HP spectre x360 on linux

[kakosf]

Same here. My HP spectre x360 with archlinux installed under the newest kernel 4.4 works just fine. I forgot to say that I also updated the BIOS first. Check the following:

kyriakos@hp-spectre-x360 ~> inxi -Fxm
System:    Host: hp-spectre-x360 Kernel: 4.4.1-2-ARCH x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.3.0)
           Desktop: Gnome 3.18.3 (Gtk 3.18.7) Distro: Arch Linux
Machine:   System: HP product: HP Spectre x360 Convertible
           Mobo: HP model: 804E v: 33.23
           Bios: American Megatrends v: F.2F date: 12/15/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i5-6200U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9603
           clock speeds: max: 2800 MHz 1: 1445 MHz 2: 1625 MHz 3: 1338 MHz
           4: 409 MHz
Memory:    Using dmidecode: dmidecode is not installed.
Graphics:  Card: Intel Sky Lake Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.1 driver: intel
           Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 520 (Skylake GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.1.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel Device 9d70 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.1-2-ARCH
Network:   Card: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: 4c:34:88:94:2c:f3
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 256.1GB (12.9% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: AXNS381E size: 256.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 50G used: 14G (29%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2
           ID-2: /boot size: 511M used: 64M (13%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: /home size: 184G used: 13G (8%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda4
           ID-4: swap-1 size: 4.29GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda3
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 229 Uptime: 5 min Memory: 1402.0/7894.3MB
           Init: systemd Gcc sys: 5.3.0 Client: Shell (fish) inxi: 2.2.33 

 Very pleased, great laptop.

[forkhats]

I was checking out the Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 LTS beta, and the audio loaded without any issue. There were other things that didn't work (e.g. fn keys, touchscreen), but it looks like we might get audio support (for HDA) when 16.04 is released.

[iandre]

Hi !

Anybody knows how to manage the x360 under ubuntu when it is folded ?

i.e how to detect it is folded and  disable the keybord ?

thanks!

regards.

[pedromj]

Hi,

First of all, I'm sorry to post here because my issue is not related to audio but video. I have seen that @kakosf has ArchLinux running fine and I decided to ask for help.

I have installed ArchLinux (latest kernel, latest everything) into my HP Spectre x360 (13-4101ns, equivalent to13-4103dx) and the GPU related operations is not working. The system freezes when I try to run any video acceleration (either 2D and 3D) or I try to run "xrandr" to connect external monitors or rotate the screen. I have disabled 3D acceleration and it is more or less stable but I would like to be able to use the GPU and use "xrandr". Please, let me know if you have it working in any of your systems and the configuration you have used.

Thank you very much.

Regards,

Pedro

[kakosf]

Dear Pedro,

as I said in a previous post I indeed run archlinux on my HP Spectre x360 (13 - 4100nv). In terms of stability/system hangs I can assure you that the machine runs smoothly with no problems at all. To be honest I 've never tried to connect an external monitor so far, thus I can't give you a specific answer to your problem. If I were you I would try the tricks referred to the following part of arch wiki, hoping that you haven't read it already:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/intel_graphics

(at the bottom, Skylake support). My second advice to you is to be patience and wait for the next kernel 4.6 which is in the testing repos (be sure that I am waiting for it too), because as you might be informed has many bug fixes and skylake support improvements.

I know that you needed a more practical answer but for the moment I can't help you more.

Best,

Kyriakos

[pedromj]

Dear Kyriakos,

Thank you for your prompt answer. I had checked the wiki page you mention a couple of times but now I have checked again and there is additional information for Skylake (including the references to GPU hangs and the promises of kernel 4.6). I am now trying kernel 4.6 (you can use it if you include "miffe" repository to your "pacman.conf"). Let's hope it fixes something :-D.

Regarding patience. I am a Linux user for almost 20 years, so I *am* actually patient :-D. However, this is the hardware problem that lasted the most without being fixed in all these years. This laptop is good but these problems with Linux prevent me to recommend it to anybody in my environment. This last sentence is not for you but for HP support staff :-D.

Regards,

Pedro

[kakosf]

Dear Pedro,

I really would like to know your first thoughts/opinion about the new kernel 4.6. Did you notice any improvements/differences on our machine? As you being an experienced linux user, you could not say it better regarding patience, in fact patience is something which is necessary concerning linux OS. However, I 've read recently that plenty things are on the way concerning power management on linux, which is a primary concern, as well as video drivers (e.g., Vulkan, Intel drivers). As for the laptop, I still believe that is a good choice. All in all is a great laptop. To my knowledge there are many complaints on arch forum about Dell XPS with almost the same characteristics with our laptops, I was about to buy one, so I have no regrets for buying HP Spectre. From my experience, I strongly believe that for linux users Lenovo laptops are the main contenders by far, a Thinkpad would be a great choice.

Finally, I could not agree more about your complaints for HP support.

Best,

Kyriakos 

[Str1der]

Hi all, 

Just got it and installed ubuntu 16.04 (during install it updated the kernel to 4.4.0-31).

Pretty much everything works out of the box including sound. I have also tried to hook it to a tv using hdmi and this works too.

Only problem so far is that it does not detect when I flip it to tablet mode to disable the keyboard and rotate the screen. I have found some scripts for lenovo yoga that should do it manually and plan to try them. Anybody has something working?

[AtleN]

I've been using Spectre X360 for a while on Linux, and most works fine. The one annyoing problem I have has to do with graphics.

The problem is that it appears as if the communication between graphics card and monitor is analog and slightly out of sync. Sometimes the picture is blinking and somtimes moving a bit sideways. Also there are tiny white dots blinking or flying accross the screen, only noticeable when the background is black or very dark.

I've googled, but haven't found anyone with similar issue. Also external monitors work fine. Changing resoution does not fix the problem.

I also have Win 10 on the machine, and the problem is not present there.

[pedromj]

Hi all,

Since I updated to kernel 4.6 the problem with graphics has been solved. I have still to check if connecting an external (HDMI) monitor works, as I do not have any to test. When the monitor was connected during bootup it worked but not if I connected it dynamically. If any of you have tested it, please let us know if it works OK. Thank you.

Regards,

Pedro