Ubuntu on Dell XPS 15 9560 (2017)

Solution 1:

I have been using the Dell XPS 15 9560 in a dual boot configuration for a few weeks now. I am running Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.04. It all works fine, except the finger print reader under Ubuntu, which I didn't manage to have detected.

I mainly use it for programming, and for machine learning I use Tensorflow and the laptop GPU. I haven't yet run battery intensive applications (e.g. games) while under battery, but I can say that, under Ubuntu, switching from NVIDIA to the integrated graphics (under NVIDIA X Server Settings) and lowering the display brightness, I would get an estimated battery life of 6-8 hours. With NVIDIA GPU and display brightness maxed out, 2-3 hours.

Installing Ubuntu Desktop from USB was quite easy, just had to disable the RAID support under BIOS (the provided SSD is anyway not a RAID). I had tried installing Ubuntu Server, that usually detects and handles RAID at installation time, but with this laptop it didn't.

Under Ubuntu I am running the latest NVIDIA drivers automatically installed by Ubuntu updates, 375-51; under Windows, the latest NVIDIA drivers available.

Solution 2:

I dual boot this laptop with Ubuntu 16.04. I had to do a bit of tinkering to get everything working right, particularly the NVIDIA GPU.

1. Upgrade to mainline kernel (at least 4.9.10, but latest version is at 4.9.15). I however use kernel 4.10.2 presently.
2. Use nvidia-375, not nvidia-378 drivers
3. Add some GRUB boot params
4. update to latest BIOS from DELL

Battery life when using Intel is good - I get up to 7-8 hours, but drops when I use NVIDIA (I've to admit that I did not tweak the power consumption. Dual monitor support works, all other hardware works, like touchpad, wifi, camera, sound etc.

Here's a link to a Github page that outlines what you need to do.