Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver Setup - on Dell 9560

The actual OS installation is very straightforward so I will skip it and focus on the tweaks needed to actually make the OS work.

sources:

Dell_XPS_15_9560 archlinux wiki
how-to-dual-boot-windows-10-and-ubuntu-18-04-on…
rcasero issues fixed

/Dell_9560_specs

• CPU: intel i7-7700HQ 3.8GHz
• RAM: 32Gb
• HD: 1Tb SSD
• Display: 15.6 / 4K
• Dual GPU: intel / NVidia GTX 1050

/bios_setup

access dell’s bios by restarting or turning on the computer

• press F2 or F12 at the Dell Logo until you land on a boot menu and select the bios settings options
• modify these settings:
  • General -> Advanced Boot Options: check Enable Legacy Option ROMs
  • General -> Boot Sequence : select Legacy under boot list option
  • System Configuration -> SATA Operation: select AHCI
  • Secure Boot -> Secure Boot Enable : select Disabled

optional / good to know settings:

• virtualization settings
  • Virtualization Support -> Enable Intel Virtualization Technology should be enabled
  • Virtualization Support -> VT for Direct I/O should be enabled
• touchscreen settings
  • System Configuration -> touchscreen : enable or disable it from here, it works fine should you choose to leave it enabled

/OS_installation

• insert a flash drive with Ubuntu Bionic Beaver
• reboot and press F12 at the Dell logo
• select the flash drive from the available drives and hit enter
• install ubuntu with defaults (unless you know what you are doing) as we are going to change the relevant settings after install is complete.
• when installation completes, you will be asked to reboot. The system will hang trying to reboot so you will need to power off and on pressing the power button

a few key features do no work straight away so we are going to tune them in the next sections

the misses include:
nvidia 1050 (discrete card) / power management

/OS_tuneup

after installing and rebooting you will be presented with GRUB choose the safemode option and hit enter

• graphics:
• • add graphics ppa, install nvidia drivers but select intel graphics chip:

Adding graphic drivers

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-410 #this driver will in time be different as they update it
sudo prime-select intel #this will select the integrated intel card, which is less power hungry
# sudo prime-select nvidia #this will select the high performance nvidia GTX 1050 card.

# using the nvidia chip decreases significantly battery life

do not reboot

• GRUB:
• • the graphic card caused lots of seemingly unrelated problems, from not booting to not rebooting or not waking up after sleep, etc passing a few kernel mods solves this.

Tweaking GRUB for graphics

sudo nano /etc/default/grub
# locate the entry below and add:
# nvidia-drm.modeset=1 nouveau.modeset=0 mem_sleep_default=deep nouveau.runpm=0
# it should look similar as below
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nvidia-drm.modeset=1 nouveau.modeset=0 mem_sleep_default=deep nouveau.runpm=0"
# this solve the problems caused by the graphic cards either in nvidia or in intel mode

as you are editing grub you can also tune a few other options.

Tweaking GRUB - other options

GRUB_TIMEOUT=10 # this will give you more time into the grub screen (time is in secs)

# with the 4K panel the default resolution is 4k. editing text in that res is mission impossible
# select the one that suits you best running vbeinfo in the grub menu after booting up
GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1440

# once you are done, save the file and then update the boot loader
sudo update-grub

reboot for all changes to take effect

• power Management:

I installed a few recommended power management utils, thou I could not benchmark a before and after thoroughly. The big noticeable difference in power consumption and temperature drop was the switching from the nvidia card to the intel one. I leave the usual suspects for power management here

Powertop

sudo apt install tlp tlp-rdw powertop
sudo tlp start
sudo powertop --auto-tune
# auto tune will behave differently if the laptop is plugged or unplugged
# reboot

last but not least:

• Kernel update:

Ukuu for kernel updates

uname -r 
-> 4.15.0-36-generic
# running  uname -r will display your current kernel version

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa
sudo apt install ukuu
sudo ukuu --install-latest #ukuu can also be used graphically

# accept the prompts and then reboot
# after rebooting, run again uname -r to check you new kernel version is up
uname -r 
-> 4.18.15-041815-generic

After all this tweaks my laptop ran smoothly.

I connect and disconnect usb perifs without problems (USB mouse and kbd, headseat via jack, externals ssd HD and mecha HD via usb) and connect and disconnect a 2nd 24’ monitor via hdmi without problems. Booting has no problems and sleep / wakeup has no issues