XPS 15 L502x
Introduction
This page should give some information you need about running Ubuntu on a Dell XPS 15 L502x laptop (the ones with sandy bridge cpu's).
For the L521X, see this page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupport/Machines/Laptops/Dell/XPS/L521X
Installation gotcha's
- USB installation: booting from the USB3 slots won't work. Use the e-SATA slot instead!
Hardware Support Matrix
HARDWARE |
UBUNTU RELEASE |
STATUS |
Keyboard |
Natty (11.04) |
Works |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works Except Fn+F1 |
Screen |
Natty (11.04) |
Works |
- |
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works |
Wireless ethernet |
Natty (11.04) |
Works |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works |
Trackpad |
Natty (11.04) |
Works |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works |
Wired ethernet |
Natty (11.04) |
Works |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works |
Sound |
Natty (11.04) |
Works |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works |
Optimus |
Natty (11.04) |
Works with manual changes |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works with Bumblebee 3.0 |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works with Bumblebee 3.0 |
9-in-1 card reader |
Natty (11.04) & Oneiric (11.10) |
Works with manual changes |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Not tested yet |
Webcam |
Natty (11.04) |
Works |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works |
Ntrig Multitouch screen |
Natty (11.04) |
Works with manual changes |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Not tested yet |
HDMI |
Natty (11.04) |
? |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Does not Work |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Does not Work |
Sound Device |
Natty (11.04) |
Works |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works with a minor bug |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works with a minor bug |
Mini DisplayPort |
Natty (11.04) |
? |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works (2560X1600 mDP) |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works (1920X1080 mDP) |
USB 3 |
Natty (11.04) |
? |
|
Oneiric (11.10) |
Works |
|
Precise (12.04) |
Works |
Hardware
Optimus / Graphics cards
Switch off NVIDIA card
# echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
Switch on NVIDIA card
# echo ON > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
Using the following command before and after the switch, you should see a drop/rise in mW being used:
# grep rate /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state
You can also completely disable the NVIDIA card and only use the Intel onboard graphics card ( which has more than enough performance for day-to-day work:
# echo "blacklist nouveau" > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nvidia.conf |
# update-initramfs -c -k all |
# reboot |
If you prefer there is the bumblebee project that is currently supporting the optimus devices, especially the xps 15.
Here you can find Bumblebee:
https://launchpad.net/~mj-casalogic/+archive/bumblebee/ or even better: https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee
Bumblebee allows to run applications with nvidia card:
optirun application |
If you want to tweak nvidia propietary driver run
optirun nvidia-settings -c :8 (Bumblebee default screen is 8) |
9-in-1 card reader
In 11.10, to enable insert the card and run:
# echo 1 > /sys/bus/pci/rescan |
keep informed about this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/703180
Trackpad
Full multi-gesture (2 points) trackpad usage work at this moment.
Top right keys
The special touch keys are strangely mapped by default. One changes brightness, one does next track. They seem to be linked to the same key sequences as the Fn+F# keys that do the same job. To fix this, create the keymap file as /lib/udev/keymaps/dell-xps-l502x:
0x85 prog1 # Second touch key 0x84 media # Third touch key
you can test it works with:
/usr/lib/udev/keymap input/event4 /lib/udev/keymaps/dell-xps-l502x
Note that "input/event4" comes from executing:
sudo /lib/udev/findkeyboards
To add this rule permanently add in /etc/udev/rules.d/99-l502x-keys.rules :
# Keymap Dell Touch keys SUBSYSTEM=="input", KERNEL=="event4", RUN+="keymap $name dell-xps-l502x"
External Links
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HybridGraphics
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_15
Trackpad
http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/1108661
Information on Bumblebee (for graphics card Optimus support)
https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee
IronHide Optimus Support Project
https://github.com/MrMEEE/ironhide
Dell XPS 15 L502X running Ubuntu Blogs
http://hanynowsky.wordpress.com/2012/04/07/dell-xps-15-l502x-ubuntu-linux/
HardwareSupport/Machines/Laptops/Dell/XPS 15 L502x (last edited 2019-09-25 11:59:51 by chihchun)