Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

TWX · 2017-07-24 22:48:27

Ladies and Gents,

I'm strongly leaning toward a new laptop as Costco has a deal on a fully-loaded Dell XPS 13 9360. This model could also be ordered directly from Dell as the "Developer Edition" with Ubuntu 16.04LTS. I've found directions for putting Debian 9 "stretch", which specifically state that Debian 8 jessie won't work on this computer. I assume that Devuan 1 jessie will have similar issues to the Debian release it's forked from.

Has anyone played with Devuan ascii or ceres on this model? I've started using Devuan jessie on a few older computers but not on anything with new chipsets like this.

Thanks.

fsmithred · 2017-07-25 00:53:20

In general, I would say that ascii is not ready, but it is possible to use it. If the instructions you saw are these - https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebia … PS_13_9360 - I have some comments.

They don't say why you need stretch. My best guess is that you need the newer kernel. One way around that would be to use the backports kernel in jessie. You can get wireless firmware from backports, too. I don't suppose costco would let you boot a live-usb on their floor model, but if they did, you could try a devuan live-iso I made with backports kernel and wireless firmware - http://distro.ibiblio.org/refracta/files/experimental/ (note: it's not an official release, but it was made and signed by the guy who did make the official desktop-live isos.)

The major deal-breaker I see is the recommendation to install gnome desktop environment. Gnome depends heavily on systemd, and parts of it are uninstallable in devuan. If you knew which parts of it were really needed for this laptop, you might be able to install just those parts. If you're counting on using devuan on this laptop, it might be a risky purchase.

TWX · 2017-07-25 01:25:03

Well, as dissatisfied as I am with Debian's adoption of systemd, I'm admittedly not especially dogmatic, and it looks like there are means to strip-out and revert to SysV init on mainline Debian if I have to install-and-then-remove. I'd like to use Devuan first, or at least to give it a try. What I wasn't sure of is how much of Debian stretch's development has been looked-into for use for Devuan ascii (ie the Ubuntu model if I understand it accurately), or if ascii is basically substantially based only on Devuan jessie.

We'll see. If Devuan isn't ready for this hardware yet then I may stick with Debian or Ubuntu, we'll see. Figured I'd give it a try first.

That was the Debian document that I found and was going to see if I could adapt-to for Devuan purposes.

And this:

http://without-systemd.org/wiki/index.p … an_Stretch

was the document I found on removing, or at least paring-back on systemd, in case I can't get Devuan to work at this time and have to go with straight Debian.

Last edited by TWX (2017-07-25 01:29:58)

fsmithred · 2017-07-25 01:55:12

If you do get the laptop, I hope you'll try the live iso with the backports kernel. I'm curious to know if it works, and you might help the next guy thinking of getting one of these laptops.

ascii is based on stretch. We don't do it the way ubuntu does. They copy the whole unstable repo and then start changing things to suit themselves. Devuan tracks releases more closely. Jessie has all the same software versions as Jessie (except where systemd dependencies have been removed) and ascii will have the same versions as stretch. Devuan doesn't keep most of the debian packages in the devuan repo. They get pulled from debian. When you install a package, amprolla decides which packages to pull from debian and which to replace with the devuanized versions, so you don't have to use debian sources yourself and accidentally install something that will want systemd.

Right now, the way to install ascii is to install jessie and upgrade. Two excptions I know of are:
1. Heads, which focuses on privacy and security, somilar to Tails - https://heads.dyne.org/
2. Refracta pre-alpha ascii, i386, No-X (cli only). https://sourceforge.net/projects/refrac … s/testing/

There may be more choices in a few weeks. If you install debian or ubuntu before that, maybe save a little hard drive space for testing.

TWX · 2017-07-25 03:25:59

Thanks. Will consider partitioning for some experimenting. When I was younger I was very inclined to play (installing Redhat 5.1 with the "redneck" language choice comes to mind) but in the last decade I've been less inclined to experiment and more inclined for the computer to simply work properly.

I expect to be picking up the computer tomorrow if time permits. I might initially start-out by actually prepping the factory Windows load, creating recovery media, and doing BIOS and other firmware updates as per the first part of this guide:

http://ewen.mcneill.gen.nz/blog/entry/2 … dual-boot/

but if I intend to have Windows available it'll probably be on a virtual-machine rather than booting into Windows natively.

It's kind of funny, I'd been almost ready to jump-ship to Apple until their newest Macbook Pro models force you to choose to either have enough ports to be useful or else to have a physical escape key. Thanks Apple, thanks a lot.

darry1966 · 2017-07-25 05:38:05

I have set up a laptop with Refracta pre-alpa ascii. Seems very stable.

Using it on a Thinkpad T42 - installed NON-pae kernel and also install xserver-xorg-legacy as the mouse froze.

Last edited by darry1966 (2017-07-25 05:41:54)

TWX · 2017-07-25 05:48:18

Suppose I should that over the years I did run Debian unstable, and then when they started doing a testing version, ran that instead of sid, occasionally choosing to stay on testing as it became stable, sometimes jumping to the next testing as the existing testing version became the latest stable. Not too concerned if I end up on a testing or even unstable release.

golinux · 2017-07-25 06:03:38

Keep in mind that ASCII is the equivalent of Debian Stretch. And atm there is no 'testing' option available on Devuan (except for sid). Eventually Beowulf will track Buster but it is not set up at this time.

TWX · 2017-07-28 03:31:11

Well after a delay I finally got the computer about three hours ago. Going to start. Now the fun part, clearing all of the USB flash I can find. Among my assets is a Mac with a DVD burner, and I have an external USB DVD drive to use on the 9360 if I need it. Might end up putting that into service, we'll see if it works better dealing with the .iso files that way or not. It's been a very long time and last Linux install was a lite-install from optical with a net install.

Wish me luck.

golinux · 2017-07-28 03:48:20

Hope all goes well!

TWX · 2017-07-28 06:25:05

It goes sloooooowly.

Decided not to permanently burn bridges. This means following the initial stages of this guy's experiences:

http://ewen.mcneill.gen.nz/blog/entry/2 … dual-boot/

at least as far as basically creating restore media for Windows 10. I'm still in that process as all of the updates (including BIOS updates that apparently are needed and are most easily delivered via Dell's Windows software) are taking a long time. It doesn't help that Microsoft has increasingly split their UI controls between the old control panel and the new Metro stuff; I've administered my share of Windows over the years but it's becoming increasingly fragmented as they don't wholly jump-ship for the new but remove some features from the old to the new.

To get back on-topic I'm downloading fsmithred's devuan_jessie_amd64_bpo_desktop-live-20170522_1240.iso to give that a shot to see how the hardware support is. My hope is that basically everything just works. We'll see.

TWX · 2017-07-28 06:40:17

for some reason the ibiblio download likes to fail. I've had to resume it in the browser on the Mac I'm using for the job a couple of times now. Will have to see if it's valid on download or if I need to try another way.

fsmithred · 2017-07-28 11:28:32

I don't know if wget is installed or available on a mac, but if it is...

wget -c http://distro.ibiblio.org/refracta/files/experimental/devuan_jessie_amd64_bpo_desktop-live-20170522_1240.iso

If the download fails at some point, run the command again and the -c option will make the download continue from where it left off.

TWX · 2017-07-28 14:14:58

Well, once I got fsmithred's devuan_jessie_amd64_bpo_desktop-live-20170522_1240.iso onto a USB flash and tried to boot it, it ended up with a problem where it couldn't mount /dev/sda1 as the live filesystem and dropped me to an initramfs prompt. Despite this there were entries for /dev/sda and /dev/sda1, and no other sd* in /dev. No obvious bootloader commands to fix either. Tried both legacy and UEFI.

It's 1:40am, going to stop for tonight and pick back up again tomorrow.

EDIT: heh. Browser was sitting with an error message this morning from when I attempted to post the above last night. Guess my internet connection is flaky on top of everything else.

The Mac has wget, but I had remoted into another computer with a reliable connection and downloaded the file there, and did md5 checks on both the mac and that remote computer and the sums matched, so what I got is what was on the server.

Sleeping on the problem I'm not sure why the internal SSD wasn't /dev/sda. I've configured the BIOS to set it to AHCI and secureboot should be off. Will have to go in and check now that I've had some sleep.

Last edited by TWX (2017-07-28 14:20:31)

fsmithred · 2017-07-28 17:38:31

I just had a look at the initrd in that iso, and it does not contain what I expected. Only thing in there is kernel/x86/microcode/GenuineIntel.bin. I don't kinow what that means. I'll can look into that when I get home in a few days.

How did you image the usb stick? I tested it here today. dd iso to usb, boot on uefi hardware. It works. Intel cpu here.

Edit2: this is not bpo kernel. This one is ascii.
Edit: you may have better luck with this one. It has a normal initrd. You just won't get a desktop until you add one after the install.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/refrac … o/download

TWX · 2017-07-29 04:52:30

I had no good fortune with USB flash boot with either Devuan or with Debian. Devuan would fail to find the filesystem and Debian would behave unpredictably, even freezing.

I had taken the one you recommended and burned to DVD and tried with an external USB DVD, no dice. Did the same for a Debian install and still had issues, it supposedly had the nonfree repository for the various wifi and network stuff but wouldn't work right, ended up having to copy that stuff to a USB flash drive and then insert that when it prompted for that sort of thing.

This is the first UEFI computer I've worked with. Can't say I care for what they've come up with.

For now I decided to basically do this:

http://ewen.mcneill.gen.nz/blog/entry/2 … dual-boot/

I shrunk the Windows partition down to 100GB, then created boot, swap, and a root partition for Debian Stretch, and for the moment left the better part of 100GB unallocated so that later I can revisit Devuan when ascii is further along.

I did not have to install gnome in order to get wifi working, and I followed some other instructions for pruning-back on systemd with replacing it with sysvinit. So far everything seems to be doing well, video came in at the ultra-high 3200x1800 resolution. Touchscreen sort of works, I'd have done some things differently out of the box, will see if they can be tweaked. Once the kernel module was loaded at-install I've had no trouble with wireless. Sound works, even got Bluetooth going for the mouse (never tried that in Linux before, mouse was being used on a Chromebook with crouton, with ChromeOS handling it).

I'll continue to keep-up on the developments with Devuan though, I'd like to make a go of it again.

Is there anything that would be handy for me to dig into and post here about the hardware that might be useful to someone working on the project?

fsmithred · 2017-07-30 15:38:19

Yes, please post the output of 'lspci'.

I removed the intel-microcode package, upgraded to a newer backports kernel and did a general upgrade, then made a new iso. This one has a normal initrd. If you get a chance, please try it and see if it boots. Thanks.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/refracta/file … 0_1501.iso

Edit: Almost forgot this...

I've been playing with uefi for a year with one laptop, and I've read a few reports of people using uefi and/or using the refracta tools on uefi. If the uefi works according to specifications, it's just weird. And since uefi implementations rarely or never follow specs, it's worse than weird. I'll refrain from swearing; otherwise what would come out would burn the eyes of anyone who read it.

TWX · 2017-07-30 16:54:34

Various lspci outputs:

Straight lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 5904 (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 5926 (rev 06)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Skylake Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 03)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 21)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d10 (rev f1)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1)
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d4e (rev 21)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 9d71 (rev 21)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
3a:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 32)
3b:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
3c:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Lite-On Technology Corporation Device 2200 (rev 01)

lspci -vvv:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 5904 (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 075b
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Capabilities: <access denied>

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 5926 (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Dell Device 075b
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 285
	Region 0: Memory at db000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Region 2: Memory at 90000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Region 4: I/O ports at f000 [size=64]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915

00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Skylake Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Dell Skylake Processor Thermal Subsystem
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
	Region 0: Memory at dc420000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: proc_thermal
	Kernel modules: processor_thermal_device

00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21) (prog-if 30 [XHCI])
	Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 279
	Region 0: Memory at dc410000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: xhci_pci

00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 18
	Region 0: Memory at dc434000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal
	Kernel modules: intel_pch_thermal

00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
	Region 0: Memory at dc433000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
	Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci

00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 17
	Region 0: Memory at dc432000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
	Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci

00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 280
	Region 0: Memory at dc431000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: mei_me
	Kernel modules: mei_me

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d10 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 274
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=39, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
	Memory behind bridge: c4000000-da0fffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000a0000000-00000000c1ffffff
	Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR-
	BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
		PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 275
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=3a, subordinate=3a, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 0000f000-00000fff
	Memory behind bridge: dc000000-dc1fffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fff00000-00000000000fffff
	Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR-
	BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
		PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin B routed to IRQ 276
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=3b, subordinate=3b, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 0000f000-00000fff
	Memory behind bridge: dc300000-dc3fffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fff00000-00000000000fffff
	Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR-
	BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
		PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 277
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=3c, subordinate=3c, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 0000f000-00000fff
	Memory behind bridge: dc200000-dc2fffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fff00000-00000000000fffff
	Secondary status: 66MHz- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ <SERR- <PERR-
	BridgeCtl: Parity- SERR- NoISA- VGA- MAbort- >Reset- FastB2B-
		PriDiscTmr- SecDiscTmr- DiscTmrStat- DiscTmrSERREn-
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d4e (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 075b
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0

00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-LP PMC
	Control: I/O- Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Region 0: Memory at dc42c000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=16K]

00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 9d71 (rev 21) (prog-if 80)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 075b
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 32
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 282
	Region 0: Memory at dc428000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Region 4: Memory at dc400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
	Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_skl

00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Sunrise Point-LP SMBus
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
	Region 0: Memory at dc430000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Region 4: I/O ports at f040 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
	Kernel modules: i2c_i801

3a:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 32)
	Subsystem: Bigfoot Networks, Inc. QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 286
	Region 0: Memory at dc000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ath10k_pci
	Kernel modules: ath10k_pci

3b:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Dell RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 278
	Region 1: Memory at dc300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: rtsx_pci
	Kernel modules: rtsx_pci

3c:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Lite-On Technology Corporation Device 2200 (rev 01) (prog-if 02 [NVM Express])
	Subsystem: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Device 1093
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 16
	NUMA node: 0
	Region 0: Memory at dc200000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: nvme
	Kernel modules: nvme

lspci -x:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 5904 (rev 03)
00: 86 80 04 59 06 00 90 00 03 00 00 06 00 00 00 00
10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 e0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 5926 (rev 06)
00: 86 80 26 59 07 04 10 00 06 00 00 03 00 00 00 00
10: 04 00 00 db 00 00 00 00 0c 00 00 90 00 00 00 00
20: 01 f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Skylake Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 03)
00: 86 80 03 19 02 00 90 00 03 00 80 11 00 00 00 00
10: 04 00 42 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 90 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21)
00: 86 80 2f 9d 06 04 90 02 21 30 03 0c 00 00 80 00
10: 04 00 41 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 70 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
00: 86 80 31 9d 02 00 10 00 21 00 80 11 00 00 00 00
10: 04 40 43 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 03 00 00

00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
00: 86 80 60 9d 06 00 10 00 21 00 80 11 00 00 80 00
10: 04 30 43 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 21)
00: 86 80 61 9d 06 00 10 00 21 00 80 11 00 00 80 00
10: 04 20 43 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0a 02 00 00

00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
00: 86 80 3a 9d 06 04 10 00 21 00 80 07 00 00 80 00
10: 04 10 43 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d10 (rev f1)
00: 86 80 10 9d 07 04 10 00 f1 00 04 06 00 00 81 00
10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 39 00 20 20 00 20
20: 00 c4 00 da 01 a0 f1 c1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
30: 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 10 00

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
00: 86 80 14 9d 07 04 10 00 f1 00 04 06 00 00 81 00
10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3a 3a 00 f0 00 00 20
20: 00 dc 10 dc f1 ff 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
30: 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 10 00

00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1)
00: 86 80 15 9d 07 04 10 00 f1 00 04 06 00 00 81 00
10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3b 3b 00 f0 00 00 20
20: 30 dc 30 dc f1 ff 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
30: 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0a 02 10 00

00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1)
00: 86 80 18 9d 07 04 10 00 f1 00 04 06 00 00 81 00
10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 3c 3c 00 f0 00 00 20
20: 20 dc 20 dc f1 ff 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
30: 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 10 00

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d4e (rev 21)
00: 86 80 4e 9d 07 00 00 02 21 00 01 06 00 00 80 00
10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
00: 86 80 21 9d 00 00 00 00 21 00 80 05 00 00 80 00
10: 00 c0 42 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 9d71 (rev 21)
00: 86 80 71 9d 06 04 10 00 21 80 03 04 00 20 00 00
10: 04 80 42 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 04 00 40 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 50 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
00: 86 80 23 9d 03 00 80 02 21 00 05 0c 00 00 00 00
10: 04 00 43 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 41 f0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

3a:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 32)
00: 8c 16 3e 00 06 04 10 00 32 00 80 02 00 00 00 00
10: 04 00 00 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 56 1a 35 15
30: 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

3b:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
00: ec 10 5a 52 06 04 10 00 01 00 00 ff 00 00 00 00
10: 00 00 00 00 00 00 30 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 10 5b 07
30: 00 00 00 00 80 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0a 01 00 00

3c:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Lite-On Technology Corporation Device 2200 (rev 01)
00: a4 14 00 22 06 04 10 00 01 02 08 01 00 00 00 00
10: 04 00 20 dc 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
20: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 4b 1b 93 10
30: 00 00 00 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0b 01 00 00

I'll give your efforts a check once I have a chance. The other day when it was fighting me I had a separate battle against my ISP, which decided to down my neighborhood for about four hours in the middle of the day. I'll try to be a little more thorough on what does and doesn't work this time around.

TWX · 2023-07-14 01:06:16

So, as I was saying... *laugh*

I did actually look to see if there were other threads on this model since my last post, but it doesn't look like it's been all that popular. might as well resurrect this one so if someone else later ever goes looking they can find it.

My laptop I asked about all those years ago is on its last legs, but I found an excellent-condition late-production example from the same series after Dell switched production from the 7th-gen dual-core i7-7560u to the 8th-gen quad-core i7-8550u on the 9360. Back when I installed this old one I ended up on just straight Debian as the state of wifi was not up to snuff on Devuan at the time, and even then I ended up swapping in a different wifi adapter (Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265) since the Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 "Killer" wifi gave me problems. So with this new-to-me laptop I could swap the Qualcomm out for the Intel if I need it.

My current plan is to install Chimaera on a new bare drive and then switch my sources to Daedalus and dist-upgrade to it. I plan to browse the forums a bit more before I kick this off but is there anything that you feel that I need to know or any pitfalls to look into further?

TWX · 2023-07-16 13:52:48

Once my 4TB M.2 storage arrived I went ahead and installed. Unlike my original plan I found that since Devuan Daedalus is at release-candidate stage I just installed it directly yesterday.

Only two hiccups that I would attribute to the install and initial config of the platform from the install... First during install, it prompted for firmware nonfree for the Atheros 10k for wifi even though notes elsewhere indicate that this is included with the installation media. Once I just skipped where it prompted for additional media it properly loaded the kernel module and I was able to proceed. Second, I could not and could not and could not get the @^)$ mouse to connect to bluetooth. I even tried a different mouse of the same model that I use for my work-issue laptop that I knew was good, same problem. Finally I found a setting in blueman-applet 2.3.5 where it only was letting devices with names through, rather than devices whose names could not be determined during the scan. Apparently the Logitech M535, at least of this vintage, doesn't advertise by name in a way that blueman likes.

Otherwise so far so good. Went with Cinnamon instead of Xfce like I was running on the old one, something auto-determined screen DPI and set the scaling to a reasonable amount for 3200x1800 on a 13.3" display for me and it seems like most programs are respecting this. Lock screen behavior, which was a problem on the old Debian Jessie install on the old laptop, is working just fine on this thing and general power and screen dimming settings seem a lot more reasonable. Still need to pull files off of the old laptop but that'll be for sometime later today probably.

It also doesn't seem to be getting nearly as hot as the old laptop did. No idea if that was just because back then it was a new laptop and the specific tricks Dell used on their own Linux install hadn't made it out to the general distros yet, or if it would've run as badly even with Dell's, or if there's possibly even something wrong with old laptop, but so far much happier with this replacement.

TWX · 2023-07-16 16:22:09

Well, something of an update, when the computer comes back from screen lock or hibernate the bluetooth mouse is recognized but blueman just logs connects and disconnects. I've tried pairing and trusting, no dice. I doubt that this is a function of the laptop for what it's worth.

So I threw the old M.2 SSD from the original laptop into one of those external USB adapters. The adapter is an enclosure that came with a stick-on heat-transfer pad and metal plate for a heatsink. I just left the case cover off of the adapter for now, so that I didn't do something that would be difficult to reverse. This old 512GB SSD gets HOT, I can see why they included the pad and plate. I'm wondering if this actually contributed to the problems the original computer had that led to battery swell etc. I may look at what I can do to manage heat better with this replacement, maybe adding something to help transfer heat from the internal 4TB unit to the metal bottom of the computer.

The officially official Devuan Forum!

#1 2017-07-24 22:48:27

Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#2 2017-07-25 00:53:20

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#3 2017-07-25 01:25:03

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#4 2017-07-25 01:55:12

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#5 2017-07-25 03:25:59

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#6 2017-07-25 05:38:05

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#7 2017-07-25 05:48:18

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#8 2017-07-25 06:03:38

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#9 2017-07-28 03:31:11

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#10 2017-07-28 03:48:20

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#11 2017-07-28 06:25:05

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#12 2017-07-28 06:40:17

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#13 2017-07-28 11:28:32

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#14 2017-07-28 14:14:58

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#15 2017-07-28 17:38:31

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#16 2017-07-29 04:52:30

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#17 2017-07-30 15:38:19

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#18 2017-07-30 16:54:34

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#19 2023-07-14 01:06:16

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#20 2023-07-16 13:52:48

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

#21 2023-07-16 16:22:09

Re: Dell XPS 13 9360 ("Developer Edition") and ascii or ceres vs Debian 9

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