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Translation(s): none

Models covered
Dell Inspiron 15 5579 (5000 series)

Video card Intel UHD Graphics 620
- Screen size 15.6-inch FHD touchscreen, 1920 x 1280 pixels)
- Wireless card Intel 3165
- Disk: 1 Tb SSD installed
- RAM: 16 Gb installed
- Keyboard: backlit keyboard w/o keypad
- Audio: Realtek ALC3253-VA3,
- Ports: one USB 3.1 Gen 1 port with ?PowerShare, one USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, one USB 2.0 port, one SD card slot
- Other: bluetooth screen-top camera 1280 x 720

Overall Status

Legend :
= OK ; Unsupported(No Driver) ; = Error (Couldn't get it working); [?] Unknown, Not Test ; [-] Not-applicable
= Configuration Required; = Only works with a non-free driver and or firmware

Important Note

Wireless doesn't work with the packages available in the default installation DVD. Before installing, download the .deb packages firmware-atheros and firmware-misc-nonfree (I used firmware-atheros-20190114-1_all.deb and firmware-misc-nonfree-20190114-1_all.deb)

All else works, even function keys to control volume and brightness

This laptop came with Windows 10, which by itself somehow uses 65 Gb of storage, even without backup partitions and such. I could find no easy way to reduce that. Perhaps someday I will have no choice but to run something on Windows

Beforehand: besides installation disk, make bootable USB with tuxboot, running gpartedlive.

In Windows, changed bios to

• disable UEFI secure boot
• disable fast boot
• include boot from removable media

updated all Dell stuff and drivers killed backup partitions disabled fast startup disabled hibernation (with powercfg.exe /h off)

In GParted,

• (killed windows backup partitions)
• shrank Windows and moved left into that empty space — miraculously worked,
• made swap, system (20 Gb), home

I am thoroughly happy with this laptop. 1920 x 1280, quad-core Intel i7-855OU, more memory and RAM than I can use, cheaper than rivals with similar specs, apparently well constructed, and requiring only a straightforward WiFi fix. The default function keys for volume and brightness work, including Fn+Insert to sleep. I don't know if the touch screen works, and don't intend to use this machine as a tablet (the screen swings all the way around). Weak points: the not-robust power cord unwisely sticks out from the left side, where the laptop rests on my leg. The chiclet keys are better than most, but chiclet keys chuck. There are no dedicated home, end and page up/down keys; those require pressing the function key and an arrow.

Configuration

Display

• No problem. The display name is eDP-1 (says xrandr).

Audio

• Nice for a laptop.

Mouse

I will never get used to the libinput defaults. In /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf, I added * tapping * disablewhiletyping * scrollmethod

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput pointer catchall"
        MatchIsPointer "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput keyboard catchall"
        MatchIsKeyboard "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
        Option "ScrollMethod" "edge"
        Option "Tapping" "True"
        Option "DisableWhileTyping" "True"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchscreen catchall"
        MatchIsTouchscreen "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput tablet catchall"
        MatchIsTablet "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
EndSection

Power Management

Sleep works with the power button, Fn+Insert or the command systemctl suspend. I think hibernation was the default. I changed three lines in /etc/systemd/logind.conf to

HandlePowerKey=suspend 
HandleSuspendKey=suspend 
HandleLidSwitch=suspend

WiFi

Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174
Wireless Network Adapter: QCA6174 802.11ac
Logical name: wlp1s0 (= network device)
Driver: ath10k_pci (= kernel module)

Connecting to phone

Thunar and Nautilus don't recognize connections to my phone (Google Pixel 3, Android 9) to transfer files, even after installing gmtp, jmtpfs, libmtp9 and mtp-tools. Solutions:

dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session

which I run with a log-in script,
or create a directory called, say, android and mount phone with

jmtpfs /home/[me]/android

Keyboard

I dislike the lack of dedicated home, end, pgup and pgdown keys. I modified the keyboard to use the dead keys: caps lock, left Windows key, right control, insert, print screen. The following is my ~/.xmodmaprc, activated by a log-in script that runs xmodmap /path/to/.xmodmaprc

!!! changed from asciicircum
keycode  15 = 6 yen 6 yen

!!! caps lock: must first clear, then reassign 
clear lock
keycode  66 = Delete NoSymbol Delete

! insert > em dash, en dash
! Fn+Insert = sleep, apparently
keycode  118 = 0xaa9 0xaaa

!!! First clear modifiers -- this is why I can't change mod keys in .fvwm2rc
!!! Then reset all, with original or custom function
clear control
clear mod1
keycode  37 = Control_L Control_L Control_L Control_L
keycode  64 = Alt_L Alt_L Alt_L Alt_L
keycode 108 = Alt_R Alt_R Alt_R Alt_R
! Control_R > PgDn, the reason for this whole sequence
keycode 105 = Next Prior Prior Prior Prior Prior Prior Prior Prior
! Windows key > PgUp
keycode 133 = Prior
! PrtScr > 
keycode 107 = 

!!! set keycodes for programs that do things a non-standard way
add mod1    = Alt_R Alt_L Meta_R Meta_L
add control = Control_R Control_L

Log-in scripts

I log in using LightDM, and use it to run a log-in script for my keyboard modifications and to allow file transfers with my phone. I also removed the need for a password on a single-user machine. The changed lines in /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf are

session-setup-script=/path/to/myscript
autologin-user=myname
autologin-user-timeout=0

and the script contains

/usr/bin/xmodmap /path/to/.xmodmaprc
dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session

System Summary

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 5914 (rev 08)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 5917 (rev 07)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Skylake Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 08)
00:13.0 Non-VGA unclassified device: Intel Corporation Device 9d35 (rev 21)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 21)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d4e (rev 21)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 9d71 (rev 21)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
01:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 32)

lsusb

lsusb -v | grep -E '\<(Bus|iProduct|bDeviceClass|bDeviceProtocol)' 2>/dev/null

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0eef:c0aa D-WAV Scientific Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0cf3:e007 Atheros Communications, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:5696 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

USB Host controllers entries (without OHCI, UHCI, EHCI) are removed too.

Resources

Attachments

Some configuration files and sample outputs.

Useful Links

Credits

CategoryLaptopComputer