Translation(s): none

DebianOn is an effort to document how to install,configure and use Debian on some specifichardware. Therefore potential buyers would know ifthat hardware is supported and owner would knowhow get the best out of that hardware.The purpose is not to duplicate the Debian OfficialDocumentation, but to document how to installDebian on some specific hardware.

Models covered

DELL XPS 13

Overall StatusCore Components

Boot Standard Kernel:Detect hard drives:

Extra FeaturesCPU Frequency ScalingHibernationSleep / SuspendXorg- OpenGL- Resize-and-Rotate(randr)Switch to External ScreenMouse- Built-in (Touchpad)Wireless/WifiBluetoothWebcamKeyboard's Hotkeys

Legend :

= OK ; Unsupported(No Driver) ; = Error (Couldn't get it working); [?] Unknown, Not

Test ; [-] Not-applicable

= Configuration Required; = Only works with a non-free driver and or firmware

DescriptionThis model comes in two options: with Windows 8 or with Ubuntu 12.04,which is called Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition. This is a very niceultrabook which is able to run Debian pretty well. It ONLY requires onenon-free firmware to fully operate (the wifi), no extra privative driversrequired. If you install the Ubuntu modified Sputnik kernel or standard3.9 branch, it gets even better. Instructions go below.

Important NoteIn order to use Wifi to install, you MUST use a Debian nonfree installer.The Intel official Wifi driver is free, but the firmware required is not. Youcan get the non-free Debian netinst here:

http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/cd-including-firmware/

From Ubuntu, just install to an empty pendrive with:

su

cd Downloads # or whatever

dd if=firmware-7.0.0-amd64-netinst.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=16M

Pay attention to /dev/sdX, it is ussually sdb, but take care! (you coulderase your SSD drive by accident).

Reboot and press F12 while the BIOS is loading. You have to be very fast!Then select USB boot. Now you're ready to install Debian.

ConfigurationDisplay

Display works quite well out of the box, including brightness controls withthe standard Debian and Ubuntu kernel.

Audio

Works perfect out of the box.

Bluetooth

Works incredible, very stable.

Be careful with the button to power it on or off, it is the same as the wifione, see below in wifi section.

Touchpad

The touchpad works well with the standard kernel, BUT doesn't havemultitouch which is really desirable. Please see the next section to learnhow to compile Ubuntu Precise kernel to have full hardware coverage.

Power Management

Suspension works perfect. Hibernation works well with the official Debiankernel and 3.9.x series if you don't use an external monitor in theprocess. Hibernation seems to not work with the Ubuntu kernel at thetime of editing this page (it is a bug): Open: #1132514: [regression]Hibernate no longer works: https://bugs.launchpad.net/dell-sputnik/+bug/1132514.

laptop-mode-tools package is recommended, it can really save a lot ofpower by turning off while not using the sound card, wifi, bluetooth, usbports...

8h of battery is perfectly archiveable in some rare cases. 5,5 to 7h ismore realistic if you don't abuse the processor. 4h is probably themaximum you're going to obtain under more intense tasks (like viewingflash videos in firefox). So this laptop has a very decent battery life. I'veobserved that wifi is probably the most power-eating of all the parts,followed by the processor (specially when the fan is running, which is notmuch of the time), and surprinsingly the screen doesn't consume thatmuch (and at the lowest brightness level it is still very bright).

WiFi

Works well BUT you must install firmware before, and be careful not topress the wifi button which will make your wifi go off forever. It is highly

recommended to install the (Ubuntu) Sputnik kernel or standard 3.9 inorder to have this bug fixed.

Firmware package name is: firmware-iwlwifi

Installing Ubuntu Precise kernel for full hardwaresupport (optional)

If you want full hardware support (including touchpad multitouch and wifibutton) for this machine, but don't want to use a newer kernel, it isrecommended to install Ubuntu Precise dellXPS kernel from the Sputnikproject. You can do so with these commands (please run one by one andpay attention to the output).

su

apt-get install kernel-package git libncurses5-dev

cd /usr/src

git clone git://kernel.ubuntu.com/kamal/ubuntu-precise.git

cd ubuntu-precise

git checkout remotes/origin/dellxps

cp /boot/config-3.2.0-4-amd64 .config #please check correct config name before

KCFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -fweb -frename-registers" #optional, just to increase perf

ormance

make-kpkg --config menuconfig --initrd --jobs 4 --append-to-version .sputnik kernel_im

age modules

#in the config window shown, go to Device Drivers -> Input devices -> Mice and select

Elantech extensions

cd ..

dpkg -i *sputnik*.deb

reboot

Installing kernel 3.10 from wheezy-backports

Kernel 3.10 from wheezy-backports provides the same benefitscompiling kernel 3.9 does (see below), plus the brightness control issueseems to be fixed.

Enable wheezy-backports following the instructions at Backports if youhaven't done so already.

apt-get install -t wheezy-backports linux-image-amd64

That's it. You now have a recent kernel with full support for the touchpadand working brightness controls installed.

Note Hibernate was not tested yet, everything else seems to be workingperfectly.

Installing kernel 3.9 or higher (optional but HIGHLYrecommended)

Kernel 3.9 and higher has better graphics performance, full support forthe touchpad and hibernation works out of the box, but has theinconvenience that the brightness control buttons needs a workaround towork. (Note: you don't need Ubuntu Precise kernel if you use this one)Here is what you can do. First install the kernel (execute commands oneby one):

su

apt-get install kernel-package git libncurses5-dev

cd /usr/src

wget -c https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/linux-3.9.3.tar.xz #or use anothe

r more modern version

xz -d linux-3.9.3.tar.xz -c | tar x

cd linux-3.9.3

make-kpkg --config menuconfig --initrd --jobs 4 kernel_image modules

#in the config window shown, go to Device Drivers -> Input devices -> Mice and select

cypress touchpad

cd ..

dpkg -i *Custom*.deb

reboot

Now, being 'root', edit /etc/rc.local:

# file /etc/rc.local

# Insert this before "exit 0"

chmod a+r+w /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

exit 0

Now create file /etc/pm/sleep.d/99backlight and insert this:

case "$1" in

suspend|hibernate)

#do nothing

;;

resume|thaw)

echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

;;

*)

exit 1

;;

esac

exit 0

(Don't forget to make it executable with chmod +x/etc/pm/sleep.d/99backlight)

And disable the screen saver because each time the screen is off and on,controls stop working again. If you want brightness controls to startworking again, just try this in a console:

echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

Or generate your own scripts.

System Summary

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics C

ontroller (rev 09)

00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI

Host Controller (rev 04)

00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Famil

y MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)

00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enha

nced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Defin

ition Audio Controller (rev 04)

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express

Root Port 1 (rev c4)

00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enha

nced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation QS77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Control

ler [AHCI mode] (rev 04)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller

(rev 04)

01:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (rev 24)

lsusb

lsusb -v | grep -E '\<(Bus|iProduct|bDeviceClass|bDeviceProtocol)'2>/dev/null

Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0c45:644d Microdia

bDeviceClass 239 Miscellaneous Device

bDeviceProtocol 1 Interface Association

iProduct 1 Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_1.3M

(Bus Powered)

bDeviceClass 239 Miscellaneous Device

bDeviceProtocol 1 Interface Association

(Bus Powered)

Bus 004 Device 003: ID 8087:07da Intel Corp.

bDeviceClass 224 Wireless

bDeviceProtocol 1 Bluetooth

iProduct 0

USB Host controllers entries (without OHCI, UHCI, EHCI) are removed too.

ResourcesUseful Links

http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Dell_XPS_13_Ultrabookhttps://launchpad.net/~canonical-hwe-team/+archive/sputnik-

kernel

Credits