gnthr

updated

6 years ago

G

gnthr

5 Posts

0

37235

November 5th, 2020 04:00

XPS 13 9310 & Ubuntu 20.04

Hi,

On the Dell US site one can buy a XPS 13 laptop with Ubuntu 20.04:
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/dell-laptops-and-notebooks/new-xps-13-developer-edition/spd/xps-13-9310-laptop/ctox139w10p2c3000u?view=configurations
Specs can be adapted up to 32Gb Ram and the latest 11th Gen Intel CPUs.

Too bad, on the Belgian Dell site, the only XPS Developer edition is an old version (7390) that comes with Ubuntu 18.04, is limited to 16 Gb, and has a 10th gen Intel CPU.
https://www.dell.com/nl-be/work/shop/dell-laptops-en-notebooks/xps-13/spd/xps-13-7390-laptop/bnx73924

There is, however, a Windows version with decent specs for the new XPS 9310, but the Killer AX500 Wifi that comes with this one seems to be unsupported under linux:
https://www.dell.com/nl-be/work/shop/dell-laptops-en-notebooks/nieuw-xps-13/spd/xps-13-9310-laptop/bn93208

Anyone any experience installing stock Ubuntu 20.04 on the latter one?
Or any Dell employee active on this forum that can shed a light on whether and when a high-end spec XPS 13 with Ubuntu 20.04 wil be available for purchase via the Belgian site?

  • lerela

    3 Posts

    24157

    1

    Posted November 22nd, 2020 23:00

    Hi,

    I've bought the European version of the XPS 9310 with AX500 Wifi. I confirm the Wifi does not work on Ubuntu 20.10. Recompiling the last kernel with ath11k does not work either (yet): system is too unstable and freezes.

    Meanwhile, I've bought a cheap Wifi dongle.

  • shawnim

    4 Posts

    28184

    0

    Posted January 1st, 2021 20:00

    Turns out I had 2 bad flash drives! I was finally able to install the standard Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS. Thanks!

  • MattGos

    4 Posts

    24332

    1

    Posted November 5th, 2020 06:00

    I had the same situation with the Dell Nederland site. When the XPS13 9310 came out it was offered with ubuntu 20.04. Then the ubuntu option was taken off the site. I went ahead and bought anyway. So it arrived with Windows 10 Home.

    I installed the regular ubuntu 20.04.1 image downloaded from the ubuntu website and during the install it installed the oem kernel 5.6.0-1032-oem. This, I think, is the kernel version needed for correct use of all the hardware. Have setup the fingerprint reader and seems to work fine. Have tested speakers, bluetooth and microphone and all seems to work ok.

  • MattGos

    4 Posts

    24332

    2

    Posted November 5th, 2020 06:00

    By the way, if you do decide to buy the windows version you can request Dell support to refund the money for the windows licence. Windows 10 Home is 100 euro and together with 21% btw I got back 121 euro. I think the price of windows 10 pro is 188 euro.

  • gnthr

    5 Posts

    24401

    0

    Posted November 8th, 2020 09:00

    Hi @MattGos , would you mind sharing whether you have the 16Gb or 32Gb version on which you run 20.04?

    I did some further reading, and the 32Gb comes with the Qualcomm AX500 wifi, which needs an ath11k driver which will only be present in Linux kernel 5.9 (planned for Ubuntu 21.04 I guess)

    On the other hand, Ubuntu seems to have certified what looks like this configuration for Ubuntu 20.04:
    https://certification.ubuntu.com/hardware/202007-28063

    So confusing, but I'd rather not risk buying a laptop on which I will not be able to use the wifi

  • gnthr

    5 Posts

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    0

    Posted November 23rd, 2020 00:00

    Hi @lerela, thanks for the confirmation of this issue.  I think I will take the same approach as you to this problem.
    Which USB dongle did you buy?  Linux drivers for these sort of devices doesn't seem too good either.

  • lerela

    3 Posts

    22902

    2

    Posted November 23rd, 2020 02:00

    Hi @gnthr, you're right, it's a little tricky. I bought a cheap Aigital B07TGHL89V without knowing beforehand if it'd work since the chipset is generally not shown.

    Turns out it's a Realtek  RTL8811CU which works with a simple solution: https://askubuntu.com/a/1163018

    If possible, try to search the exact chipset of the dongle and search it online before buying.

  • MattGos

    4 Posts

    23675

    1

    Posted December 1st, 2020 01:00

    Hi again, The following link is the ubuntu certification for the system I have, https://certification.ubuntu.com/hardware/202007-28045

  • MattGos

    4 Posts

    23679

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    Posted December 1st, 2020 01:00

    Hi, yes I am running 20.04.1 LTS on the 16gb version. Mine has the Wi-Fi 6 AX201 installed. And yes the WiFi works. For information, here follows the HW probe of the system, https://linux-hardware.org/?probe=ba53f6e513

  • lazy-lambda

    1 Message

    21052

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    Posted December 23rd, 2020 09:00

    Very sad. I really wanted to buy this laptop.