Dell XPS 15 9560

Macbook Pro performance for half the cost.

History
This device was apparently released in late 2016. I bought it before Christmas 2017. At the time, the cost was about USD$1900 in Australia, versus USD$3500+ for an equivalently specified Macbook Pro with useless features like "touch bar".

When my second overpriced Macbook Pro in a row developed annoying hardware problems that required spending stupid money to resolve, I determined that I should switch away from OSX and return to the Linux desktop fold, as well as to reward Dell as the XPS series is widely considered to be quite Linux friendly.

Accessories
Some models have touch screens. Some models are 2-in-1 (break apart). I tested on a conventional (non break apart) model with touch screen, however the touch screen has not been tested.

Goals
A philosophical question would be: "Why buy new hardware if we aren't going to use the latest and greatest in software features?" Therefore, we are going to push the boundaries of the possible by setting up a ZFS root partition, because from past experience this will save time later.

Booting Linux for the first time

 * First, create a bootable USB with a ZFS enabled. The easiest way to do this is as follows.
 * Install UNetbootin (from its homepage)
 * Plug in any USB mass storage device (aka. "usb key") with a decent size (16GB+) that you don't mind wiping (all data current stored on the device will be lost!)
 * Start UNetbootin
 * Select the latest Ubuntu Live DVD image Unetbootin-ubuntu-livedvd-download.png
 * Let UNetbootin download and install it on to the USB mass storage device
 * Now you have a bootable Linux mass storage device with ZFS support
 * Enter BIOS. Turn on the Dell XPS 15 9560 laptop and press F2 repeatedly.
 * Disable secure boot
 * Enable legacy boot
 * Switch the NVMe internal flash unit to AHCI mode
 * Plug in your bootable Linux mass storage device with ZFS support
 * Save changes and exit
 * The system should now boot to the Ubuntu live DVD boot menu.
 * Press the arrows to select the 'Try ubuntu' option
 * Press tab in order to edit the options
 * Before the final add two more options, options.nouveau.modeset=0 nomodeset . This prevents crashing when starting the GUI.
 * Press enter to boot.
 * Open a terminal.
 * Become root via

Remove Windows 10
First of all we want to wipe all the pre-installed Windows 10 junk and recovery partitions.


 * The internal SSD drive will appear as, and it contains needless Windows 10 recovery partitions.
 * Using a partition management tool such as or  delete all of the current partitions. For example, using  we would run  then delete all partitions, write the new partition table and exit. The disk should only show "free space" when we are done.

Connect to the internet
Now we want to connect to the internet.
 * Click the down arrow in the top right, and choose 'Select Network' beneath 'Wi-Fi Not Connected'.
 * Enter your local wireless network information.
 * Verify that the wireless network connected by clicking the down arrow in the top right again. If connected, it should now show the network name.

Install ZFS
Now we want to tell the Ubuntu Live DVD to get ZFS support and the utility.

We now tell it to fetch updated package information from the internet.

This will take some time to download updates.

Finally, we install the ZFS support.

Create ZFS root dataset
This is where the root filesystem will live.

Create additional ZFS datasets
Optional.

Make the root filesystem bootable
To do this, we set the ZFS pool's property as follows.

Populate the root filesystem
First install links.

Now go grab the latest stage3 tarball.

Now go grab a recent portage snapshot.

Now you can follow the standard installation procedure.

Firmware
BIOS version on receipt was  with.

Kernel
Yet to be explored. NVMe support is required to use the hard disk.

Emerge
(Optional section. If the platform requires any user space packages or kernel patches, mention them here).

Configuration
(Explain any additional configuration or special customization for this hardware platform. Could be anything from BIOS settings to assigning proper media key functionality.)

Example 1
(Example: Do this in order to get these keys working.)

Troubleshooting
(Optional section.)

(Troubleshoot issues in this section. Separate issues by best describing the error with a new section name. Remove this section and subsections if no issues are known.)

Issue 1
When X happens, Y is how you fix it.

External resources
(Optional section.)


 * (Link to external resources (outside the Wiki) using bullet points in this section. It is common for the information in this section to full sentences that are links.)