Dell XPS 13 (9350) Compatibility
Currently there are still some compatibility issues with the default Ubuntu installation.
Here is what you have to do to get a properly working Ubuntu system installation ...
Preparation
First of all - you won’t be able to connect to the internet out of the box from Ubuntu 15.10
because the WiFi card currently is not supported - for the installation you will need either :
- An USB Wifi or Ethernet adapter dongle
- an USB key containing the following kernel compiled by Cephyr (this kernel contains an additional patch for using this WiFi card).
Ubuntu will not detect your disk at once because the SATA-controller is set to RAID On.
Boot into BIOS (Press F12 at startup) and set the SATA-controller to Off or to AHCI.
Note : If you want to keep a dual boot with Windows, you have to follow this procedure.
Installation
Create a bootable USB/DVD Ubuntu 15.10 installation media.
Boot from it by selecting it in the BIOS menu.
Install Ubuntu as usual.
Fixing issues
WiFi
When the installation is done, open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and install the patched kernel :
#Only if you have a USB WiFi/Ethernet adapter
wget http://secretundergroundla.ir/?ddownload=15
tar jxf xps13_9350_kernel.tar.bz2
sudo chown root:root brcmfmac4350-pcie.bin BCM-0a5c-6412.hcd
sudo mv -t /lib/firmware/brcm/ BCM-0a5c-6412.hcd brcmfmac4350-pcie.bin
sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-4.3.0-wifitest-custom_4.3.0-wifitest-custom-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb linux-image-4.3.0-wifitest-custom_4.3.0-wifitest-custom-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb
Reboot and WiFi should work properly now.
Update the system :
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
Bluetooth
To make Bluetooth work properly you have to install the Broadcom firmware.
wget http://downloads.dell.com/FOLDER03272920M/1/9350_Network_Driver_XMJK7_WN32_12.0.1.720_A00.EXE
unzip 9350_Network_Driver_XMJK7_WN32_12.0.1.720_A00.EXE
cp Win64/BCM4350C5_003.006.007.0095.1703.hex ./
hex2hcd BCM4350C5_003.006.007.0095.1703.hex
mv BCM4350C5_003.006.007.0095.1703.hcd /lib/firmware/brcm/BCM-0a5c-6412.hcd
Reload the module and Bluetooth should work.
sudo modprobe -r btusb
sudo modprobe btusb
The Dell XPS 13 9350 is a good, but still quite new machine ... so please just give it some time,
everything will be fixed by Canonical and the community in the default Ubuntu installation ;-).
Sources :
Arch Linux Wiki,
XPS 13 (9350) WiFi with Ubuntu 15.10,
Install Ubuntu 15.10 on the Dell XPS 13 9343 (2015) : A complete guide.
The following works:
First we upgrade the linux kernel to 4.4.
Download http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.4-rc7-wily/linux-image-4.4.0-040400rc7-generic_4.4.0-040400rc7.201512272230_amd64.deb and then:
$ sudo dpkg -i linux-image-4.4.0-040400rc7-generic_4.4.0-040400rc7.201512272230_amd64.deb
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get upgrade
Next install some updated firmware tools:
$ sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
And then download and install the following firmware: http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux-firmware/linux-firmware_1.154_all.deb and
$ sudo dpkg -i linux-firmware_1.154_all.deb
Restart your machine, and you should have wifi!