue.

My touchpad issues were largely solved by blacklisting the psmouse driver. Also, when running running GNOME 3.20+, I had to install xf86-input-libinput. I'm pretty sure my old xps13-9333 had the same issue, but a fix got committed upstream.

I've had wireless issues only with one AP so far, a netgear WNDR3000 running dd-wrt ca. 2013. My Asus RT-N16 running current tomato seems fine, as does my ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO. I suspect I will have more wifi issues, but for now I'm okay. I *would* like an explanation for the ath10k_pci module loading delay... On one boot, I had no wireless. It was as though the PCIe device just wasn't there at boot. Doing a modprobe ath10k_pci brought everything up fine. I'm wondering if the delay is a workaround for that bug...

Adding USB_BLACKLIST="0bda:8153" to /etc/default/tlp made the DA200's realtek ethernet chip behave better.

I think hardware support is mostly upstream now, too... intel hid is in 4.5, updated hid-multitouch is in 4.7, intel virtual button drivers are in 4.8, fix for dead touchscreen after resume is in 4.8.5, and 4.8.7 has a bunch of relevant fixes for this hardware (wifi, wired dongle, gfx, external displays, etc.)... I've been happy with recent kernels.

The only big thing that remains for me are the mce errors. The "processor context corrupt" messages are scary and seem to happen on every boot or resume, but aren't terribly annoying and don't appear to cause trouble (yet?)... However, the thermal throttling is super annoying. Every time I do anything CPU intensive, the CPU temperature will rise until a throttling event happens and THEN the cpu fan will start. The cpu recovers quickly once the fan is going, but it seems like either the temperature at which the throttling is triggered is too low, or the CPU fan starts at too high of a temperature. I'm hoping a BIOS update will address this.