Saturday 20 December 2014

Distro hunt for Dell M4800

Few weeks ago i received my Dell M4800 Mobile Workstation. It's a nice machine with good config and lot of power.
My config has

Intel Core i7-4710MQ
QHD+ Screen (3200x1800)
16GB RAM
128GB SSD
750 GB 7200 RPM HDD
SmartCard Reader
FingerPrint Reader

However, before placing order with Dell i did a lot of search on google to find reviews of existing owners of M4800.
And i found that lot of users are not happy with M4800 with Linux. Few have WiFi issues, few have screen brightness issues, few have problem with sound and etc...

Even after reading about those problems i decided to go with Linux (as left Windows 3 years ago and now live with Linux for day to day use, now i use Windows only for .Net development only). 

After receiving the machine, first i tried to get my hands dirty with preinstalled Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. It is working fine and there were no such issues as i read over internet.
But Ubuntu 12.04 is quite old and also i don't like Unity. So i decided to try other distro.

I tried with following distros
Ubuntu 14.04
Kubuntu 14.04
Kali Linux  (based on Debian) with Gnome3
Kali Linux with KDE4
Arch Linux with Gnome3
Arch Linus with KDE4

Except the Arch+KDE all distro has some problems. One thing is working in a distro but not in other and vise-versa.

Here is summery of different distro evaluation on M4800.


Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Kernel 3.5.X
Ubuntu 14.04
Kernel 3.13.X
Kubuntu 14.04
Kernel 3.13.X
Kali Linux + Gnome
Kernel 3.14.X
Kali Linux + KDE
Kernel 3.14.X
Arch + Gnome
Kernel 3.17.X
Arch + KDE
Kernel 3.17.X
Hardware






SoundWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
WiFiWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
WiFi Switch on/off
WiFi should auto-connect after switch off and on
WorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
BluetoothWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
But doesn't recognize unless once turn radio (hardware wifi switch) off then on.
WorkingWorking
WebcamWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
Fingerprint Reader(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)
Smartcard Reader(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)(not tested)
Keys






BrightnessWorkingNOT WORKINGWorking
But response was slow. After pressing keys it take 1-2 sec to change brightness.
NOT WORKINGWorkingNOT WORKINGWorking
Touchpad ToggleWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingNOT WORKINGWorkingWorking
SleepWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
Volume ButtonsWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
Other






Screen Lock
Password box should appear to unlock (no blank screen)
WorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
Screen Turn Off
Screen should turn on after mouse/keyboard activity
WorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
Wakeup After Sleep
Screen should turn on and Password box should appear wakeup
WorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorkingWorking
Virtual Terminal
Blank Screen Problem
NOT WORKINGNOT WORKINGNOT WORKINGNOT WORKINGNOT WORKINGNOT WORKINGNOT WORKING
OS StabilityGOODUNSTABLEUNSTABLEGOODGOODGOODGOOD
Here Virtual Terminal Blank Screen Problem exist on all distros. It is actually the problem with nVidia display driver and distros has nothing to do with it (i guess).

As you can see above, only two distros are working fine. One is Ubuntu 12.04 LTS that comes preinstalled, and another is Arch Linux with KDE.

After playing with both the distro i prefer Arch. I found Arch very light weight, much responsive than Ubuntu and without bloatware (that Ubuntu has like Unity).

So it is all about the distro hunt for Dell M4800. I spend many days to find a working and stable distro so i thought i should share it, it may help another M4800 owner ;)