Arch Linux

dankles

Member

Registered: 2010-01-19

Posts: 8

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

I'm having an issue with blurry tray icons using HiDPI GTK3, I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this. I've read to set GDK_SCALE=2 and GDK_DPI_SCALE=0.5 to get proper hidpi in GTK3 applications. This works and makes the GTK3 applications scale correctly, except for the tray icons. In fact, the tray icons actually scale fine without those environment variables set. Only the applications themselves don't scale without them. One other HiDPI tweak I have set is "xrandr --dpi 192", otherwise programs like Xterm, dmenu and the WM won't scale.

Here are some screenshots:
- Without GDK_SCALE=2 and GDK_DPI_SCALE=0.5:
I get good tray icons with some unscaled menu text. GTK3 applications themselves don't scale properly as expected.

- With GDK_SCALE=2 and GDK_DPI_SCALE=0.5:
You can see blurry tray icons, but with properly scaled menu text. GTK3 applications scale as expected.

It seems to me like GDK_SCALE=2 and GDK_DPI_SCALE=0.5 is causing the already scaled tray icons to scale again.

I'm using the elementary icon set, which is svg. I've tried with a couple other icon sets with no luck either.

I'm running the latest gtk 3.22.1 on arch linux. I'm using i3-wm, but I've seen this same issue on xmonad with trayer and on budgie desktop too for non-indicator tray icons. I'll also note that everything scales fine in gnome desktop on my hardware which is of course a Dell XPS 13 9350.

Any one seen this too? Any ideas?

frank604

Member

From: BC, Canada

Registered: 2011-04-20

Posts: 1,212

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

@dankles, you should post this as a new thread in newbie corner to get a wider audience to your issue.  Most people come here for xps 9350 specific issues or updates.  Do a search though and see if anything comes up?

SupaHotFireee

Member

Registered: 2016-10-01

Posts: 10

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

I gave it one more shot and it still failed to build, here are the errors i got (snippit of the last bit):

LD      drivers/nvme/host/built-in.o
CC [M]  drivers/nvme/host/core.o
drivers/nvme/host/core.c: In function ‘nvme_configure_apst’:
drivers/nvme/host/core.c:1308:5: warning: passing argument 4 of ‘nvme_set_features’ makes integer from pointer without a cast [-Wint-conversion]
     table, sizeof(*table), NULL);
     ^~~~~
drivers/nvme/host/core.c:626:5: note: expected ‘dma_addr_t {aka long long unsigned int}’ but argument is of type ‘struct nvme_feat_auto_pst *’
 int nvme_set_features(struct nvme_ctrl *dev, unsigned fid, unsigned dword11,
     ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
drivers/nvme/host/core.c:1308:12: warning: passing argument 5 of ‘nvme_set_features’ makes pointer from integer without a cast [-Wint-conversion]
     table, sizeof(*table), NULL);
            ^~~~~~
drivers/nvme/host/core.c:626:5: note: expected ‘u32 * {aka unsigned int *}’ but argument is of type ‘long unsigned int’
 int nvme_set_features(struct nvme_ctrl *dev, unsigned fid, unsigned dword11,
     ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
drivers/nvme/host/core.c:1307:8: error: too many arguments to function ‘nvme_set_features’
  ret = nvme_set_features(ctrl, NVME_FEAT_AUTO_PST, apste,
        ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
drivers/nvme/host/core.c:626:5: note: declared here
 int nvme_set_features(struct nvme_ctrl *dev, unsigned fid, unsigned dword11,
     ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
make[3]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:291: drivers/nvme/host/core.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:475: drivers/nvme/host] Error 2
make[1]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:475: drivers/nvme] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:978: drivers] Error 2
==> ERROR: A failure occurred in build().
    Aborting...

dankles

Member

Registered: 2010-01-19

Posts: 8

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

@dankles, you should post this as a new thread in newbie corner to get a wider audience to your issue.  Most people come here for xps 9350 specific issues or updates.  Do a search though and see if anything comes up?

I've been searching hi and low on reddit, forums, mailing lists, IRC, etc, for weeks now. Then it hit me that maybe someone using the same laptop as me may have run into this before. I was hoping someone did.

rivelda

Member

Registered: 2016-10-19

Posts: 1

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

Since several weeks my XPS 13, with the QHD touch screen, gives a blank screen directly after selecting Arch Linux in the boot menu.

This is since the end of September, I am not sure if the problem is with the kernel, or an upgrade, or anything else.
I did not use the laptop much in that period, just occasionally running updates.

If I use kernel parameter "nomodeset" from the SYSLINUX boot menu, at least I can boot to a shell.
If I do not use "nomodeset" then almost immediately I get a blank screen.

I tried going back to older packages from the package cache for linux and for the xf86-video-intel package but did not manage to repair the issue.
I tried with and without xf86-video-intel.

If I look in journalctl I see:
[drm:finish_csr_load [i915]] *ERROR* Unknown stepping info, firmware loading failed
[drm:intel_dp_link_training_channel_equalization [i915]] *ERROR* 5.4 Gbps link rate without HBR2/TPS3 Support
Then later on I get a crapton of ACPI errors; I don't get these ACPI errors if I run with "nomodeset".

No idea what to do. I have a USB stick with Manjaro 16.08 and it doesn't work either, same problem. Haven't tried any other Linux OS yet.
BIOS version is 1.4.4, but this is an update from July, and the system had no issues then.
I just tried booting Windows 10 and it also refuses to show a GUI after a few seconds of the loading animation (the circle).

kgizdov

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Edinburgh, UK

Registered: 2015-12-08

Posts: 113

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

Hi all,

Haven't had problems in a while, but since 4.8.2 my display is freaking out when connected to secondary screen. Recently, when I plug in a monitor into my DA200, it all works fine for a moment, but then as I move the cursor through the edge of one screen to get to the other, all hell breaks loose. I'm not sure what changed in 4.8.2, but my whole GUI lags, stutters and I even experienced a full crash. Can anyone confirm this on 4.8.2 while also no problems on 4.7.6. I wanna know if that's really a bug.

Thanks.

bkuri

Member

From: Mexico City

Registered: 2010-01-08

Posts: 27

Website

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

Hi all,

Haven't had problems in a while, but since 4.8.2 my display is freaking out when connected to secondary screen. Recently, when I plug in a monitor into my DA200, it all works fine for a moment, but then as I move the cursor through the edge of one screen to get to the other, all hell breaks loose. I'm not sure what changed in 4.8.2, but my whole GUI lags, stutters and I even experienced a full crash. Can anyone confirm this on 4.8.2 while also no problems on 4.7.6. I wanna know if that's really a bug.

Thanks.

I've been getting monitor glitches since before 4.8.2, but it has definitely gotten worse with this latest update.

I have 2 monitors connected through a TB15 dock, and the XPS13 monitor glitches every now and then when I connect it. Now with this latest update the right external monitor glitches sometimes when I go through monitor edges with the mouse pointer as well.

---

Dell XPS 13 (9350) // i7 // 16GB // 512GB

belette

Member

Registered: 2014-11-17

Posts: 121

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

I have updated to kernel 4.8.2, anyone know if the recent NVME improvement has been merged into this version yet ?
Another question regarding video chip, I used for a couple of version to use i915.enable_fbc=0 i915.enable_psr=0 pcie_aspm=force, is this still useful ? It is working great but I am losing some battery for sure...

Many thanks

robsmith11

Member

Registered: 2016-09-10

Posts: 23

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

I have updated to kernel 4.8.2, anyone know if the recent NVME improvement has been merged into this version yet ?

The NVME patches are definitely not in 4.8, and I don't think they made it into 4.9 either.

kn

Member

Registered: 2016-02-07

Posts: 11

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

In case somebody is shopping for hardware:
I have recently bought this USB-C compatible 4K screen: LG 27UD88-W. With current stable 4.8.3 kernel as well as 4.8.1-NVME it works just fine with 4K@60Hz, power delivery and USB keyboard.

diraimondo

Member

Registered: 2014-03-28

Posts: 61

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

In case somebody is shopping for hardware:
I have recently bought this USB-C compatible 4K screen: LG 27UD88-W. With current stable 4.8.3 kernel as well as 4.8.1-NVME it works just fine with 4K@60Hz, power delivery and USB keyboard.

Can you clarify what are you able to do with this monitor and our laptop? You use one usb-c thunderbold cable to connect the monitor to the laptop, right? The laptop is charged by the monitor (wow!!) and you are able to use a usb keyboard connected to the monitor?

Thanks you in advance.

belette

Member

Registered: 2014-11-17

Posts: 121

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

thanks!
what about all the video tweaks ? any improvements on 4.8.x ?

I have updated to kernel 4.8.2, anyone know if the recent NVME improvement has been merged into this version yet ?

The NVME patches are definitely not in 4.8, and I don't think they made it into 4.9 either.

kuia

Member

Registered: 2015-11-09

Posts: 11

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

Has anyone created a good config file for the touch-screen yet, with gestures incl. website browsing (rather than just 'mouse selection') etc?

On this point: what appears to me happening with me, is my touch-screen works for a little while during a single load, but then at some point stops responding (the rest of the machine staying fine). No idea why.

belette

Member

Registered: 2014-11-17

Posts: 121

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

It seems to be better on 4.8.x
-Ethernet connection seems to work and is stable now...
-VGA is working also on high resolution (2500+)
-HDMI is now the only remaining issue where the maximum resolution is 832x624 !

On this last point anyone has been able to get better and how ?

Many thanks

USB type C Dell DA200...

Anyone who has been able to make it work correctly ?
I saw on different past posts that a lot are complaining, on my side in some previous kernel I was able to get Ethernet connectivity, then it was unstable, now on 4.7.3 no connection at all.
Speaking about HDMI, maximum resolution is 832x624 !!
Only VGA is working fine (full HD ok).
So at the end this multi adapter is only working on one slot for me it is too bad

I remember I saw on Dell support website that the firmware can be upgraded (only from Windows), someone tried and make it better after the upgrade ?
Many thanks

frank604

Member

From: BC, Canada

Registered: 2011-04-20

Posts: 1,212

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

@supahotfireee, seems there is some big changes upstream.  I was able to compile but not able to boot into yesterday's nightly.  I'll update here once I have time to troubleshoot.  In the meantime, do you want a binary of a working intel-drm-nightly?

@dankles, Can you revert your dpi/scale changes and try the scaling-factor via gsettings in combination with xrandr?  https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI#GNOME

SupaHotFireee

Member

Registered: 2016-10-01

Posts: 10

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

Hey frank, I would love a binary! I would just like to say I really appreciate you taking your time and managing that repository for those of us who aren't as advanced yet, it's incredibly helpful.

frank604

Member

From: BC, Canada

Registered: 2011-04-20

Posts: 1,212

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

@supahotfireee, Ok, it's on its way to the intel drm nightly repo on my github.  I'm uploading the 09/26/2016 nightly as I feel out of the recent ones, this is the most stable for me?   Meh, my github isn't perfect, good to hear it helps though.  Mostly for me in case I need to restore.

SupaHotFireee

Member

Registered: 2016-10-01

Posts: 10

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

Thanks frank! I appreciate it

kgizdov

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Edinburgh, UK

Registered: 2015-12-08

Posts: 113

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

I've been getting monitor glitches since before 4.8.2, but it has definitely gotten worse with this latest update.

I have 2 monitors connected through a TB15 dock, and the XPS13 monitor glitches every now and then when I connect it. Now with this latest update the right external monitor glitches sometimes when I go through monitor edges with the mouse pointer as well.

It seems to be better on 4.8.x
-Ethernet connection seems to work and is stable now...
-VGA is working also on high resolution (2500+)
-HDMI is now the only remaining issue where the maximum resolution is 832x624 !
On this last point anyone has been able to get better and how ?
Many thanks

I was always able to get up to *x720 or *x960 on HDMI depending on monitor. Also Ethernet was always good for me. But since 4.8.x stuff just keeps getting worse and worse. Now with 4.8.4, my TPM is not recognised. The kernel just doesn't initiate it.

# ls /sys/class/tpm/
#

On top of that, as soon as I close my lid, my laptop freezes and after a while crashes completely. Screen flicker is still a problem for me on dual screens. Not sure what they did in 4.8, but it's ruined my otherwise very capable machine.

frank604

Member

From: BC, Canada

Registered: 2011-04-20

Posts: 1,212

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

@dankles, you should post this as a new thread in newbie corner to get a wider audience to your issue.  Most people come here for xps 9350 specific issues or updates.  Do a search though and see if anything comes up?

I've been searching hi and low on reddit, forums, mailing lists, IRC, etc, for weeks now. Then it hit me that maybe someone using the same laptop as me may have run into this before. I was hoping someone did.

Now that I have a QHD, here's how I have it setup.  Still not perfect but it's a work in progress as I've just delved into hidpi today.

~/.Xresources

...
  ! Font settings
  Xft.dpi: 192
  Xft.autohint: 0
  Xft.lcdfilter:  lcddefault
  Xft.hintstyle:  hintfull
  Xft.hinting: 1
  Xft.antialias: 1
  Xft.rgba: rgb
...

Script according to the hidpi archwiki:

Display only on external monitor via hdmi:

xrandr --output eDP-1 --off --output DP-1-1 --auto --panning 2880x1620+0+0 --scale 1.5x1.5  --output DP-1-3 --off

Display built-in monitor with external monitor:

xrandr --output eDP-1 --auto --output DP-1-1 --auto --panning 2880x1620+3200+0 --scale 1.5x1.5  --output DP-1-3 --off

eDP-1 is built-in, DP-1-1 is first external monitor, DP-1-3 is second external monitor.  Since I am testing and trying to find the right setup, I have DP-1-3 off for now.

2880 = 1920 * 1.5
1620 = 1080 * 1.5
3200 = starting X position is needed for second monitor where built-in stops.  Since eDP-1 is 3200x1800, 3200 is used.  Note that when I am only using DP-1-1 I change 3200 to 0 as this is where the display starts.

***Need to work on fine tuning the sharpness of fonts on external monitor but I find scale of 1.5 to be on par scaling.  I haven't tried the other methods that don't use scaling.  However, I'm not completely satisfied with this approach.***

Output of xrandr:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2880 x 1620, maximum 8192 x 8192
eDP-1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   3200x1800     59.98 +  47.99  
   2048x1536     60.00  
   1920x1440     60.00  
   1856x1392     60.01  
   1792x1344     60.01  
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1400x1050     59.98  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1024x768      60.04    60.00  
   960x720       60.00  
   928x696       60.05  
   896x672       60.01  
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25  
   700x525       59.98  
   640x512       60.02  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
   512x384       60.00  
   400x300       60.32    56.34  
   320x240       60.05  
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-1 connected 2880x1620+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 531mm x 299mm panning 2880x1620+0+0
   1920x1080     60.00*+  50.00    59.94    59.99  
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1680x1050     59.88  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1440x900      59.90  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1366x768      59.79  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1280x720      60.00    50.00    59.94  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   720x576       50.00  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    60.00    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
DP-1-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-3 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1920x1080     60.00 +
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1680x1050     59.95  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1440x900      59.89  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  

Question to QHD owners, how did you guys setup for external monitors ?  I'm using just a tiling WM so any manual suggestions welcome.

Last edited by frank604 (2016-10-25 22:42:20)

kgizdov

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Edinburgh, UK

Registered: 2015-12-08

Posts: 113

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

@frank604, I am very happy with Gnome on Wayland. It configures all displays automatically and has native support for separate DPI settings per monitor (also applied automatically and UI elements reflow when moved from one screen to another). I used to have this command (ZSH):

ext-disp () {
	WIDTH=$(($1 * $2))x$(($1 * $3)) 
	echo $WIDTH
	xrandr --output eDP1 --auto --scale 1x1
	sleep 1
	xrandr --output DP1 --auto --scale $1x$1
	sleep 1
	xrandr --output DP1 --panning $WIDTH+3200+0
}

which takes the size of the external monitor in pixel and the scaling ratio of choice and configures it to work with Xserver. Maybe it will be useful for you.

kn

Member

Registered: 2016-02-07

Posts: 11

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

In case somebody is shopping for hardware:
I have recently bought this USB-C compatible 4K screen: LG 27UD88-W. With current stable 4.8.3 kernel as well as 4.8.1-NVME it works just fine with 4K@60Hz, power delivery and USB keyboard.

Can you clarify what are you able to do with this monitor and our laptop? You use one usb-c thunderbold cable to connect the monitor to the laptop, right? The laptop is charged by the monitor (wow!!) and you are able to use a usb keyboard connected to the monitor?

Thanks you in advance.

Sorry for the late reply.
Besides the usual HDMI/DP ports, the monitor has a USB-C port as well as two USB-A ports for peripherals. I am currently connected through a single USB-C/USB-C cable to the monitor from XPS 13. The laptop is charging, delivering 4K@60Hz video (recognized in xrandr as DisplayPort) as well as use the external keyboard (USB-A from the monitor) at the same time. I haven't tested it but I suppose an external drive could also be connected through the other USB-A port, giving us power-in, video-out and data IO at the same time through USB-C, although with charging enabled the data transfers to USB-A connected devices are supposed to be lower. Basically it's a USB-C docking station built in the 4K monitor. Let me know if you would like me to test anything, I'd be happy to provide some more concrete numbers

Last edited by kn (2016-10-27 20:37:58)

diraimondo

Member

Registered: 2014-03-28

Posts: 61

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

Besides the usual HDMI/DP ports, the monitor has a USB-C port as well as two USB-A ports for peripherals. I am currently connected through a single USB-C/USB-C cable to the monitor from XPS 13. The laptop is charging, delivering 4K@60Hz video (recognized in xrandr as DisplayPort) as well as use the external keyboard (USB-A from the monitor) at the same time. I haven't tested it but I suppose an external drive could also be connected through the other USB-A port, giving us power-in, video-out and data IO at the same time through USB-C, although with charging enabled the data transfers to USB-A connected devices are supposed to be lower. Basically it's a USB-C docking station built in the 4K monitor. Let me know if you would like me to test anything, I'd be happy to provide some more concrete numbers

Thank you for your confirmation on what I was thinking. I already ordered the monitor saving the money required for the Dell dockstation.

kgizdov

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Edinburgh, UK

Registered: 2015-12-08

Posts: 113

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

The other day, I was going through some of the commits in 4.8.5 and 4.8.6 and saw a few directly related to i915 and the sleep/wake cycle specifically for the Dell XPS. So I compiled 4.8.6, installed and now all is well with the world. I can close the lid without worrying about crashes or stuff (touchscreen) not working after I open it back. Also the screen flicker with external monitors seems to be gone. And I find it all more snappy with the patches addressing IO starvation. Try it yourself, I am very happy with it.

P.S. 4.8.6 is now in the packages, so you can just pull it with the update.

rgzfxf6bhu

Member

Registered: 2015-10-30

Posts: 100

Re: Dell XPS 13 9350 Late 2015

I can close the lid without worrying about crashes or stuff (touchscreen) not working after I open it back. Also the screen flicker with external monitors seems to be gone. And I find it all more snappy with the patches addressing IO starvation.

Oh true! Nice thanks for pointing that out.