Dell Bringing Thunderbolt 3 USB-C Support To Linux

Freshly Exhumed writes: A series of posts on the Project Sputnik developers' forum at Dell indicate that hardware on a soon to be released XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop will support Thunderbolt 3 USB Type C, which has been tested on the device with video and USB 3.1 on non-dock devices, although Dell's Type C docks are not yet supported. Intel has already implemented Thunderbolt 3 drivers in the Linux kernel, so this Dell initiative represents a first for a physical implementation on a consumer platform.

Say what?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know what this article is talking about. I already have the XPS 13 9350 business model with 16gig ram, and it is currently running Ubuntu 16 LTS with absolutely everything working hardware wise.

The thunderbolt support that's 'coming soon' ? This thunderbolt dock already says its compatible with Ubuntu 14 and there's multiple reports about it working just fine.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=450-AEVM

Re:

[110010001000]

What they are saying is that this laptop ships with Linux installed and supports Thunderbolt 3 USB. I am assuming you installed Linux on your laptop yourself.

Re:Say what?

[Junta]

Which is nice and all, but it's not *Dell* bringing it to linux, it's Intel bringing it to Linux, and Dell blessing that via preloading (which by itself isn't so exciting, though it does make an unambiguous statement about expectations around support).

Re:

[fbobraga]

TFA is really misleading :/

What you are saying is...

[Junta]

That Intel brought that support to Linux, not Dell. Dell gets credit for preloading Linux, but the subject is misleading, given that Intel did the heavy software lifting.

Re:

[phayes]

So Timothy/Freshly_exhumed, what exactly is it that excludes the Thunderbolt 3 USB Type C equipped Google Chomebooks ad Retina MacBooks from being "consumer platforms"? Personal prejudice?

Re:

[somenickname]

I'm not sure if "credit" is the word I'd use when describing Dell pre-loading Linux. I recently got one of their XPS 13 Developer Editions and it's unusable out of the box. It's literally not possible to type on it without spending a huge amount of time trying to fix the touchpad. If anything, buying one of these machines pre-loaded with Linux is probably a deterrent for a new user to ever try Linux again. It's a shame because I really wanted to like the machine.

Re:What you are saying is...

[rahvin112]

Intel should be praised for the extensive Linux development they do. There is a lot of code in the kernel that makes their hardware work that Intel wrote themselves. That's been rare in the past and they deserve praise for it.

Re:

[mattventura]

I'd like to give Dell some credit for offering Linux preloaded (and it even shaves ~$100 off the price), but some of it is just moronic. I was playing with the configurator for one of their laptops, and it told me that the Ubuntu option wasn't compatible with the 4k screen option.

I'd rather have

[rossdee]

a Thunderbolt 2
AKA A10 Warthog
FP?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd rather have an actual thunderbolt. You can't fuck with nature.

If only I didn't already have a laptop I like

[Improv]

There's so little time for all the neat-looking hardware that's been coming out recently.

R and D

[ISoldat53]

Dell still has R and D?

Re: R and D

[tysonedwards]

Nope, just Marketing around Intel's R&D Efforts.

Watch out for spies

[fustakrakich]

FTW:

Full-featured USB Type-C cables are active, electronically marked cables that contain a chip with an ID function...

Sounds like something that will make headlines soon.

Drivers before available hardware?

[whoever57]

So what this article is saying is that the drivers were available before the hardware was available.

There must be exploding minds amongst those people at Microsoft who used to promote the idea that Linux had poor hardware support.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

You can already buy the laptop in question, its the XPS13 9350, and you can already buy the USB-C thunderbolt dock, thats the TB15. AND, the dock and laptop already work together in Linux. You just have to install Linux yourself on the 9350 right now, and its extremely pain free. The only bit of new information from the article appears to be that Dell is going to offer the 9350 pre-installed with Linux eventually, which is not a surprise.

This works already

[1umpy]

I speak from experience: I'm typing this on a keyboard & screen that are connected to my XPS 13 with a Dell USB type C dock (WD15)... and it's obviously working. :-)

There are two points to note however:

1. 1. You will probably have to install a recent kernel yourself (Linux 4.5 with Fedora in my case).
2. 2. The issues with Dell's dock that are mentioned on their forum may refer to their Thunderbolt dock, the TB15.
   For more information on the difference see http://www.dell.com/support/ar... [dell.com].