New XPS13 audio cards Linux issue?

On the audio, the short answer is that the issue in Ubuntu 14.10/15.04 is being tracked. Please see the following public bug report: https://bugs.launchpad.net/linux/+bug/1413446

That's your response?

I've tried nearly every combination of Ubuntu installs, the Sputnik image, with drivers, and still no sound or microphone.

What kind of Linux laptop ships with a sound card that's not compatible with anything else than the original OEM installation, and in fact the original install had issues with sound as well where, one resume I had to restart the machine.

I expect Dell OS Engineers, to take the lead here and actually fix the issue for the XPS purchasers, I'm completely surprised for such a major issue you would reply with the issue is being tracked...

I'd be impressed if you tried the Ubuntu 14.04 Sputnik image or the driver pack since we've not yet released those for the 2015 XPS 13 yet. Not even the 2015 XPS 13 Developer Edition is shipping yet.

My reply was from before the 2015 XPS 13 Developer Edition was announced, so that's why it was terse. I was trying to be helpful to those not patient enough to wait for the Developer Edition rather than saying nothing. Now that it's announced, you'll find that Barton acknowledged a delay in launching the DE exactly because of driver issues that we feel are significant enough to merit slipping the launch date.

When the DE is released, you can be assured that the factory image and driver pack will be available online, so even customers who choose to buy the Windows version and not support Project Sputnik can have everything work.

If you bought the version that comes with Windows and go your own way with installing Linux, you can use the workaround I mentioned in that bug report. However, you'll also put the touchpad into PS/2 mode and run into the issue we're delaying launch for. (Without the workaround, newer kernels report _OSI differently to the firmware, resulting in a different mode for the audio and touchpad. With Ubuntu 14.04's 3.13 kernel, the touchpad will be in PS/2 mode because of the older _OSI values it reports, and sound doesn't work without an add-on backported driver.)

That's your response? I've tried nearly every combination of Ubuntu installs, the Sputnik image, with drivers, and still no sound or microphone.

What...? Why would you expect the old Ubuntu sputnik image to "magically" work with hardware released in 2015, the hardware is clearly not the same as the late 2013 XPS13 so you should not expect the sputnik image for a different version of the hardware to work. You'd probably fair better if you used something closer to upstream (where new hardware support will most likely land first).

What kind of Linux laptop ships with a sound card that's not compatible with anything else than the original OEM installation, and in fact the original install had issues with sound as well where, one resume I had to restart the machine.

What...? This thread is for the new 2015 dell XPS13, it doesn't ship with Linux yet as the "developer edition" has not been released. It only ships with Windows right now. People can do whatever they want with the new XPS13 laptops including trying to install Linux but you're going to hit rough edges as the hardware is so new and not officially supported by Dell under linux yet.

I'm curious though, do we know when (or is it already? I don't have new hardware to test) all the necessary hardware support will be available in the upstream kernel (latest stable is 3.18.6 right now)?

I'm sorry I mispoke.

I have the 2014 model for the DELL Linux Developer Edition, as was linked is an ubuntu bug tracking so I assumed this thread pertained to Linux. No I have not found a solution for the 2014 model that allows me to have sound and a microphone.

I currently have the latest version of Linux Mint OEM installed on my machine, and did previously try the sputnik OEM image, which by default did not support wireless, and the drivers, required quantal while the image was based on 12.04 making applying the patches quit difficult.

If you can provide a solution to the issue for sound in the 2014 XPS 13 model for sound microphone and output I would be happy, but I haven't seen it, as the Realtek card does not work without the !Windows grub setting, and that causes many other complications.

I have the 2014 model for the DELL Linux Developer Edition, as was linked is an ubuntu bug tracking so I assumed this thread pertained to Linux. No I have not found a solution for the 2014 model that allows me to have sound and a microphone.

The Haswell version (model number 9333) was actually released in late 2013, not in 2014. Unless you have defective hardware, sound (including the microphone) work with a stock Ubuntu 14.04 install. If you want the factory image, you'll need to grab the driver pack from <http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=4NTWR>. Under "Installation instructions" on that page, there are instructions on downloading the Dell Ubuntu 12.04 image, installing, and installing the driver pack.

I currently have the latest version of Linux Mint OEM installed on my machine, and did previously try the sputnik OEM image, which by default did not support wireless, and the drivers, required quantal while the image was based on 12.04 making applying the patches quit difficult.

I have never used Mint so can't comment on it.

If you can provide a solution to the issue for sound in the 2014 XPS 13 model for sound microphone and output I would be happy, but I haven't seen it, as the Realtek card does not work without the !Windows grub setting, and that causes many other complications.

Uh, that shouldn't do anything on the Haswell XPS 13...

Thank you, I will try this. Apologies for my critical tone, as I do very much like my machine, but I guess I needed your guidance to get the process completed. If I have further issues I will document in a new thread.

In short, upgrade to the latest BIOS (A03 currently) and things should be in better shape.  If you have any kernel command line options that you are using to modify acpi_osi, remove them.

That should get you working audio output.  If it doesn't work after that, make sure you've cold booted at least twice.

For microphone support, make sure that your kernel includes these two patches:

https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/tiwai/sound.git/commit/?h=for-next&id=e1e62b98ebddc3234f3259019d3236f66fc667f8

git.kernel.org/.../commit;id=f3b703326541d0c1ce85f5e570f6d2b6bd4296ec