4 ms·

In theory, laptops from Dell should work with Linux. In practice, not so much, especially if you like to sleep and wake up from sleep everytime without a crash

by csdvrx 3y ago

In theory, laptops from Dell should work with Linux. In practice, not so much, especially if you like to sleep and wake up from sleep everytime without a crash + a reasonable power consumption, both during use and during sleep. IMHO consumption during sleep far more important: if I didn't plug the computer, I expect it to wake up immediately (no S4/suspend to disk) and with less than 0.5% of battery lost per hour (so for 10h of sleep and 80% battery before sleep, at least 75% battery left), if I put it in a bag, I expect it to stay asleep and not be a fire hazard: dells run hot when closed and in a bag, to the point of battery exhaustion or thermal shutdown) I prefer Lenovo for everything, especially the keyboard but also ECC ram, OLED displays ... things almost impossible to find anywhere else! I've been moving to a eink tablet but I purchased a Lenovo wireless keyboard: every key being in the exact same position on all my hardware has sizeable benefits in comfort. Also, I want PageUp and PageDown around the Up key, something impossible to find outside of Lenovo.

gtaylor 3y ago
Had great results with my Dell XPS 17. Everything but the fingerprint reader works out of the box.
theodric 3y ago
>eink tablet That's my fetish! Which one did you go for?
- csdvrx 3y ago
  Bigme (10 inch color eink) but the Boox are also great if you like color eink. It's a matter of preferences: I got both, kept the Bigme and gifted the Boox. I was asked about my setup a few days ago. I'm preparing a tutorial to help with rooting, removing unwanted apps etc.
Astronaut3315 3y ago
My work machine, a Precision 5550 (XPS 15) has never been able to reliably wake from sleep. Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Windows 11- it doesn’t matter.
- csdvrx 3y ago
  > never been able to reliably wake from sleep. Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Windows 11- it doesn’t matter. Same, with other Dells. There was one where I analyzed the BIOS ACPI tables and concluded it was impossible to wake from sleep on any OS, due to bugs I've found: I can't find my old post, but https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/kolf5f/patching_the_dsdt_table_to_enable_s3_suspend_on/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/kolf5f/patching_the_d... is a good summary. Error on Dell ACPI tables are usual: for the 5510, see https://gist.github.com/jamal-fuma/17d2d605280a52376326384c4bd0380b https://gist.github.com/jamal-fuma/17d2d605280a52376326384c4... I also remember someone doing deeping ACPI table modifications to limit the power draw on the Xeon Laptops. I can't find the link right now, but IIRC it was related to the PCH powergating. These issues plague the whole line. For another analysis (and confirmation), this time on how deep C states (very important for temperature and for sleep) can only be reached one after boot, see https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/precision-mobile-workstations/7760-linux-no-suspend-to-ram-shallow-cstates-pain/647f9deaf4ccf8a8de269007 https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/precision-mo...
Frotag 3y ago
Lenovo laptops tend to be best bang for buck but ime poor build quality and support. I've sent each of the three I've owned in for warranty repair at some point. It took at least a month for all of them and two of them still died a month or two later from repair-related issues (eg glue around new lcd housing was too weak and it eventually warped / cracked).
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Lenovo's consumer products suck but the high end stuff is reasonably solid.
  - csdvrx 3y ago
    > the high end stuff is reasonably solid. Agreed: in the current lineup, don't buy anything that's not from the X series.
- PanamaNewb 3y ago
  Old lenovo/ibm laptops were so so good with linux, that i still fall back on my t420 from time to time.
- Trow83949 3y ago
  Macbooks have similar issues. Months long warranty repairs, glu falls apart in LCD housing, cracking hinges... At least with lenovo you can buy second laptop, and swap SSD before shipping it away. Repairman will not go through your selfies ;)
quercusa 3y ago
I've got a Dell Vostro V5510 (i7, 32GB RAM) that's been rock-solid running Ubuntu and only cost ~ $1000.
- mattl 3y ago
  Preinstalled or you had to install Linux?
  - quercusa 3y ago
    I installed it.
dmw_ng 3y ago
I run two XPS 15s (2015ish 9550 workhorse / main computer, 2022ish 9250) and haven't had the slightest issue with either, although I keep the on board Nvidia disabled on both, which might explain the "reasonable power consumption" bit. Hardware on the other hand, these things are like caring for an anorexic bubble baby with severe bone density issues. The hardware is a piece of shit, but also extremely easy to repair. Burned through at least 3 keyboards on the 2015, at least 4 pairs of speakers (new set sitting in a parcel in the room right now), 1 motherboard (mechanical stress snapped the heatsink), 2 power plugs, replacement top case because of screen latch stress snapping some tiny piece of plastic, probably more I've forgotten. Separately, the mic seems to be installed literally inside the fans, they made the screen bezel so thin on the 2022 model that they couldn't even include a web cam competitive with the 1998 Game Boy camera, it's embarrassing to videoconf from it
- The_Colonel 3y ago
  These old ones still had a proper S3 sleep support. The new Dells are on the "modern standby" crap pushed by Microsoft and deep sleep doesn't work on any OS. Somehow we managed to regress, it's no longer safe to just close your laptop and put it to your backpack. (few times I did that with my Precision 5550, it got so hot I was afraid the battery will explode)
  - csdvrx 3y ago
    > the "modern standby" crap pushed by Microsoft and deep sleep doesn't work on any OS. I disagree: technically, it can be made to work, at least with some effort. On my Lenovo X1 fold, I do get 0.5%/h of sleep, cf the slope of the sleepstudy curve on Windows https://csdvrx.github.io/X1_Fold_(20RL_20RK)_Optimization/pasted_image001.png https://csdvrx.github.io/X1_Fold_(20RL_20RK)_Optimization/pa... ; the root cause of most of my problems were the Intel drivers, more details on https://csdvrx.github.io/ https://csdvrx.github.io/ Just turning off wireless with a powershell script before sleep helps a lot, on Linux of course you have more leeway with systemd-suspend hooks. > my Precision 5550, it got so hot I was afraid the battery will explode We've got very similar experiences with Dell
forinti 3y ago
I recently got a Latitude for work. Linux works fine, but I could not get the wifi to work on FreeBSD.
- deaddodo 3y ago
  Because all new wireless cards are AX, which FreeBSD has no support for. You'll be relegated to using Linux in a VM for wireless, or downgrading to old hardware.

by csdvrx 3y ago

gtaylor 3y ago

Had great results with my Dell XPS 17. Everything but the fingerprint reader works out of the box.

theodric 3y ago

>eink tablet That's my fetish! Which one did you go for?

csdvrx 3y ago
Bigme (10 inch color eink) but the Boox are also great if you like color eink. It's a matter of preferences: I got both, kept the Bigme and gifted the Boox. I was asked about my setup a few days ago. I'm preparing a tutorial to help with rooting, removing unwanted apps etc.

Astronaut3315 3y ago

My work machine, a Precision 5550 (XPS 15) has never been able to reliably wake from sleep. Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Windows 11- it doesn’t matter.

csdvrx 3y ago
> never been able to reliably wake from sleep. Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Windows 11- it doesn’t matter. Same, with other Dells. There was one where I analyzed the BIOS ACPI tables and concluded it was impossible to wake from sleep on any OS, due to bugs I've found: I can't find my old post, but https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/kolf5f/patching_the_dsdt_table_to_enable_s3_suspend_on/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Dell/comments/kolf5f/patching_the_d... is a good summary. Error on Dell ACPI tables are usual: for the 5510, see https://gist.github.com/jamal-fuma/17d2d605280a52376326384c4bd0380b https://gist.github.com/jamal-fuma/17d2d605280a52376326384c4... I also remember someone doing deeping ACPI table modifications to limit the power draw on the Xeon Laptops. I can't find the link right now, but IIRC it was related to the PCH powergating. These issues plague the whole line. For another analysis (and confirmation), this time on how deep C states (very important for temperature and for sleep) can only be reached one after boot, see https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/precision-mobile-workstations/7760-linux-no-suspend-to-ram-shallow-cstates-pain/647f9deaf4ccf8a8de269007 https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/precision-mo...

Frotag 3y ago

Lenovo laptops tend to be best bang for buck but ime poor build quality and support. I've sent each of the three I've owned in for warranty repair at some point. It took at least a month for all of them and two of them still died a month or two later from repair-related issues (eg glue around new lcd housing was too weak and it eventually warped / cracked).

jacquesm 3y ago
Lenovo's consumer products suck but the high end stuff is reasonably solid.
- csdvrx 3y ago
  > the high end stuff is reasonably solid. Agreed: in the current lineup, don't buy anything that's not from the X series.
PanamaNewb 3y ago
Old lenovo/ibm laptops were so so good with linux, that i still fall back on my t420 from time to time.
Trow83949 3y ago
Macbooks have similar issues. Months long warranty repairs, glu falls apart in LCD housing, cracking hinges... At least with lenovo you can buy second laptop, and swap SSD before shipping it away. Repairman will not go through your selfies ;)

quercusa 3y ago

I've got a Dell Vostro V5510 (i7, 32GB RAM) that's been rock-solid running Ubuntu and only cost ~ $1000.

mattl 3y ago
Preinstalled or you had to install Linux?
- quercusa 3y ago
  I installed it.

dmw_ng 3y ago

I run two XPS 15s (2015ish 9550 workhorse / main computer, 2022ish 9250) and haven't had the slightest issue with either, although I keep the on board Nvidia disabled on both, which might explain the "reasonable power consumption" bit. Hardware on the other hand, these things are like caring for an anorexic bubble baby with severe bone density issues. The hardware is a piece of shit, but also extremely easy to repair. Burned through at least 3 keyboards on the 2015, at least 4 pairs of speakers (new set sitting in a parcel in the room right now), 1 motherboard (mechanical stress snapped the heatsink), 2 power plugs, replacement top case because of screen latch stress snapping some tiny piece of plastic, probably more I've forgotten. Separately, the mic seems to be installed literally inside the fans, they made the screen bezel so thin on the 2022 model that they couldn't even include a web cam competitive with the 1998 Game Boy camera, it's embarrassing to videoconf from it

The_Colonel 3y ago
These old ones still had a proper S3 sleep support. The new Dells are on the "modern standby" crap pushed by Microsoft and deep sleep doesn't work on any OS. Somehow we managed to regress, it's no longer safe to just close your laptop and put it to your backpack. (few times I did that with my Precision 5550, it got so hot I was afraid the battery will explode)
- csdvrx 3y ago
  > the "modern standby" crap pushed by Microsoft and deep sleep doesn't work on any OS. I disagree: technically, it can be made to work, at least with some effort. On my Lenovo X1 fold, I do get 0.5%/h of sleep, cf the slope of the sleepstudy curve on Windows https://csdvrx.github.io/X1_Fold_(20RL_20RK)_Optimization/pasted_image001.png https://csdvrx.github.io/X1_Fold_(20RL_20RK)_Optimization/pa... ; the root cause of most of my problems were the Intel drivers, more details on https://csdvrx.github.io/ https://csdvrx.github.io/ Just turning off wireless with a powershell script before sleep helps a lot, on Linux of course you have more leeway with systemd-suspend hooks. > my Precision 5550, it got so hot I was afraid the battery will explode We've got very similar experiences with Dell

forinti 3y ago

I recently got a Latitude for work. Linux works fine, but I could not get the wifi to work on FreeBSD.

deaddodo 3y ago
Because all new wireless cards are AX, which FreeBSD has no support for. You'll be relegated to using Linux in a VM for wireless, or downgrading to old hardware.