Fedora 10 on Dell Studio XPS 13

[aniketv]

Hi all ,

I just got a brand new Dell Studio XPS 13 laptop.

All the hardware works great on the laptop here are the lspci and lsusb outputs


lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge [10de:0a82] (rev b1)
00:00.1 RAM memory [0500]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller [10de:0a88] (rev b1)
00:03.0 ISA bridge [0601]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 LPC Bridge [10de:0aae] (rev b2)
00:03.1 RAM memory [0500]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller [10de:0aa4] (rev b1)
00:03.2 SMBus [0c05]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SMBus [10de:0aa2] (rev b1)
00:03.3 RAM memory [0500]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller [10de:0a89] (rev b1)
00:03.5 Co-processor [0b40]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Co-processor [10de:0aa3] (rev b1)
00:04.0 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller [10de:0aa5] (rev b1)
00:04.1 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller [10de:0aa6] (rev b1)
00:06.0 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller [10de:0aa7] (rev b1)
00:06.1 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller [10de:0aa9] (rev b1)
00:08.0 Audio device [0403]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio [10de:0ac0] (rev b1)
00:09.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Bridge [10de:0aab] (rev b1)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Ethernet [10de:0ab0] (rev b1)
00:0b.0 SATA controller [0106]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 AHCI Controller [10de:0ab9] (rev b1)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac4] (rev b1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0aa0] (rev b1)
00:15.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac6] (rev b1)
00:16.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac7] (rev b1)
00:17.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac7] (rev b1)
00:18.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge [10de:0ac7] (rev b1)
01:07.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller [1180:0832] (rev 05)
01:07.1 SD Host controller [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter [1180:0822] (rev 22)
01:07.2 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller [1180:0843] (rev 12)
01:07.3 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter [1180:0592] (rev 12)
01:07.4 System peripheral [0880]: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller [1180:0852] (rev ff)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation GeForce 9400M G [10de:0866] (rev b1)
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002a] (rev 01)

lsusb:
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0c45:63fc Microdia
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub




Now I have 3 issues with this laptop hardware
1]The laptop suspends and resumes fine, but I get no sound after resume.

2]While the sound works on a clean boot, the laptop speakers dont shut off when I plug in the headphones in the front jacks.

3]The laptop has an InfraRed port (ite8708 as it shows in vista) but I have no clue how to enable/use it in fedora for LIRC to control mplayer. I have a universal remote at home, and I play movies from my laptop to the TV.

Other than this , this laptop works very good with linux till now.

EDIT:
For problem no.2 after the latest kernel updates, the laptop speakers do shut down after I plug in the headphones, but I dont get any sound from the headphones!

[aniketv]

Updates:
Sound issue fixed almost by installing alsa-driver-1.0.19 from source. Now I get a control called "Speaker" in the Mixes which I can mute , and get sound only from headphones. While this is good, still the driver needs to improve to make it automute the speakers on headphone plugin.

Also after installing this driver, I get sound allrite after suspend and resume.

SO the only issue left is now how to use the IR port. !

[maverick280857]

Hi, I am strongly considering purchasing this laptop because this is one of the few models which gives me a really good combination of DDR3 memory, FSB and most importantly the nVidia GeForce. Your post suggests that your experiences with FC10 have been good. Is that true?

Please post a more detailed account of your experiences.

Also, how is the laptop? Does it overheat, as the reviews suggest? Did you get it in India?

[aniketv]

Hi ,

I got the laptop in US. As I said all hardware works in this one including the wifi,webcam, multimedia keys, suspend/hibernate etc.

The heat issue is not as bad as its said. The laptop stays cool when doing surfing/chatting, but when under heavier load, it does get pretty hot and you cant use it on your lap.

So as far as Linux compatibility goes, I would say this one gets 9 on 10. The heat issue did not affect me as I dont load the laptop heavy very often and when I do, I keep it on a desk.

[maverick280857]

Thanks Aniket, I am just concerned about the failure rate increasing due to overheating. Oh and since you've been able to run FC10 successfully, perhaps you could put up a howto or some webpage detailing your experiences. I understand you're one of the few people who have run FC10 successfully. Good work!

PS--I may buzz you with more questions.

[maverick280857]

Does the Hybrid SLI work in Linux?

[aniketv]

My lappy doesnt have the hybrid SLI, I just have the integrated 9400m which works well. And from what I have read on the Nvidia forums, the linux driver from nvidia doesnt support SLI on laptops yet.

[aniketv]

OK some good news.

I compiled latest alsa-driver from GIT and now the speaker does shut off now when I plugin earphones :D . Also in the volume control I get separate controls for the speakers, headphone1 and headphone2 to control volume of the speakers and each headphone jack independently , apart from the master volume level.
This latest feature addition by alsa-driver increases usability of the dual headphone jack considerably.

So now only IR problem remains. . .anyone for that!?!

[smthmlk]

I have the same laptop and fc10. Arrived at the same solution for the same audio issue (using my own 2.6.29 kernel).

However, the kernel doesn't seem to see the sd card/memory stick card reader at all. That is my only issue, currently. I believe this is probably due to my forgetting to include a kernel module like sdhci. I'll update my post when I come to resolution.

This is a fantastic laptop for linux use; highly recommended.

[aniketv]

Hmm...
The latest kernel from Fedora sees my card reader, so you may be right, the sdhci module may be missing.