Linux General

[BeOS]

Hi,

I just received my Precision 5510 with Ubuntu 14.04 pre-installed.

I noticed the Ubuntu installed on the laptop is not a vanilla Ubuntu distro. For example, it has a few additional DELL specific apt repos added to it. Or it has the Recovery Disk creator app pre-installed, etc.

I've created a Recovery USB already, but does DELL host this slightly modified OEM ISO for the Ubuntu somewhere on their servers for download -- in case someone loses the recovery media and needs to download it from somewhere?

Also I noticed that DELL specific repos for 16.04 are already on Ubuntu's repos (dell.archive.ubuntu.com/.../xenial). Does it mean that 16.04 is good to go for my laptop now?

And if I want to clean install 16.04, does DELL provide a customised ISO file with their apt repos already pre-configured and extra apps pre-installed?

Two more questions:

• Any extra steps I need to do if I want to install Kubuntu 16.04 on my Precision 5510? (e.g. what apt repos should I add?)
  • Even better, does DELL provide customised Kubuntu ISO files?
• How well does Fedora work on these machines?

Thanks in advance.

[bscloutier]

I would just like to add that I would be interested in this. I am just starting to research here whether I can move my fairly recent XPS 13 9343 burdened with an MS OS over to a fresh and clean Dell Developers Linux configuration. A fresh ISO would be nice so I do not have to search for, and decide whether or not I have been successful in installing, all of the Dell drivers and applications. I would rather invest my time in moving to the Linux world.

[skostyuk]

Looks like Dell share recovery ISO's only for Windows-based notebooks for now: Dell Recovery Image Download. The rest of images is device-specific (but why???) and are created only via Dell Recovery utility.

Also such images can provide a customer support service in your country.

P.S. If somebody will need recovery image for Vostro 5459 - I can create one for you. Just send me a message.

[omg-so-annoying]

I'd be interested in some ISOs or instructions as well.

I have upgraded to Ubuntu 16.04.

I have updated my sources.list to include the dell repositories:
dell.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu xenial

and

dell.archive.canonical.com/updates xenial-dell-ford-constantine and xenial-dell

The problem is that I cannot boot the machine with any 4.4 kernel. I've tried multiple, including dell.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/uefi/linux-amd64/current (4.4.0.21).

The machine will boot and mostly run fine with kernel 3.19.0-59.

When installing a 4.4 kernel I do get BUILD_EXCLUSIVE errors from these dkms modules:
/usr/src/realtek-rts-cr-1.4.3oem2
/usr/src/oem-audio-hda-daily-lts-vivid-0.201512022217~ubuntu14.04.1
/usr/src/synaptic-i2c-hid-3.13.0-32-backport-1.6.4
/usr/src/btusb-iwlwifi-intel8260-1.7

I have found some of these in the trusty repositories but not in any xenial repository yet.

Currently the system is mostly stable but I'd be interested in any experience you guys might have with running the precision 5510 with the current ubuntu LTS version?

[skostyuk]

But is customized ISO actually needed? I tested 16.04 without installing from my USB stick. And all seem to work out of the box (except Nvidia card and fingerprint scanner, I just didn't tested them). All tests passing (from built-in test utility), WiFi works, touchpad works and so on. Nothing was failed or broken while this test.

In the end of this month I'll also try to install 16.04 on the HDD and will write results of this experiment in this thread.

[clippers87]

I tried the officel 16.04 release as live system on my 7710 - main issue that the INTEL RAID is not recognized - anyone any idea to solve that? May I include the obovementioned dell sources?

[Cerberus-]

Hi,

Dell has Ubuntu Recovery Images on their site. Just go to the download / drivers section. Type in your service tag... voilá

I got a 2,2gb ISO named "dell-bto-trusty-berlinetta-p-dino2-A00-iso-20160224.iso"

[skostyuk]

Cerberus, you are right. But image is available not for all systems and service tags. For example for my Vostro 5449 I get an error "Recovery image not available for your Service Tag." instead of image.

[rolfkleef]

I had the 4.4 kernel problems too. With some fiddling I now boot with kernel 4.2.0.30 and that works fine so far (couple of days now).

There was a build error for that kernel too, caused by the caspar system. I removed the caspar packages (intended to run ubuntu from a read-only device, I'm not doing that) and then the 4.2 kernel installed ok.

[kingcu]

I put in my service tag (originall installed with Windows 10 Home), but only got a download link for a Windows 10 image. Did you put in a service tag for a Linux machine?