This post is meant as both feedback, as well as information for new users who might have the same laptop. The Dell XPS 15 9560 is a rather popular laptop. Ubuntu and Arch (and possibly other Linux distributions) seem to run fine on it. Unfortunately, it does not work properly with MX 18, though. Here is a list of things I observed:
1. [FIX] There are a couple of things that need to be done before Linux can even be booted (this is not specific to MX):
- UEFI: Secure boot needs to be turned off
- UEFI: SATA Mode needs to be set from the default "RAID" to "AHCI"
- The Nouveau drivers will not work with this machine and one has to add the following boot parameters in grub:
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nouveau.modeset=0
The kernel panic can be fixed by adding the following boot parameters in grub (using MX Tools --> Maintenance --> Boot Options):
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acpi_osi=! acpi_osi='Windows 2009'
If you are interested in also using the Nvidia card for some applications with 'primusrun', then you will need to apply a hack to prevent another bug (https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugrepo ... bug=876033):
- In /etc/environment add
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__GLVND_DISALLOW_PATCHING=1
- In /etc/bumblebee/bumblebee.conf, change the library path to
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LibraryPath=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu:/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu
3. [FIX] Scrolling in Firefox results in graphic glitches.
The solution is to set "Use Intel driver [...]" in MX Tewak (MX Tools --> Setup --> Tweak --> Config Options)
4. [FIX] Sometimes (randomly, around 50% of the times), the system freezes when shutting down: viewtopic.php?f=104&t=47927
This seems to have been fixed with the acpi boot parameters from issue 2 above.
5. [FIX] The display brightness buttons might work.
This is also related to the acpi boot parameters. If you have used MX Tools --> Maintenance --> Boot Options for any other changes after the acpi_osi settings when fixing issue 2 above, then this tool will have removed the single quotes in acpi_osi='Windows 2009'". Either make sure you re-add them ever time you use the tool, or just edit the grub config file manually and update grub afterwards (like in the fix for the following issue 6).
6. [FIX] Waking up from hibernation does not work with encrypted swap: viewtopic.php?f=104&t=47905
The way MX decrypts the swap partition does not allow for suspending from the encrypted swap, because swap is encrypted too late to be seen as a resume device (see also https://gist.github.com/HacKanCuBa/b856 ... 75ee836857). This can be fixed by decrypting via initramfs rather than via crypttab:
- Adapt '/etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume' to read
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RESUME=/dev/mapper/swapfs
- In '/etc/crypttab' comment out the line that starts with "swapfs"
- Create the file '/etc/initramfs-tools/hooks/cp_passdev' with the following content:
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#!/bin/sh PREREQ="" prereqs() { echo "$PREREQ" } case $1 in prereqs) prereqs exit 0 ;; esac . /usr/share/initramfs-tools/hook-functions # Begin real processing below this line copy_exec /lib/cryptsetup/scripts/passdev /lib/cryptsetup/scripts/ >&2
- Make the file executable by running the following in a terminal:
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sudo chmod a+x /etc/initramfs-tools/hooks/cp_passdev
- Add the following boot parameters to ''GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT' in '/etc/defaults/grub':
Replace <ROOT-PARTITION> and <SWAP-PARTITION> with the correct partitions.
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resume=/dev/mapper/swapfs cryptopts=source=/dev/<ROOT-PARTITION>,target=rootfs cryptopts=source=/dev/<SWAP-PARTITION>,target=swapfs,keyscript=/lib/cryptsetup/scripts/passdev,key=/dev/mapper/rootfs:/root/keyfile
- Update grub and initramfs by running the following in a terminal:
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sudo update-grub && sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
If you are also interested in having the machine do Hybrid Sleep whenever you close the lid (like it behaves under Windows; i.e. it hibernates but then suspends, so in case you run out of battery while on suspend, the machine can resume from the hibernation when you have power again):
- Create the file '/etc/acpi/lid.sh' with the following content:
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#!/bin/sh grep -q close /proc/acpi/button/lid/*/state if [ $? = 0 ]; then pm-suspend-hybrid fi
- Make the script executable by running the following in a terminal:
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sudo chmod a+x /etc/acpi/lid.sh
- Create the file '/etc/acpi/events/lm_lid' with the following content:
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event=button/lid.* action=/etc/acpi/lid.sh
- Restart ACPI by running the following in a terminal:
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sudo /etc/init.d/acpid restart
7. [FIX] Inverting scroll direction of the touchpad does only invert the vertical direction: viewtopic.php?f=104&t=47930
This is apparently a bug in Xfce (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1409347)
The easiest fix is to setup inverted scrolling manually by running the following two commands in a terminal:
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synclient VertScrollDelta=-46
synclient HorizScrollDelta=-46
8. [WORKAROUND] When using several monitors, the monitor configuration is not remembered: viewtopic.php?f=104&t=47903
A simple workaround is to set up the monitor arrangement in a script (e.g. '~/bin/monitor_setup.sh'):
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#!/bin/sh
second_output="DP1-2"
if [ -n "`DISPLAY:0 xrandr | sed -n "/$second_output connected/p"`" ]; then
DISPLAY:0 xrandr --output $second_output --pos 0x0
DISPLAY:0 xrandr --output eDP1 --pos 1920x0
fi
The script can then be bound to a global shortcut (Settings-->Hardware-->Keyboard-->Application Shortcuts).
9. [WORKAROUND] Sometimes (randomly), the mouse cursor becomes huge, but only in some programmes: viewtopic.php?f=104&t=47907
This seems to be related to having a second monitor connected. Setting up monitor arrangement with a script seems to solve this. If not, manipulating the cursor size setting (Settings-->Hardware-->Mouse and Touchpad-->Theme) will fix it).
There are some other things that I consider not so problematic:
- I experienced two random system freezes (or at least my mouse and keyboard were not responding anymore). This hasn't happened in a while now, though.
- MX does something with the hardware clock, since the time changes in Windows if I boot into this after installing MX (not a big issue since Windows corrects for this after a couple of minutes automatically)