Ubuntu 18.10 display server

[InertiaSelling]

Hi. I'm currently running Ubuntu 17.10 on my XPS 15 9560. I chose it over 18.04 solely because it defaults to Wayland as opposed to Xorg, which would freeze on shutdown and reboot when using Intel rather than Nvidia graphics, and was incompatible with the extended gestures shell extension. I know Wayland wasn't the default option for the LTS release because of compatibility issues with several programs, but I can't find any information on the default display server for the upcoming version. This matters to me because support for 17.10 will end a few months before Cosmic Cuttlefish gets released, and I will have to switch for security reasons. Does anyone know?

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 minutes ago, InertiaSelling said:

I chose it over 18.04 solely because it defaults to Wayland as opposed to Xorg,

this is a option at login and can be changed very easily

 

 

[InertiaSelling]

8 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

this is a option at login and can be changed very easily

I know. Notice how I said 17.10 defaulted to Wayland, not that one could not choose between both options in either 17.10 or 18.04.

The thing is, I don't want to depend on that for a machine I use everyday. That means I wouldn't be able to shut down, reboot or sleep if I ever forgot to pick Wayland at boot. I need the OS to use it by default, either because it was meant that way, or because I can change the default value somewhere.

[jde3]

Xorg should not be hanging the system on shutdown, you have something wrong. (bad driver?) Try a newer kernel maybe.

 

For Wayland.. I think it's not quite there yet. Some people use it and like it, I've just stuck with good old reliable X.

 

Also Dell verifies their software for the hardware. So if something is wrong when everything is default you may have a hardware problem.

[InertiaSelling]

13 minutes ago, jde3 said:

Xorg should not be hanging the system on shutdown

Yes, I know this is not its expected behaviour, but apparently, there are just a ton of graphics-related issues with the XPS 15. The solution I've seen most often is to just install Nvidia's proprietary drivers, and while this would work, I would have to forget about the 10-hour battery life, which is unacceptable. When using the iGPU, I simply noticed that I had fewer issues with Wayland as opposed to Xorg.

[jde3]

Hmm.. thats a shame. Laptops have always been trouble with Linux, it's why you see so many Mac books at Linux conventions. Manufactures tweek them in odd ways then forget to tell anyone, so people have to figure this out on the fly.

[Electronics Wizardy]

6 hours ago, InertiaSelling said:

I know. Notice how I said 17.10 defaulted to Wayland, not that one could not choose between both options in either 17.10 or 18.04.

The thing is, I don't want to depend on that for a machine I use everyday. That means I wouldn't be able to shut down, reboot or sleep if I ever forgot to pick Wayland at boot. I need the OS to use it by default, either because it was meant that way, or because I can change the default value somewhere.

why not go fedora that defaults to wayland then?

[InertiaSelling]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

why not go fedora that defaults to wayland then?

I didn't know Fedora used Wayland, I'll give it a go if 18.10 defaults to Xorg. Thank you!

[InertiaSelling]

On 6/27/2018 at 10:49 AM, jde3 said:

so people have to figure this out on the fly.

 

On 6/27/2018 at 5:17 PM, Electronics Wizardy said:

why not go fedora

 

I know this topic is getting old, but everything is fine now, so hopefully this will help someone: since 17.10 went EOL, I've tried a few popular distributions, including Fedora, along with a bunch of popular fixes, and I've had no luck: only my 17.10 install worked properly with Intel's integrated graphics. Then I found stockmind's respin tools for the XPS 9560. Thanks to these and the detailed tutorial, any idiot could build a tailored 18.04 iso for an XPS 15, and that's exactly what I did. The new install works flawlessly, with prime-select set up to switch between Intel and Nvidia graphics, and now proper gesture support as well, thanks to fusuma.