Dell has got to be one of the most frustrating companies that put out a linux laptop. They put out a laptop certified for ubuntu but then never support newer releases. A big part of their hardware is always proprietary drivers like webcam, fingerprint reader etc… Then you update to a new LTS release because lets be serious 20.04 at this point is going to sunset in a couple of years… However after you update the webcam stops working, or some other hardware stops working. Then you are constantly troubleshooting to get it working and every kernel update it breaks again. If you ever did ask support they will just tell you to go back to 20.04 image from dell. Not to mention all their OS tools are made for windows even the ones for making linux recovery images… like WTF! I am two years in on this laptop and I am just getting rid of it I cannot put up with this nonsense anymore from them.
Not sure why anyone would by linux certified laptops and expect to be treated with the same level of care as windows users.
Sorry you got ripped off, but hopefully this will be a lesson for the future.
One would expect that a Linux certified laptop would use Linux compatible hardware.
Yes, one would hope.
But that’s just not how the capitalist world works.
Do not buy dell… They are like apple without the whole “good products” part.
Suggest a better choice, please. Lenovo?
You are lucky. My laptop’s fingerprint scanner did not work out of the box. I also had troubles with audio (“subwoofer” was disabled) and WiFi (losing connection). This all was fixed in later Ubuntu updates, but I had to wipe out Dell’s spyware manually. So I’d say Dell with preinstalled Ubuntu is the same as any laptop with FreeDOS: you have to install the OS you need instead preinstalled one and troubleshoot all the driver issues. No guarantees that all hardware is Linux compatible.
I had a Dell back in the day (like 20’ish years ago) and I had the same experience on the Windows install it came with. Sad to hear that they just switched the issues over to Linux from Windows. :(
Exactly, never going to buy any Dell anymore… I’m so pissed with their XPS 13 issues.
Their XPS’ have gotten worse IMO. I have an XPS now running Linux Mint and it seems fine. Issue here or there.
I went to buy a new one but now they only come with 2 USB-C ports and that’s it! It’s not practical…
Dell are shit. It was a good day when the last Dell in the family was switched out for Macs.*
*I don’t like Macs either but I could plausibly refuse to support them on the basis that I didn’t know how they worked and the hardware is all locked down.
I have a gen 6 X1 carbon. Have Pop on it, and it’s a dream. Got it new, half price from lenovo, as it was a couple years old and they were shifting stock. Best laptop I’ve had, and an exceptional Linux experience.
If you’re in the EU, I can heartily recommend Tuxedo computers. Specifically targeted towards Linux use.
i’m seriously considering the Pulse 14, since it’s around 800 eur cheaper than FrameWork Ryzen options, any good reviews out there?
Edit: also the customization looks promising, it seems Tuxedo has its own github page with drivers so you can hack your own keyboard layout, now I really want one!
shutupandtakemymoney.jpg
Is it the XPS 13 (9370)? If so, apparently everything works fine in Arch, except the fingerprint sensor. So might be worth a shot giving it a try.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your issues are partly related to Ububtu. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend using it even if a device has official support for it.
Well, mine runs fine with a clean install of Ubuntu 23.10, I did not encounter any of the issues OP mentions. (note: my model doesn’t have a fingerprint sensor)
I ended up on a first gen dell developer xps and didn’t win the Intel nic lottery. Dell’s Ubuntu repo bricked my laptop a dozen times til I moved to arch, which actually had the decency to include the broadcom driver.
The hardware is alright, but the total lack of effort in maintaining has been from the jump.
The problem is, that there are not many notebook producer, that are
- Supporting Linux
- Have reasonable prices and hardware
- (Are not from an authoritarian country that has shady spying practices and uses slave labour)
There is Dell, Acer, Framwork and that’s it, I guess?
Dell is an American company? As is Framwork, (I think?).
The US is the most authoritarian state in the world with over 20% of the world’s prison population in its slave labour camps.
Bought a Yoga Pro 7 7840HS 32GB 1TB. Everything works fine in Linux. Battery does 8-10h on full charge, good build quality, no issues with any parts. Running EndeavourOS after had some minor issues with Manjaro, WiFi connecting 1 minute after booting and some weird disconnects after a while. No such thing in EndeavourOS. Running idle with minimum brightness, Bluetooth off, WiFi connected and keyboard backlight consumes minimum 3.6W. Got it less than $900 around 4 months ago.
(Are not from an authoritarian country that has shady spying practices and uses slave labour)
So you’re not buying Frameworks, Acers, Hewlett-Packards, or Lenovos then? The NSA codified ‘shady spying practices’ via domestic spying on their own people, and we’ve been using prison slaves since the drafting of the 14th Amendment.
Hmmm. I didn’t know Dell had a Linux laptop. I bought a vostro with windows pre-installed and flashed fedora on it, expecting to get no WiFi webcam but everything worked out. It’s interesting that their windows machines run Linux better than their flagship Linux machine.
I don’t think you’re right on this. When DELL is branding a laptop as “linux supported”, then the hardware normally works out of the box with at the very least, Ubuntu (and probably by most other distros too). If you’re seeing hardware incompatibilities, it’s probably because the Linux kernel itself might have dropped some of the older hardware drivers from its list of support. I’m writing this on a DELL Latitude 5480 from 2017, and I have installed the latest ubuntu without any hardware issue whatsoever. Everything’s just supported out of the box. No special image from DELL was ever required. So if you’re seeing your hardware stop working, you should look if DELL provided closed source drivers or firmware for your laptop’s hardware. If that’s the case, then you didn’t have a “linux supported” laptop, you had a laptop with specifically-added Linux support after the fact. I wouldn’t have bought that in the first place.
You have this view because your hardware is from an era where fingerprint reader largely weren’t a thing and webcams were connected via internal usb. The issue is not that the Linux kernel drops anything (between you and op, you’re the one with the old hardware). The issue is, that fingerprint readers became a commodity without ever gaining universal driver support, and shengians like Intel pushing its stupid IPU6 webcam stuff without paving the way upstream beforehand
In that case, the solution is to buy hardware that is linux-certified.
So not Dell, apparently. OP has a valid point. Dell claims to support Linux but in practice doesn’t.
Specifically the shitty IPU6 situation is on Intel, and is invariant to any laptop manufacturers. I also have a Thinkpad X1 with that issue. So for that the situation that one manufacturer would support it properly (i.e. upstream) and others don’t can’t exist, as soon as anybody puts it upstream it works for everybody. Thankfully there’s some progress (search for libcamera) and in the not too distant future it should work ootb. For fingerprint readers it is a different story though, as there are many different ones, so that one is on Dell indeed
Fuck Dell with the rust backend of a sword.
I experienced the same shit with their dumb hardware. Honestly, I don’t know why they are Ubuntu Certified. It feels more like a cash grab from Canonical for non-linux vendors to be able to target corporate customers who only buy “linux certified” stuff. Then they pay off a few mainstream tech bloggers or tech “newspapers” to write a raving review about it and non-corporate people purchase it thinking they’re getting good linux hardware.
@[email protected] gave a good recommendation: tuxedo computers. They do linux hardware well - albeit it’s pricey.
And of course Linux Preloaded is a great page to find other vendors.
Anti Commercial AI thingy
backend of a sword
You mean the hilt?
Hilt is unspecific. Any weapon can have a hilt.
Anti Commercial AI thingy
Just gonna leave this here for anyone who wants a laugh. It wasn’t a Linux based desktop, but it was hilarious. Buying a PC with Dell: my journey into hell
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Buying a PC with Dell: my journey into hell
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Better hardware manifacturers for Linux:
- Clevo (ODM, nearly exclusively from companies like below)
- Novacustom
- System76
- Kubuntu Focus
- Starlabs
- Tuxedo
- Framework
- Slimbook
- Lenovo Thinkpad
If you go with Starlabs, make sure what you’re ordering is IN STOCK.
I ordered the Lite V which I as estimated to deliver in October 2023. It’s now April 2024 and they are just receiving it on their end. It seems like they’ve learned their lesson but not letting people pre-order their newer things now. Reviews of previous products seem promising with them.
My friend has the Slimbook Executive. That thing is sex with a keyboard.
+1 for Lenovo Thinkpad
Would not recommend System76. I’ve had many issues with my machine (primarily software, related to their buggy custom firmware, and Pop!_OS, until I ditched that for stock Ubuntu). Their support has been terrible - rather similar to OP’s, actually. I’ve had the laptop for about 2.5 years, and I’m checking practically daily for something to replace it.
I’ve had a Gazelle 16 for 2 years now, and while I agree they are not the end-all for Linux laptop hardware, I’m pretty happy with it. I’ve distrohopped on it quite a bit since I got it, but I mostly run Fedora Gnome on it (running 39 currently), and so fat, everything just works. I’m thinking of buying from a different provider when it’s time to change (maybe 2 to 4 more years). Can’t speak to their support since mine has just worked since day one and I’ve had no need to reach out to them. PopOS is pretty good, but it is lacking when compared to Fedora. Let’s see what happens when 24.04 comes out with the rust-based Cosmic DE.
Considering that you are not using their software, was the laptop worth the premium you paid for it, vs buying from Clevo directly?
I figured the hardware and software coming from the same vendor would yield the best results, and wanted to support a company that supports right-to-repair, and Linux in general. But ultimately I found Pop!_OS buggy and had performance issues, so I’m not using their OS, and their firmware is causing issues with my SSD, so I’d like to be off of it as well (but was told "there’s no process for reverting to the proprietary firmware“ for the specific model I have). I could have bought a Clevo directly, saving hundreds of dollars, and probably had a better working machine.
- Clevo (ODM, nearly exclusively from companies like below)
