Dell Studio XPS 13 - ArchWiki

# Dell Studio XPS 13

I have just bought a new Dell Studio XPS 13. I have not been able to find any information for installing Arch Linux on this machine. It is a very nice looking laptop, and runs fast and smooth. I have had a successful install (32-bit only, 64-bit). I still have a few things to get working, like the Bluetooth, and media buttons.

System Specs:

- Processor
  - Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8600 @ 2.40GHz
- RAM Memory
  - 4 GB DDR3
- Webcam
  - 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
- Hard Disk
  - 320GB SATA 7200 rpm HDD
  - 500GB SATA 7200 rpm HDD
- Video Card
  - NVIDIA 9400M
  - NVIDIA 9500M (9400M G + 9200M GS)
- Wireless
  - Broadcom Corporation BCM4322 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller
  - Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter

The basic installation performs normally, with the core cd, also the wireless modules ( Atheros wifi card ) were well recognised and worked out of the box.

## Power Management

### HDD important issue

With the Western Digital hard drive (not SSD), there is an important issue: using the APM (Advanced Power Management) there are too nomerous spin-down, that can damage the hard drive [1]. To confirm this issue you have to install smartmontools:

    # pacman -S smartmontools

And you have to run multiple times this command (once in a minute for like 5 minutes):

    # smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count

If the number under Load_Cycle_Count is increasing in a small amount of time (1 or 2 in a minute) you have this issue.

The problem is easily solvable using laptop-mode-tools. In your /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf you have to set:

    #
    # Should laptop mode tools control the hard drive power management settings?
    #
    CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1

    #
    # Power management for HD (hdparm -B values)
    #
    BATT_HD_POWERMGMT=255
    LM_AC_HD_POWERMGMT=255
    NOLM_AC_HD_POWERMGMT=255

This disable all power management systems of the hard drive cause a light heat up (maybe). The same behaviour can be obtained running this command:

    # hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda

the 255 number is the power-management level, in a range of 1-255 where 1 is maximum powersaving and 255 powersaving disabled. However setting the value to 253 causes a lot of spin-down. Setting the spin-down feature (it parks the heads away from disk) however can save hdd in case of fall.

### Hybernation - Suspend

This feature works very well, See pm-utils

Make sure acpid is installed and running. You can add it to the DAEMONS array in /etc/rc.conf.

Then edit these files...

/etc/acpi/actions/lm_lid.sh:

    sh ~/bin/suspend

(Taken from http://www.linux.com/news/hardware/laptops/8253-how-to-suspend-and-hibernate-a-laptop-under-linux [+] with a little modification)

~/bin/suspend:

    #!/bin/sh

    # discover video card's ID
    ME=`whoami`
    if [ "$ME" != "root" ]; then
        echo "You must be root!"
        exit 1
    fi

    ID=`lspci | grep VGA | awk '{ print $1 }' | sed -e 's@0000:@@' -e 's@:@/@'`

    # securely create a temporary file

    TMP_FILE=`mktemp /var/tmp/video_state.XXXXXX`trap 'rm -f $TMP_FILE' 0 1 15

    # switch to virtual terminal 1 to avoid graphics
    # corruption in X

    chvt 1

    # write all unwritten data (just in case)

    sync

    # dump current data from the video card to the
    # temporary filecat

    /proc/bus/pci/$ID > $TMP_FILE

    # suspend

    echo -n mem > /sys/power/state

    # restore video card data from the temporary file
    # on resume

    cat $TMP_FILE > /proc/bus/pci/$ID

    # switch back to virtual terminal 7 (running X)
    chvt 7

    # remove temporary file
    rm -f $TMP_FILE

This should suspend your laptop to RAM when the lid is closed.

## Touchpad

The touchpad does not work completely out of the box. By default only the mouse buttons are working. To get the touchpad working, especially the area to move the mouse, follow the instructions described on the wiki page Touchpad Synaptics. Just installing the package and an X restart should do the trick.

Category:

- Dell