foonz/xps13

DELL xps13 2015 (9343) Linux Support

DELL xps13 2015 (9343) Linux Support

Tips and tricks to make XPS13 2015 work with linux.

Contributors configurations

See the collected configurations here (ordered by BIOS version)

BIOS

BIOS A01 is [out] (http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverID=RHPC0)
BIOS A02 is [out] (http://www.dell.com/support/home/en/en/nldhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=F2PRR)
BIOS A03 is [out] (http://www.dell.com/support/home/en/en/nldhs1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=XY677)
BIOS A04 is [out] (http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=133FN)

DELL patches/firmwares/drivers

Ubuntu 14.04 Touchpad Freezing Fix – XPS (2015)
[Touchpad firmware A00] (http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER02883019M/1/9343_Firmware_T792T_WN32_18.1.48_A00.EXE) - Installs under windows only :(
[XPS13 2015 drivers page] (http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/xps-13-9343-laptop/drivers)

Actual situation

From A01, linux support is quite decent. The different encountered problems can be :

• touchpad freezing (i2c / ps2 mode)
• no sound (or sound after 2 cold reboots of some kernels, depending on boot options)
• repeating keystroke issue (should be fixed with BIOS A01) (fixed with BIOS A01)
• ?

From A02, boot options are not needed anymore. Sound will be ok (HDA mode by default) and touchpad will be in i2c mode as !Windows 2013 is not needed anymore to make audio work!
It's still recommended to have a recent kernel (3.17+). Verify your touchpad mode with xinput.
It should give you something like DLL0665:01 06CB:76AD UNKNOWN if i2c mode is on. You could have to blacklist psmouse too. See here.

BIOS A04 : relevant things to linux are: keyboard repeat delay, fix an intermittent hang up at POST, update EC, update CPU microcode, intel platform trust technology updates

Anyway, you should upgrade BIOS to the latest version (at your own risk !). To upgrade, download the BIOS .exe, and save it in /boot/efi. Double-check the checksum, reboot, press F12 and patch.

Quote about the repeating keystroke issue (Author ?)
Someone asked about the fix for the repeating keypresses. Yes, it was traced back to the source and will be fixed on all affected Dell platforms soon. I just saw that the one for 9343 was promoted to our factories so should be up on support.dell.com any day now as BIOS A01

Other resources

[major.io website] (https://major.io/2015/02/03/linux-support-dell-xps-13-9343-2015-model/) ([@major] (https://github.com/major))
[Barton's blog last update, announcing BIOS A01] (http://bartongeorge.net/2015/02/23/update-2-dell-xps-13-laptop-developer-edition-sputnik-gen-4/)
Installing ubuntu 14.04 on the new Dell XPS 13
IRC : #xps13 (freenode)

What about you ?

If you (are able to) use linux on this computer, please specify :

• kernel version
• boot options
• pros/cons of this combo
• applied patches
• distribution
• anything you think is useful to know

Thanks to contributors !