Dell XPS 13-L321X Ultrabook

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Note
This article is for the old model of the Dell XPS 13. For the new (2015) model, see Dell_XPS_13_9343

Laptop specifications

Hardware specs may vary. These are the specs for the model XPS 13 Ultrabook:

  • Intel Core i5-2467M 1.6GHz to 2.3GHz or i7-2637M 1.7GHz to 2.9GHz, 3MB cache
  • 4-8GB Dual Channel DDR3 1333MHz
  • Intel HD Graphics 3000-4000 (on-CPU)
  • High Definition Audio with Waves MaxxAudio 4
  • 13.3in TFT LCD Widescreen screen (1366x768 or 1920x1080)
  • Samsung PM830 SATA 3 128GB or 256GB mSATA SSD Hard Disk
  • 1x USB 2.0 ports and 1x USB 3.0 ports
  • mini-DisplayPort output
  • Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 802.11 a/g/n with Intel Smart Connect Technology + Bluetooth 3.0

Printout of lspci:

root #lspci

Printout of lsusb (builtin devices, no external devices connected):

root #lsusb

Printout of lsmod (builtin devices, no external devices connected):

root #lsmod

Information from /proc/cpuinfo:

root #cat /proc/cpuinfo

Installation

Kernel

Input devices

USB 2.0 support

  • Compile the ehci-hcd driver as module.
KERNEL USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
Device Drivers  --->
    [*] USB support  --->
        <M>   EHCI HCD (USB 2.0) support
            [*]   Root Hub Transaction Translators
            [*]   Improved Transaction Translators scheduling

USB 3.0 support

Compile the xhci-hcd driver as module:

KERNEL USB controller: Fresco Logic Device 1009 (rev 02) or Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04), 3.3.1-gentoo
Device Drivers  --->
    [*] USB support  --->
        <M>   xHCI HCD (USB 3.0) support

Kernel version 3.3 at least is required for the USB 3 support.

Drives and storage

Hard drive controller works using AHCI driver in the kernel:

KERNEL Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller, 3.3.1-gentoo
Device Drivers  --->
    <*> Serial ATA and Parallel ATA drivers  --->
        <*>   AHCI SATA support

Graphics

KERNEL Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller, 3.3.1-gentoo
Device Drivers  --->
    Graphics support  --->
        <*> /dev/agpgart (AGP Support)  --->
            <*>   Intel 440LX/BX/GX, I8xx and E7x05 chipset support
        <*> Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 4.1.0 and higher DRI support)  --->
            <*>   Intel 8xx/9xx/G3x/G4x/HD Graphics
            [*]     Enable modesetting on intel by default

There is an issue with screen brightness which cannot be adjustable. There are two ways to work around this problem.

The permanent way to fix this issue is to apply this patch to the kernel sources. The patch is an attachment to kernel bug #47941. To apply the patch execute the following commands (tested in kernel 3.9.2).

root #cd /usr/src/linux
root #wget 'https://bugzilla.kernel.org/attachment.cgi?id=97751' -O backlight_fix.patch
root #patch -p1 --dry-run -i ./backlight_fix.patch
root #patch -p1 -i ./backlight_fix.patch # run this command only if the previous patch command gives no errors

The temporary way to work around the brightness issue is to run the following command. This is only a temporary solution because the command needs to be run on every boot, on every resume from suspend, and every time the screen is blanked by DPMS. This last issue is kernel bug #53491.

root #echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

Use a script to run it at start up:

FILE /etc/local.d/backlight.start
#!/bin/bash
echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

As well as after hibernate and suspend:

FILE /etc/pm/sleep.d/backlight
#!/bin/bash
case "$1" in
  suspend|hibernate)
    #do nothing
  ;;
  resume|thaw)
    echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness
  ;;
  *)
    exit 1
  ;;
esac
exit 0

Both scripts need to be executable:

root #chmod +x /etc/local.d/backlight.start /etc/pm/sleep.d/backlight

Wi-Fi

KERNEL Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6230, 3.3.1-gentoo
[*] Networking support  --->
    [*]   Wireless  --->
        <*>   Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211)

Device Drivers  --->
    [*] Network device support  --->
        Wireless LAN  --->
            <M>   Intel Wireless WiFi Next Gen AGN - Wireless-N/Advanced-N/Ultimate-N (iwlwifi)

The kernel will also need the firmware before the wireless card will operate. Emerge either of the following packages.

root #emerge --ask sys-firmware/iwl6030-ucode

Alternatively, install the full Linux firmware package:

root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/linux-firmware

CPU frequency scaling

KERNEL CPU frequency scaling
Power management and ACPI options  --->
    CPU Frequency scaling  ---> 
    [*] CPU Frequency scaling
    <*>   ACPI Processor P-States driver

Sound

KERNEL Sound device
Device Drivers  --->
    --- Sound card support  --->
        <M>   Advanced Linux Sound Architecture  ---> 
            [*]   PCI sound devices  --->
                <M>   Intel HD Audio  --->

Touchpad

The support for the Cypress touchpad was added in Kernel 3.9.0 thanks to the Sputnik project.

KERNEL 
Device Drivers  --->
    Input device support --->
        -*- Generic input layer (needed for keyboard, mouse, ...)
        [*]   Mice  --->
            <M>   PS/2 mouse
            [*]      Cypress PS/2 mouse protocol extension

Webcam

The webcam will work using the v4l2 driver (tested) and sunplus driver (untested):

KERNEL Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1bcf:288f Sunplus Innovation Technology Inc.
Device Drivers  --->
    <M> Multimedia support  --->
        <M>   Video For Linux
        [*]   Video capture adapters  --->
                [*]   V4L USB devices  --->
                    <M>   USB Video Class (UVC)
                    [*]     UVC input events device support
                    <M>   GSPCA based webcams  --->
                        <M>   SUNPLUS USB Camera Driver

Test it out with mplayer:

root #mplayer tv:// -tv driver=v4l2:width=640:height=480:device=/dev/video0 -fps 15 -vf screenshot

Bluetooth

It is connected to the internal USB 2.0 port, so make sure to enable USB 2.0 support and PC-Card support, as they are prerequisites for Bluetooth operation. Finally, activate the following kernel options:

KERNEL 
[*] Networking support  --->
    <*> Bluetooth subsystem support  --->
        
        Select options for Bluetooth applications, see table below:
        <*>   ...

            Bluetooth device drivers  --->

               Select a Bluetooth HCI driver, e.g.:
               <*> HCI USB driver (btusb)

OpenRC service

Bluetooth is now ready to start:

root #/etc/init.d/bluetooth start

To start Bluetooth at boot time, add it the default runlevel:

root #rc-update add bluetooth default

Troubleshooting

Noisy fan

On the core i7 model, the fan is running too often and too early. A BIOS firmware upgrade resolved the issue. Download the latest release here.

Wireless

When the laptop is too close to a 802.11n router, the wireless hangs. This is a known issue but the Bugzilla was disabled due to security issues.

This firmware issue can be worked around by disabling 11n on the iwlwifi module. First try a temporary workaround:

root #modprobe -rv iwldvm
root #modprobe iwlwifi 11n_disable=1

It works make the the change permanent:

FILE /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1
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