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I'm new to elementary OS, I'm software engineer mostly using Ubuntu Server edition and MacOS.

Was interested if anyone had tried the new XPS (late 2016) with this OS yet. Would really love to be pointed to any troubleshooting / tips.

Planning to contribute code to the OS too, all going well, and I want to support it because I think it has a real shot at being the ideal OS for new Linux users.

I will be adding custom PPAs etc. for docker, node.js etc. as I need to use later versions than the Ubuntu LTS packages for work.

I also have reservations about using LTS based distro... I get that it's unlikely elementary will have resources to track latest stable. Anyone got advice on that side of things?

Finally, where does the eOS community interact?

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I'm working on a XPS 15 (with Skylake cpu) for a month now, Elementary OS works great even with the high DPI screen. When I run into trouble I usually search on "ubuntu" (for example "ubuntu dell xps 13") since most of it applies to Elementary OS. You can also find a lot of information on bugs etc on the Elementary Launchpad pages: https://launchpad.net/elementary

I'm a web developer, also using projects like Node, Docker, Atom etc, and using custom ppa's works fine. I'm looking forward to Snaps, looks like that will be way easier for users and application developers.

When I was still using Elementary OS Freya (Ubuntu 14 LTS) I did run into a few support limitations in the end, but with custom ppa's you get very far. Since I switched to Loki I didn't experience support limitations.

I think users interact here, on Redit, Twitter and there might even be a Slack channel these days. Welcome and have fun with Elementary OS.

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  • google+ community is strong, too
    – jena
    Commented Jan 22, 2017 at 14:53
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Im just playing around on my 9360 and elementary right now, i wouldve installed it already but as i cant somehow find my ssd to partition it, i guess i will have to wait for an update or something, or the day ive got either balls to ditch windows or ill get a new ssd.

i had problems on windows side with my killer wifi card, so i already changed it for an intel card (8260 i think it was) and it at least has been problemfree.

Im running the i5, 256gb, qhd and 8gb ram version and even the touch seems to work out of the box, keyboard layout is totally off on my scandinavian keyboard, even after i changed it in the settings, but havent looked too much into it, not too bad.

touchpad works like a charm, but you need to enable the touch click yourself in the settings.

so, basically, if only i could see my ssd in the installer i would be happy. have not tried any other distros yet, since arch and elementary are basically what i would be interested in and id love to have elementary here for obvious reasons

oh yeah im writing this on the live cd so my keyboard layout problems is my excuse for bad grammar and being hard to understand

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  • Thanks for that! Can't wait to try. I'm going to try installing eOS, and upgrading the kernel (to make full use of processor). Part of me thinks I should run two linux distros, just in case I get into trouble, but if I can make eOS work, I'll run with it! I hope when I try installer, it can see the drive - that is obviously a bit of a non-starter. Perhaps being pre-loaded with Ubuntu might help? Maybe that's silly but I'll get back to you if it works.
    – SamMorrowDrums
    Commented Jan 21, 2017 at 18:44
  • Update time! So I got it to install after I fiddled around in the bios. edit: Apparently enter doesn't give me a new line... Just a sec and I'll write the rest of this
    – Smig
    Commented Jan 21, 2017 at 21:52
  • Update time! So I got it to install after I fiddled around in the bios. Its been a few hours and I had to fight with windows aswell so I'll write the best I can. You need to disable sata compatability from "raidOn" to "off" so that eOS can find it. Also, I'd suggest you turn off secure boot. If someone reading this wants to dualboot, definetely partition your drive in windows first! After that its just next-next-next and even the touch works and also got the keyboard working as it should. Don't know about the stock killer wlan card tho. Continuing in the next one-->
    – Smig
    Commented Jan 21, 2017 at 21:59
  • For the people who want to dualboot, do pick windows boot manager or use alternatives to grub since according to forums/stackexhange(cant remember) windows might have problems sleeping, but this just means that you have to pick the os twice as I gathered. Have not tried this yet, since I partitioned in linux, so my windows freaked out and dont have it running yet. So. Dualbooters, definetely just partition in windows as you wont have a chance to have 2 drives. But sound and everything is going to work just beautifully, i have had more trouble with even ubuntu and mint installs on some laptops!
    – Smig
    Commented Jan 21, 2017 at 22:04
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i thing you have a lot of question ;) and i will try to answer them.

if you plan on contributing in development your are very welcome. depending on which level you want to contribute (website, desktop, applications) i would say start reading the guidelines and tutorials written on the website.

elementary has explored other ways. i believe debian but i don't know what the conclusion was.

elementary community is mostly google plus also for 3th party developers. Via IRC you can contact elementary developer. The elementary developers have a private back office in Slack to talk about stuff.

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  • It must be compatible with Linux kernel 4.4 dell.com/uk/p/xps-13-9360-laptop/…
    – SamMorrowDrums
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 14:00
  • Thanks for all the info, a lot of useful stuff there. It's hard starting out in new community. Interesting idea to look at Juno beta too.
    – SamMorrowDrums
    Commented Jan 19, 2017 at 14:05
  • kernel forums say in 4.10 to have fully kaby lake support. ubuntu forums say 4.4 is workable. so i prefer to have fully support instead of workable even if it is a development system
    – kay
    Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 7:18
  • Makes a lot of sense. I guess Dell just ship with latest LTS, but that's actually not great if hardware support is not fully available.
    – SamMorrowDrums
    Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 11:28
  • Although, if going with Ubuntu directly I was going to move to latest stable, rather than LTS, which i guess is fairly common.
    – SamMorrowDrums
    Commented Jan 20, 2017 at 11:30

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