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[Update Dec 16 - screen flickering almost fixed; suspend works; multiple monitors work]
I've installed Arch on a new Ice Lake Inspiron 5493 stocked with a Core i5, 8 GB RAM, and a 512 GB nvme drive. I want to report what works and what doesn't, to help people interested in this machine, and to ask for help with the few remaining problems.
General comments on this laptop: It is very light and quiet; when they turn on, the fans are not obnoxious. The screen is very sharp and colorful (but I don't have any way to measure colorspace coverage), and it's adequately bright (I actually turn down the brightness a tad when working). It's very fast and responsive.
Things that work:
* I upgraded the memory to 16 GB using a single-rank 2666 module. Zero issues.
* I installed a SATA SSD drive on the laptop's second drive slot. Zero issues.
* Ethernet, audio, USB, and a second monitor plugged to the HDMI port all work with zero issues. I'm using mons to configure the second monitor; works perfectly.
* MPV reports it's using the video decoder hardware accelerator. I can watch HD movies without any issues and without the fans turning on.
* The backlight intensity can be controlled by writing/reading from the usual files under `/sys`.
* The keyboard light can be controlled with F5 -- I think this is controlled by the BIOS, since I didn't do anything to make this work.
* Suspend using systemd works fine.
* Redlight can control the display's color temperature with zero issues.
Things that don't work and I need help with:
* WiFi. The laptop uses a QC9377 module and the `ath10k_pci` firmware crashes upon loading. Tons of information about this on the internet but no resolution for this particular module. I don't need WiFi at the moment, so my plan at the moment is wait and see if it gets fixed.
* I figured that, in order to fix screen flickering, I had to install a compositor. Unfortunately xcompmgr didn't fix the issue. I installed picom-git. With the xrandr backend, it doesn't fix the flickering. With glx, it does fix it, but there is a small issue where the top few pixels of the screen turn black for a fraction of a second. So, I'd say the problem is 95% fixed.
* The speakers crackle for a second, at high volume, when booting.
Things I haven't tried:
* Hybernation.
* Bluetooth.
* Webcam.
* Sound recording.
Last edited by buo (2019-12-16 23:43:53)
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