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Dell's Next Rev for Project Sputnik: Ubuntu 14.04 On XPS 13 Developer Edition (hothardware.com)

Posted by timothy on from the relationship-maintenance dept.

MojoKid writes: Also known as "Project Sputnik," Dell came up with the idea of offering developers a variant of their XPS 13 notebook running Linux and launched its first models over three years ago. Now in its 5th generation, Project Sputnik is still going strong today with the latest models combining Ubuntu 14.04 with Intel's Skylake processors. To kick off its newest generation of Developer Edition laptops, Dell is offering three Core i7 XPS 13 configurations, including two that feature 16GB of RAM. Dell said it also plans to add a Core i5 option to the Developer Edition lineup sometime down the line. Dell is seeing increased interest from customers and in addition to the XPS Developer Edition, Dell offers Ubuntu on its Precision 5510, 3510, 7510, and 7710 mobile workstations, as well as its Precision M3800. Cost of entry into Developer Edition territory runs $1,550. What that gets you is a 13.3-inch QHD+ (3200x1800) InfinityEdge touch display powered by an Intel Core i5-6560U processor, 8GB of LPDDR3 1866 RAM, and Intel Iris Graphics 540.

55 comments

  1. for people with good eyesight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    13.3-inch QHD+ (3200x1800) InfinityEdge touch display

    Better scale that screen (starting to lose the point of a higher res screen), or get a pair of glasses.

    1. Re:for people with good eyesight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you have a point, I'm using a previous generation, the 9333 model, and with 1920x1080 at 13" I had to increase Emacs and terminals font (DejaVu) to 11 points, I normally use 10 points on 24" monitors, and gettin' older doesn't help... T__T

    2. Re:for people with good eyesight by Billly+Gates · · Score: 0

      I haven't used Linux as a desktop in a half decade now but Xorg seriously can't do font scaling and independent bitmap icons yet? WTF. Ubuntu has a mobile OS so I assume this was implemented?

      If not it is long time to dump the xfree86 aka xorg turd and go wayland. FOr us oldtimers we experienced X on legacy hardware back in the day and geeks today have no idea how poor it is when you have gigs of ram. Shoot 8 megs of ram were required just to run the thing without apps?! Made emac users switch to VI to save ram because X took up everything with a client server model no one uses anymore.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    3. Re:for people with good eyesight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Better scale that screen (starting to lose the point of a higher res screen)

      Absolute nonsense. Pixel sizes should not even enter into the mind of designers, and ultimately, coders. We are a long way from that ideal , because pixel sizes are forced upon us by incredibly low DPI. 96 dpi has been considered basically 'standard' desktop monitor DPI for a long time, even though the minimum we accept on printers is 300.

      Getting a high dpi monitor and scaling your content to it is EXACTLY where technology is going, has been going, and should be going.

    4. Re:for people with good eyesight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I haven't used Linux as a desktop in a half decade now but Xorg seriously can't do font scaling and independent bitmap icons yet? WTF.

      You misunderstand. It of course can. Furthermore, you can scale everything so you don't tend to get the weird problems of menus not matching apps or needing to have a specific multiple of something that you get on "other" operating systems.

      Generally the Sputnik screen is excellent, as is the rest of the system. Strongly recommend it to everybody. You never ever ever feel your Mac or Windows friends are looking down at you and it's very rare that you even feel they have something close. I took it with the absolute full corporate support. Again Dell support has been excellent, however since Sputnik is rare where I live and there are very similar windows models you have to be careful that they don't needlessly swap your mother board and give you one with firmware that isn't fully Linux supporting. It happened to a guy I know. Dell guy came back after two days with the right board though, so no problem.

    5. Re:for people with good eyesight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Back in the mid 90's, I did some coding with Tcl/Tk on HP-UX and Solaris machines, displaying via X-Terminals. *Nothing* was measured in pixels, everything was done in points. So we could pretty much move between some B&W HP terminals and other colour terminals and things were the same size even though the physical screen size and resolution was different. Picking fonts was also fun ... how-many-dang-dashes-do-I-need-in-here?

      I've often wondered why X seems to have gone so far backward in that regard.

    6. Re:for people with good eyesight by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      I haven't used Linux as a desktop in a half decade now but Xorg seriously can't do font scaling

      I love how a comment has so much wrongness it's hard to know where to start. Firstly, yes, X has had scalable fonts for decades. Type1 has been around since X11R5 which was what? 1992? They looked like ass at small sizes because they weren't antialiased, but they were scalable. Secondly you don't even need scalable fonts to deal with high res screens. You can just, you know, specify a different, larger, unscaled bitmap font, if you like rocking it like it's 1987.

      and independent bitmap icons yet?

      What are these icones of which you speake?

      If not it is long time to dump the xfree86 aka xorg turd and go wayland.

      Christ.

      So your solution to having a system which doesn't have scalable fonts or icons (it does) is to dump it for a system which really defiitely doesn't have scalable fonts or icons? That's some sort of genius. And no, Wayland oesn't have either of those because it's just a compositor for splatting bitmaps on to a screen. Creation of the bitmaps, i.,e. fonts, icons, etc is somebody else's problem.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    7. Re:for people with good eyesight by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      96 dpi has been considered basically 'standard' desktop monitor DPI for a long time, even though the minimum we accept on printers is 300.

      Yeah, but those 96 DPI give you 16777216 colours per dot, as opposed to the 300dpi printer which gives usually 1. The exception is things like dye sub printers and they look amazing.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
  2. Nice. But, meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is nice and all, but it only matters to guarantee that Linux will have all the required drivers for those laptops. Besides that, what Linux user really gives a shit what kind of system will come installed? You can just grab any distro without worrying about stupid product keys and crippled editions.

    Also, from a security point of view, I would only use a pre-installed OS (especially from Dell) with a gun to my head.

    1. Re:Nice. But, meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But it is nice to see that some of their newest fanciest products *will* have Linux drivers for all the hardware features.

    2. Re:Nice. But, meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Besides that, what Linux user really gives a shit what kind of system will come installed?.

      I do. there are some firmware versions for the components in some XPS13s that don't properly support Linux. If you get the Sputnik laptop and run accross this the Dell service people sort everything out for you, replacing the hardware if needed. This matters if you are actually buying a laptop to work on.

    3. Re:Nice. But, meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see you've skipped the first paragraph of the post you're replying to.

  3. Why not 16.04? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    16.04 is about to be released. Why not using it instead of 14.04?

    1. Re:Why not 16.04? by Guillermito · · Score: 3, Informative

      Because 14.04 is the latest LTS (Long Term Support) version released https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LTS

    2. Re:Why not 16.04? by Gort65 · · Score: 1

      Isn't 16.04 going to be an LTS release? It's going to be released next month, so they could have waited. Still, I suppose 14.04 is tried and tested, seeing that it's been our for coming up to two years.

    3. Re:Why not 16.04? by jareth-0205 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      16.04 is about to be released. Why not using it instead of 14.04?

      Because it is not, in actual fact, released.

    4. Re:Why not 16.04? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      16.04 works great on the new xps13, I've been running it since late December on one.

      I'm curious if they replace the Broadcom wifi with Intel wifi on the sputnik models.

    5. Re:Why not 16.04? by mrvan · · Score: 2

      I have a xps13 for about a year now with ubuntu installed. It was somewhat painful at first because of driver issues (the developer edition wasn't released yet for the new xps13), so required a kernel recompile and some fidgeting. A couple months ago I replaced the broadcom chip with an intel (a very quick operation once you get hold of a tiny torque screwdriver) and installed ubuntu 15.10 which worked perfect out of the box.

      The resolution is incredibly nice when everything behaves. I run emacs / terminal with font 14 or 16 and it is just so much clearer and nicer to the eyes. What is annoying if you switch between the built in 13" hidpi and a 27" lodpi external monitor, I've not found a way to make it behave sane, and not all programs obey the system settings. Maybe I'll just get a hidpi external monitor :)

    6. Re:Why not 16.04? by Thumper_SVX · · Score: 1

      As I understand it, yes; Dell has replaced the Broadcom with an Intel in the Sputnik models.

      Sorely tempted to get one myself :)

  4. This is for XPS laptops. by argee · · Score: 1

    Where are the Dell desktops running Linux?

    1. Re:This is for XPS laptops. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm been running Ubuntu on my Dell XPS Desktop for a few years with no problem.

    2. Re:This is for XPS laptops. by mrvan · · Score: 1

      Frankly, it's much less important. I've built and bought quite a number of desktops and put linux on them the past years, never had issues. With laptops, there is less choice within segments (especially within the ultrabook segment), and there are more less-supported parts (and it's more expensive and annoying to replace a part if you need to, e.g. the broadcom wifi chip in the XPS13)

  5. Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by raymorris · · Score: 2

    Desktops? Try an antique store, or a government office.

    1. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2

      Desktops? Try an antique store, or a government office.

      Or a development shop, or a music studio, or a digital artist's workshop, or a gamer's den, or anyone else that needs a machine with some significant horsepower that also doesn't need to be mobile. Try hooking up a VR headset to a laptop, and the hardware will openly mock you. Yes, desktops are still a thing, believe it or not, even if you personally can't imagine how you'd use one.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    2. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by fnj · · Score: 1

      Desktops? Try an antique store, or a government office.

      Irrelevant lightweight alert.

    3. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by amiga3D · · Score: 1

      How foolish. Desktops still have the heavy grunt to carry big workloads. Laptops are actually useful now but they still pale next to a serious tower rig. I will say the celeron powered junk is pointless but somehow they still sell even that.

    4. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      what an ignorant statement. Just because you are too closed minded to understand a segment of the market obviously it has no reason to exist despite being one of the largest segments. I have 3 laptops, 2 tablets and 2 smartphones in the house. I still would not trade my 2 desktops for any of them as they simply can't match the performance and convenience of a desktop. Maybe one day they will but that certainly is still a ways off for many areas (gaming, design, development, video and audio etc)

    5. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2

      Yeah I was thinking these laptops are underpowered for all but a web developer ... actually still because if you use Adobe Dreamweaver you need a VM of WIndows.

      No developer worth his salt doesn't use many VM's requiring 16 to 32 gigs of ram today. You have different linux distros, freebsd, WIndows, and Mac. Not to mention crappy tools like MS Office and Adobe Dreamweaver or Visual Studio for your win32 port and you are taking 5 or 6 2 - 8 gig VM's.

      A developer today should only settle for 32 gigs of ram and maybe 16 and an i7 if you compile code. Not to mention some link to databases so you need several cores for your Oracle on CentOS not to mention run and debug on all Linux flavors, Windows, etc.

      A desktop is nice because you can add these things and customize. A nice raid 0 SSD and gobs of ram (NOT SOLDERED IN) mean you can customize quite the powerhouse for your app environment.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
    6. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      idiot. show me something other than a desktop that can meet my gaming and work needs. My current desktop has an i7 with 64GB ram, GTX980, 16TB of spinning HDD and 750GB of SSD. only has to do gaming and highend dev work running up multiple VM's. As this obviously belongs in an antique shop please point out the portable I can replace it with as I was actually looking to upgrade it as it doesn't have enough memory, may as well go to something portable.

    7. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      To be fair most laptop have quite some CPU grunt, the latest trend (with Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake) is you can get a fast 15-watt CPU in that laptop and when I say fast, I mean it (well it's enough to murder my older desktop).

      People that are none the wiser may find that quite powerful for video and photo editing needs.
      I/O has historically been rather crap on a laptop but with an internal SSD and USB 3.x for HDD it's not quite as bad.

      That said I wanted to defend desktops and there are reasons to use them whether or not you need high performance.

    8. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by Dutch+Gun · · Score: 2

      Sure, modern higher-end laptops are ridiculously overpowered for about 95% of what people generally need to do with a PC. Hell, top-end smartphones are overpowered for what most people need to do with a PC, which is why (among other reasons), the overall PC market share is stagnating or declining. They're just not necessary for run of the mill, daily computing needs for most people. Non-gaming applications which actually require a desktop's power are the exception among the already rare, but they're most certain out there. And of course, games historically require a lot of GPU horsepower, which most laptops don't have in large quantities.

      There are also small form-factor desktop PCs which are useful for lightweight office or home tasks, but for which the portability of a laptop is either completely unnecessary or even a liability.

      So yeah, I totally agree - I was just pointing out the ignorance of mocking desktop PCs as 'last century'. Probably the same sort of hipsteritis that causes people to snicker at someone with (gasp) a three-year-old smartphone. It gets tiresome to have to repeatedly explain to people that the modern desktop PC is sort of like a full-sized work truck. It's completely overkill for most people's driving needs, but it's invaluable to professionals with specific requirements.

      --
      Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
    9. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by bloodhawk · · Score: 1

      current laptops are incredibly powerful compared to older desktops. Current desktops are another huge stepup. you can't get a top end laptop that comes anywhere near the performance you can get in a top end desktop. If your needs are low then sure modern laptops are powerful enough for many, but for high end gaming or professional needs they don't come close yet.

    10. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      To be fair most laptop have quite some CPU grunt, the latest trend (with Haswell, Broadwell, Skylake) is you can get a fast 15-watt CPU in that laptop and when I say fast, I mean it (well it's enough to murder my older desktop).

      On paper maybe. But the result is usually one of two things as soon as you stress it.
      a) it'll get hot under the collar and back off making it useful for only peak loads (which is still significant for many use cases but worthless for picture / video editing / gaming)
      b) it'll sound like a vacuum cleaner.

    11. Re:Dekdtop? Try an antique store, or govt office by Samhain138 · · Score: 1

      Judging by your tech-skills, bitterness, and your other comments on this thread and others, you are a grumpy old man who's given up on this profession ages ago.
      Totally fine, but don't make such bold statements when your head is stuck so far up your ass to have any clue what software development in 2016 is like.

      So, you would launch a Windows VM + DreamWeaver but you wouldn't learn how to use a Linux editor or maybe just run Windows to begin with?
      You launch a VM for every single application or task?
      An orgy of operating systems? 32GB of RAM just so you can get some work done?
      You must be kidding. And working for a corporate that made you lose any interest in your profession (no idea how even they hired you).

      In 2016 we have:
      - Way better build systems (for your win32 ports, etc.)
      - Containers. You know, the stuff that's being mentioned on Slashdot all the time.
      - Orchestration tools for said containers (Mesos, Kubernetes, etc.) so I don't have to run everything on my own computer, anyway
      - Better databases than the crap you're stuck with
      - Etc.

      So no, laptops aren't underpowered, it's that you're doing everything in your power to work in the absolute dumbest least efficient way possible, and therefore, you're the one not worth his salt.
      Too bad you hang around Slashdot to tell people to get off your lawn rather than, say, keep up with technology.

  6. And still no 32 GB option! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Same with Apple. They've been stuck at 16 GB for years.

    1. Re:And still no 32 GB option! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      precision 5510 has 32gb option

    2. Re:And still no 32 GB option! by jbolden · · Score: 0

      Apple moved to all SSD and compression in memory both of which reduces the demand for RAM.

  7. Does it reduce the price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Does this reduce the price of the system by ~$30 or so that it probably costs Dell for an OEM Windows license?

    If not, I'll just take the Windows 10 option on my system and immediately install my Linux distro of choice. The Windows COA on the system (along with the physical restore dvds) are valuable for when I want to sell the laptop when it's time to upgrade. Normal people do not comprehend the concept of a laptop 'not coming with Windows' and sure as shit are not going to want to buy my used laptop with a freshly installed Linux distro along with a lack of a Windows COA.

    1. Re:Does it reduce the price? by argee · · Score: 1

      I have done this in the past with Dell's that supposedly run Linux. You will find all sorts of tweaked drivers, binary blobs, etc.

      And for sure, not all Dells will run Linux. I remember getting the All in One (20" monitor with cpu in back). Absolutely could not
      get the video to work properly. Yes, It would display, but circles were ovals, and all the blogs said it was an issue and could not
      be fixed. Well, maybe an expert could ..., but I figured I am pretty good with Linux, and still could not.

      Since I had no interest in windows, I just gave the whole system away to my stepson, who, alas, uses Windows.

    2. Re:Does it reduce the price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does this reduce the price of the system by ~$30 or so that it probably costs Dell for an OEM Windows license?

      Yes it does by over 100eu/usd.

  8. No cheap version with DIY upgrades? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Analogous to the Adamo ($1.5K) and the Vostro V13 (starting $450) circa 2010.

  9. How about a Precision??? by LVSlushdat · · Score: 1

    Dell seems to be on a kick of only offering Linux on their consumer-grade systems..ie: Inspiron/XPS/Alienware. I've yet to see any Ubuntu offerings on any Precision workstation laptops.. Of course, it may be that technically astute users who would buy a Precision workstation with Ubuntu Linux might just buy the system as-is with Windows, and then either dual-boot it with Linux or like I did with my current system, a Precision M4400, which was to wipe Windows 7 off the system, install Ubuntu, and Virtualbox and install Windows 7 as a VM using the product key that came with the system. Admittedly I don't use the Windows 7 VM much anymore, since Linux does pretty much everything I need, with a couple minor exceptions of a couple of Windows programs that don't work under Wine (or Crossover Office).. Lately its become necessary to completely turn off updates on Windows 7 to prevent MS putting their telemetry shit on my system....
     

    --
    THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
    1. Re:How about a Precision??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dell seems to be on a kick of only offering Linux on their consumer-grade systems..ie: Inspiron/XPS/Alienware. I've yet to see any Ubuntu offerings on any Precision workstation laptops..

      See the summary or go to Dell website, choose Precision laptop and hit "Customize & Buy".

      Also http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/555/campaigns/xps-linux-laptop?c=us&l=en&s=biz&~ck=mn

  10. Comes with no blobs, & Coreboot, right? by Hobart · · Score: 1

    ...riightttt?

    Oh, it doesn't. Maybe instead Dell will actually get the Coreboot developers full development details so they can port it. Right? They'll do that?

    Didn't think so.

    --
    o/~ Join us now and share the software ...
    1. Re:Comes with no blobs, & Coreboot, right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or they could sell power8 machines.

  11. Dell doesn't care about GNU/Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It really annoys me that Slashdot and others give Dell and similar companies any attention. They do nothing of significance for the community and even hinder new user adoption. There are companies actually focused on and pushing GNU/Linux and free software you can buy from. Dell isn't focused on getting sources from upstream to ensure full and proper support for there hardware on GNU/Linux. That's what takes a ton of work and energy. Not slapping GNU/Linux onto a system that might work for a few releases before abandoning it.

    Dell's "support" for GNU/Linux is nothing more than a publicity stunt to garner it positive attention. They don't care about free software, GNU/Linux, or you. If you want to support user freedom you got to look at the companies and people actually making inroads to getting code released- even if it is at the expense of functionality in the short term. Otherwise you'll end up with hardware that doesn't work or doesn't work properly long term. Companies like ThinkPenguin and Mini Free and where users aught to be looking. Both have worked to free various components to the fullest extant possible. And because of that we as a community can begin to fix bugs, add features, and make improvements that otherwise wouldn't happen.

  12. Last generation XPS 13.3 DE really botched it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am typing this on one of the three XPS 13.3 DE, fourth generation (9343) I got last year. At launch practically nothing worked right, there were problems with keyboard (autorepeat), sound (double reboot required), network (lousy proprietary driver), bluetooth (same network card, same problems), touchpad (stuck), initial backup (will crash the machine, don't panic) and display (Gnome HiDPI in 2014), suspend. They even had to suspend shipping for a time to fix some issues. A few kernel and distribution upgrade later, with a physical upgrade to the Intel networking card, my only remaining troubles are the touchpad and the audio driver which sips power even when off. I deeply regret not staying with my usual brand of business laptops (the serious one, with a red dot).

  13. Why Ubuntu? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ubuntu gets all the media attention, so when somebody wants to try Linux they generally try Ubuntu. After five minutes of Unity they conclude Linux is crap and go back to Windows.

    I can't help but think Ubuntu is now a major factor in what's holding Linux back, but

  14. touchscreen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a developer, I haven't once used the touchscreen, thus I'm not sure why they've included this (unless one is a touch-screen application developer)...
    I'd like a 15" model as well and also, yes, 16.04. I'm assuming that they will announce upgrade compatibility as they've done with 12.04 -> 14.04 when the first point release comes up, I would suppose around June of 2016.

  15. Contra-ad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or, for $500 less, you could get a 17" System76 Kudu with 16GB RAM.

  16. Do any of them have a sense of humor? by raymorris · · Score: 1

    You have a lot of computers. Did any of them come with a sense of humor installed?

  17. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  18. UEFI by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 1

    I assume these have a UEFI-type bios. Signed by who's key?

  19. Wouldn't it be far cheaper... by martinfb · · Score: 1

    Seems one could get better hardware cheaper and install Linux, et al, on their own. Frugal developer?

    --


    Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
  20. keyboard problems? by sequence_man · · Score: 1

    Anyone know if they fixed the keyboard on this one? The one I got last year still can't accept touch typing: you must type slowly. So rapidly typing "asdf" will generate "assdf" or sometimes "asdsf". Pretty unusable unfortunately.