Dell XPS 13 Plus: Developer Edition Certified for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

As Dell and UK Linux distributor Canonical announced, the Dell XPS 13 Plus (9320) Developer Edition is the first notebook ever officially approved for use with the popular Linux distribution Ubuntu 22.04 LTS based on the system kernel Linux 5.15 LTS certified.

Dell and Canonical certify five models

The Dell XPS 13 Plus Developer Edition is included in the “Ubuntu Certified Laptops‘ by Ubuntu 22.04 LTS also known as ‘Jammy Jellyfish’, making it the first certified OEM computer. 321 systems were released for the previous generation Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Ubuntu certified systems (source)

• Ubuntu 18.04 LTS: 258 systems
• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS: 321 Systems
• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS: 5 Systems

Developers working with Ubuntu, in particular, should take advantage of the official upgrade from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (“Focal Fossa”) to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and its improved performance and more efficient power-saving mechanisms, explains product manager Jaewook Woo.

By bringing the enhanced performance and power management features of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS to our most advanced premium laptop, Dell and Canonical reinforce our joint commitment to continue to deliver the best computing experience for developers using Ubuntu. Jaewook Woo, Product Manager at Dell

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, which can be optionally pre-installed with the purchase of a Dell XPS 13 Plus Developer Edition, offers improvements to the free display server protocol wayland and brings new applications, tools, and subsystems for developers. The base is Linux 5.15 LTS with support until October 2023.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with Gnome 42 and Linux 5.15 LTS (Image: Canonical) As part of an update to the hardware enablement stack, there will also be an optional HWE kernel, which will likely be based on Linux 5.17. This kernel would support the latest hardware at the time but will be updated only 6 months after release. Ubuntu 22.04 (“Jammy Jellyfish”) in detail

• Linux 5.15LTS*
• Optional: Linux 5.17** as HWE kernel
• Mozilla Firefox 99.0
• Mozilla Thunderbird 91.8
• LibreOffice 7.3.2
• Mesa3D 22.0.1
• gnomes 42
• GTK3

*) Support for 5 years **) Support for 6 months

It all started with the Sputnik project

Dell and Canonical began their partnership in 2012 with the first Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition, then an Intel Core i3-3517U based on Ivy Bridge, with pre-installed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (“Precise Pangolin”), via the ComputerBase at the also reported the time.

The XPS 13 is a long-standing flagship series for Ubuntu on laptops. It’s great to see the XPS 13 Plus and Ubuntu 22.04 deliver a premium hardware and software experience for developers, 10 years after Project Sputnik started. Oliver Smith, Product Manager for Ubuntu at Canonical

The current Dell XPS 13 Plus (9320) with Windows 11 will have to prove itself in a detailed test by the ComputerBase editors in the future.