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I'm writing this on the first Dell I've owned since... 1999: a new "Developer Edition" XPS-13 2015 (FHD i5 variant for max power savings, which are pretty incre

I'm writing this on the first Dell I've owned since... 1999: a new "Developer Edition" XPS-13 2015 (FHD i5 variant for max power savings, which are pretty incredible). This is close the best linux laptop I've used, including various my various thinkpads and macbooks. A couple years ago I met an enthusiastic Barton George showing off the first gen XPS 13 at the ubuntu dev conference. It was sexy but flawed. I wasn't interested in the machine, but I thought Barton was a guy to watch. His project Sputnik group is the only reason I have kept Dell on my radar at all. They could be doing a lot in a better way: the customer outreach, ordering process, out of box experience: all include some (at times very) rough edges. Linux on the desktop is happening and, as I've said for a long time, it's happening where it needs to: with developers first. I'm not super excited with their Ubuntu centric strategy, but it's minimal effort to get Arch up and running on the Dell dev units. If anyone is going this route I'm maintaining a kernel for the XPS 13 (2015) here: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/linux-xps13-alt/ https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/linux-xps13-alt/

wyldfire 11y ago
I just purchased the same laptop. It's really excellent. But I am a little nervous about occasional panics when entering/exiting standby (15.04 vivid, 3.19.0-18).
- Adaptive 11y ago
  I jumped immediately to Arch, so can't speak to the situation with Ubuntu, sorry. I did walk through the initial out of the box boot/config of Ubuntu but was not impressed with the Dell tweaks and setup process, so dumped it. I'm definitely happier on a 4.0 kernel.
- woodson 11y ago
  I've also experienced occasional panics when entering/exiting standby, but only when a JVM instance or Virtualbox were running at the time. Otherwise standby/suspend seem to work fine (though maybe that's just a coincidence). I'm having a very good experience so far (14.04, 4.0 mainline kernel). Palm detection was broken, but the fix in [1] seems to have solved that as well. [1] http://stevenkohlmeyer.com/fixing-palm-detect-ubuntu-14-04/ http://stevenkohlmeyer.com/fixing-palm-detect-ubuntu-14-04/
nextos 11y ago
Do you need a patched kernel to run the XPS?
- Adaptive 11y ago
  As of 4.0, yes. 4.1 may be a different story, but as of rc2 I didn't think it was worth it and rolled back to 4.0.x. Another user has written a great arch wiki page on the general issues here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_(2015) https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_(2015) , but I have no problems right now running on my patched kernel (linked to above, though I'm actually building a new package right now).
  - zanny 11y ago
    I'm a huge fan of this Sputnik release because it means there is a "Macbook" of the Linux world now. At that, it is insane how much of the hardware in this thing is anti-freedom, and how much barely works. I have a Clevo 740su notebook which is what the System76 Galago Ultrapro is based off (I just got the model from another vendor because it was in the middle of a wave of bad customer service reports from system76) and everything worked out of the box (with a replacement to the broadcom NIC, I love the Atheros 9462). None of this multitouch patching or bios updating so the audio works or other nonsense. Only downside is that it does not have working keyboard resume from suspend, I have to hit the power button. Probably not the end of the world. I hope in future releases the Sputnik guys have enough sway in the general XPS 13 hardware selection process to get fewer poorly supported parts. The amount of hacks necessary to make a computer shipping with Ubuntu work is distressing.
    - nextos 11y ago
      I'm more and more surprised by my MacBook Air 11'' 2012, where everything worked flawlessly under Linux mainline when I purchased it back in 2013. It's really sad that even a device which is selected with Linux in mind requires a patched kernel. If you look into stuff which is not only supported by Linux, but also has good power management the list of devices is tiny. Essentially there's no laptop where everything just works. This is absurd. Things work pretty well using Intel components, but they're including things such as TPM which worry me quite a lot. I think there's an enormous opportunity for a startup that produced good ARM - Coreboot devices as open as possible and with developers in mind. The Pyra guys are doing something similar to handheld devices. Perhaps they could scale up.
yongelee 11y ago
I have an XPS 13 2015 version but it came with Windows 8. I want to try out ubuntu on it to see if it'll run better. Is yours touch screen? If so, how is it working? Also is there a difference between the windows xps 13 and the developers edition? I heard the developers edition is cheaper, but with less powerful hardware?
- CalRobert 11y ago
  I have one generation prior (model 9333). Bought it as a refurb on ebay, immediately removed Windows 8 and installed Ubuntu 14.04. Had some issues with the touchpad and installed 14.10 - now it works like a charm! It's a great notebook and it's awesome to see an Apple alternative that isn't Windows (though I felt bad that some money went to MS since I bought a refurb).
- Adaptive 11y ago
  I didn't get the touchscreen version intentionally. That's not to say that it's better with/without touchscreen. I just didn't want it, and wanted a lower resolution FHD screen for power savings. I know that gnome has basic support for touchscreens and just switched away from using a Surface Pro 3 with Gnome. It was just ok. I'd say you'll be fine since you've got a keyboard and trackpad as solid backup for the touchscreen. There is no hardware difference to the windows/linux machines... the hardware on the dev units isn't any less or more powerful. You will, however, want to make sure your BIOS is upgraded to the current rev (A04 as of this posting). http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=133FN http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDet...
  - ironsides 11y ago
    XPS13 windows 8 with the QHD/ultra high res screen here -- it has issues scaling windows apps -- Adobe Photoshop CC included. The apps imho are the weak link as not all have been designed for the higher resolution display. Sure, this will change in time for both OS but its quite annoying on a productivity machine. Edit: With that said, the XPS13 with 256gb ssd, touch screen and 8gigs of ram is a very smooth running machine. Very happy with my purchase.
jfuhrman 11y ago
>Linux on the desktop is happening What makes you think so?
- neverminder 11y ago
  Well, he said "developers first" which I agree with. It only makes sense to use windows or mac os if you are developing for the said platforms. Most of the server market however is dominated by linux, so I'd say it makes sense to use linux if you're developing for linux. I personally have converted maybe a dozen devs who develop for linux servers using windows or mac.
- Adaptive 11y ago
  If your definition of "Linux on the desktop" is "I see it everywhere I go" then your metric is well behind the early adopter curve. If, however, your metric is to look at influencers and early adopters, it's clearly happening. I think back to 04 when I switched to a Mac (from Windows). The idea that Macs were "happening" was inconceivable to many. Forget finding mainstream software. Forget drivers for hw support. Forget file exchange. Forget networking with anyone doing real work at your company. It was all uphill and hard. That was just 2004. Back then it was generally either hold outs from the dark, pre OS X days or early adopters switching over (or back) to a Mac. If you had your eye on the market, I think in hindsight it's clear that there was a groundswell of interest in the platform (from passionate early adopter switchers, etc). But at the time, nothing was obvious and early adopter advocacy to just "buy a mac" fell on usually deaf ears. We're in a not dissimilar situation today with Linux. The early adopter segment is different and much more dev oriented, but that's not a bad thing. Add to this that there are some fundamental and very important technology shifts happening that I think are going to make a positive impact on the desktop linux experience over the next several years (wayland, systemd, container/virtualization improvements, packaging and distribution rethinks). It's happening because people like me are using Linux on the desktop every day for real work, and for many of us it's eminently preferable to any other OS out there. It's happening because we, the early adopters, are not "on the fence" about Linux: I no longer think "Linux is nice but OS X just works". It's happening because a shift to the web has made app lock in on a specific platform less of an issue. It's happening because vendors like Dell are throwing actual resources at the market. Small though it may be, this market is made up of influencers that are the thin edge of the adoption wedge.
djhworld 11y ago
I'm interested in the Dell XPS "Developer Edition" but the fact that you can't upgrade the RAM to 16GB puts me off the whole thing entirely.
- Adaptive 11y ago
  I too wish that they had a 16 GB edition. It was the only spec that made me pause and say "Huh what"?. I was running 8bg prior to this but generally I want to max out that ram and they should offer it as a spec option.
  - mixmastamyk 11y ago
    They do have another linux friendly laptop that can upgrade to 16gb, though its name escapes me now... Oh, here it is, the M3800: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/review-dell-m3800-developer-edition-is-a-great-linux-pc-with-a-few-rough-edges/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/review-dell-m3800-dev...
    - simonebrunozzi 11y ago
      I don't like it. I really don't understand why they don't offer a 16 GB RAM version of the XPS.
      - ironsides 11y ago
        My understanding is that the motherboard does not permit it. From what I have read they are marking the initial XPS13 as "EARLY 2015" units -- with Windows 10 and Skylake around the corner you may see another major refresh later this year. Typing to you on a XPS13 "Early 2015".
        Dylan16807 11y ago
        Well that's better than nothing, but I'll note that my 2012 laptop is happy with 32GB.
simonebrunozzi 11y ago
Great job on the Arch kernel. Hopefully it will become a proper, fully fledged project and people will start heavily contributing to it.
- Adaptive 11y ago
  I was thinking of making the PKGBUILD a github repo though also hoping that we won't need a custom build much longer :)

wyldfire 11y ago

I just purchased the same laptop. It's really excellent. But I am a little nervous about occasional panics when entering/exiting standby (15.04 vivid, 3.19.0-18).

Adaptive 11y ago
I jumped immediately to Arch, so can't speak to the situation with Ubuntu, sorry. I did walk through the initial out of the box boot/config of Ubuntu but was not impressed with the Dell tweaks and setup process, so dumped it. I'm definitely happier on a 4.0 kernel.
woodson 11y ago
I've also experienced occasional panics when entering/exiting standby, but only when a JVM instance or Virtualbox were running at the time. Otherwise standby/suspend seem to work fine (though maybe that's just a coincidence). I'm having a very good experience so far (14.04, 4.0 mainline kernel). Palm detection was broken, but the fix in [1] seems to have solved that as well. [1] http://stevenkohlmeyer.com/fixing-palm-detect-ubuntu-14-04/ http://stevenkohlmeyer.com/fixing-palm-detect-ubuntu-14-04/

nextos 11y ago

Do you need a patched kernel to run the XPS?

Adaptive 11y ago
As of 4.0, yes. 4.1 may be a different story, but as of rc2 I didn't think it was worth it and rolled back to 4.0.x. Another user has written a great arch wiki page on the general issues here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_(2015) https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_(2015) , but I have no problems right now running on my patched kernel (linked to above, though I'm actually building a new package right now).
- zanny 11y ago
  I'm a huge fan of this Sputnik release because it means there is a "Macbook" of the Linux world now. At that, it is insane how much of the hardware in this thing is anti-freedom, and how much barely works. I have a Clevo 740su notebook which is what the System76 Galago Ultrapro is based off (I just got the model from another vendor because it was in the middle of a wave of bad customer service reports from system76) and everything worked out of the box (with a replacement to the broadcom NIC, I love the Atheros 9462). None of this multitouch patching or bios updating so the audio works or other nonsense. Only downside is that it does not have working keyboard resume from suspend, I have to hit the power button. Probably not the end of the world. I hope in future releases the Sputnik guys have enough sway in the general XPS 13 hardware selection process to get fewer poorly supported parts. The amount of hacks necessary to make a computer shipping with Ubuntu work is distressing.
  - nextos 11y ago
    I'm more and more surprised by my MacBook Air 11'' 2012, where everything worked flawlessly under Linux mainline when I purchased it back in 2013. It's really sad that even a device which is selected with Linux in mind requires a patched kernel. If you look into stuff which is not only supported by Linux, but also has good power management the list of devices is tiny. Essentially there's no laptop where everything just works. This is absurd. Things work pretty well using Intel components, but they're including things such as TPM which worry me quite a lot. I think there's an enormous opportunity for a startup that produced good ARM - Coreboot devices as open as possible and with developers in mind. The Pyra guys are doing something similar to handheld devices. Perhaps they could scale up.

yongelee 11y ago

I have an XPS 13 2015 version but it came with Windows 8. I want to try out ubuntu on it to see if it'll run better. Is yours touch screen? If so, how is it working? Also is there a difference between the windows xps 13 and the developers edition? I heard the developers edition is cheaper, but with less powerful hardware?

CalRobert 11y ago
I have one generation prior (model 9333). Bought it as a refurb on ebay, immediately removed Windows 8 and installed Ubuntu 14.04. Had some issues with the touchpad and installed 14.10 - now it works like a charm! It's a great notebook and it's awesome to see an Apple alternative that isn't Windows (though I felt bad that some money went to MS since I bought a refurb).
Adaptive 11y ago
I didn't get the touchscreen version intentionally. That's not to say that it's better with/without touchscreen. I just didn't want it, and wanted a lower resolution FHD screen for power savings. I know that gnome has basic support for touchscreens and just switched away from using a Surface Pro 3 with Gnome. It was just ok. I'd say you'll be fine since you've got a keyboard and trackpad as solid backup for the touchscreen. There is no hardware difference to the windows/linux machines... the hardware on the dev units isn't any less or more powerful. You will, however, want to make sure your BIOS is upgraded to the current rev (A04 as of this posting). http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=133FN http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDet...
- ironsides 11y ago
  XPS13 windows 8 with the QHD/ultra high res screen here -- it has issues scaling windows apps -- Adobe Photoshop CC included. The apps imho are the weak link as not all have been designed for the higher resolution display. Sure, this will change in time for both OS but its quite annoying on a productivity machine. Edit: With that said, the XPS13 with 256gb ssd, touch screen and 8gigs of ram is a very smooth running machine. Very happy with my purchase.

jfuhrman 11y ago

>Linux on the desktop is happening What makes you think so?

neverminder 11y ago
Well, he said "developers first" which I agree with. It only makes sense to use windows or mac os if you are developing for the said platforms. Most of the server market however is dominated by linux, so I'd say it makes sense to use linux if you're developing for linux. I personally have converted maybe a dozen devs who develop for linux servers using windows or mac.
Adaptive 11y ago
If your definition of "Linux on the desktop" is "I see it everywhere I go" then your metric is well behind the early adopter curve. If, however, your metric is to look at influencers and early adopters, it's clearly happening. I think back to 04 when I switched to a Mac (from Windows). The idea that Macs were "happening" was inconceivable to many. Forget finding mainstream software. Forget drivers for hw support. Forget file exchange. Forget networking with anyone doing real work at your company. It was all uphill and hard. That was just 2004. Back then it was generally either hold outs from the dark, pre OS X days or early adopters switching over (or back) to a Mac. If you had your eye on the market, I think in hindsight it's clear that there was a groundswell of interest in the platform (from passionate early adopter switchers, etc). But at the time, nothing was obvious and early adopter advocacy to just "buy a mac" fell on usually deaf ears. We're in a not dissimilar situation today with Linux. The early adopter segment is different and much more dev oriented, but that's not a bad thing. Add to this that there are some fundamental and very important technology shifts happening that I think are going to make a positive impact on the desktop linux experience over the next several years (wayland, systemd, container/virtualization improvements, packaging and distribution rethinks). It's happening because people like me are using Linux on the desktop every day for real work, and for many of us it's eminently preferable to any other OS out there. It's happening because we, the early adopters, are not "on the fence" about Linux: I no longer think "Linux is nice but OS X just works". It's happening because a shift to the web has made app lock in on a specific platform less of an issue. It's happening because vendors like Dell are throwing actual resources at the market. Small though it may be, this market is made up of influencers that are the thin edge of the adoption wedge.

djhworld 11y ago

I'm interested in the Dell XPS "Developer Edition" but the fact that you can't upgrade the RAM to 16GB puts me off the whole thing entirely.

Adaptive 11y ago
I too wish that they had a 16 GB edition. It was the only spec that made me pause and say "Huh what"?. I was running 8bg prior to this but generally I want to max out that ram and they should offer it as a spec option.
- mixmastamyk 11y ago
  They do have another linux friendly laptop that can upgrade to 16gb, though its name escapes me now... Oh, here it is, the M3800: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/review-dell-m3800-developer-edition-is-a-great-linux-pc-with-a-few-rough-edges/ http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/03/review-dell-m3800-dev...
  - simonebrunozzi 11y ago
    I don't like it. I really don't understand why they don't offer a 16 GB RAM version of the XPS.
    - ironsides 11y ago
      My understanding is that the motherboard does not permit it. From what I have read they are marking the initial XPS13 as "EARLY 2015" units -- with Windows 10 and Skylake around the corner you may see another major refresh later this year. Typing to you on a XPS13 "Early 2015".
      - Dylan16807 11y ago
        Well that's better than nothing, but I'll note that my 2012 laptop is happy with 32GB.

simonebrunozzi 11y ago

Great job on the Arch kernel. Hopefully it will become a proper, fully fledged project and people will start heavily contributing to it.

Adaptive 11y ago
I was thinking of making the PKGBUILD a github repo though also hoping that we won't need a custom build much longer :)