The Dell XPS 13 is the best-known developer-focused, high-end Linux laptop. Here's how it got there.

Today, the Dell XPS-13 with Ubuntu Linux is easily the most well-known Linux laptop. Many users, especially developers – including Linus Torvalds – love it. As Torvalds recently said, “Normally, I wouldn’t name names, but I’m making an exception for the XPS 13 just because I liked it so much that I also ended up buying one for my daughter when she went off to college.”

So, how did Dell – best known for good-quality, mass-produced PCs – end up building top-of-the-line Ubuntu Linux laptops? Well, Barton George, Dell Technologies’ Developer Community manager, shared the “Project Sputnik” story this week in a presentation at the popular Linux and open-source community show, All Things Open.

  • Vivia 🦆🍵🦀
    37•1 year ago

    Earlier this year I was given one of those XPS machines with Ubuntu and decided to install Debian on it. The camera driver was so bad - I can’t remember technical details but you can’t simply get it to run on another kernel, it was a mess of hacks to get it to work. I decided I won’t get a camera driver. “We ship a laptop with Ubuntu” does not necessarily mean working Linux drivers.

    EDIT: To add insult to injury, the touch bar suddenly decided to stop responding to input. It’s already bad enough to not have tactile feedback for Esc / Fn keys / Delete / Print Screen.

    • X3I
      7•1 year ago

      Very true also for the opposite direction; I am daily driving an HP Elite Dragonfly for work and my Elite x360 1030 G2 for private and both work almost flawlessly despite no official Linux support. I have to disclaim that I never tested the Fingerprint reader or IR face recognition crap. But microphone, orientation sensors, webcam, keyboard, trackpad all work extremely well (Arch linux).

      It always comes down to the individual hardware it seems.

      • TheForvalakaEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        I love those x360s. I have a G5 and it’s surprisingly capable of handling somewhat intense tasks.

    • 30021190
      4•1 year ago

      Same with the finger print sensor. But a bodge is better than no support.

    • xcjs
      3•1 year ago

      I bought a used 2018 model over a new current model because of the lack of physical function keys.

      Also, Dell, bring back Fn + Left for Home and Fn + Right for End!

      Who looked at a great keyboard layout and decided, “I know! I’ll make this Developer Edition hardware more difficult to develop on!”