Dell Inspiron 15 - 5547

Full Hardware Reference:
http://downloads.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_laptop/esuprt_inspiron_laptop/inspiron-15-5547-laptop_Reference%20Guide_en-us.pdf

Using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

Sound

Problem: alsa is using the HDMI audio output as first “default device”
Fix: Edit /etc/asound.conf

pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm "hw:1,0"
  }
}
ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card 1
}

Graphics

Tested:

• xserver-xorg-video-intel only
• Catalyst fglrx 14.12
• Catalyst fglrx 15.3
• Catalyst fglrx 15.7
• Catalyst fglrx 15.9
• Kernel 4.3 with AMDGPU from (http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/drm-next/)
• Kernel 4.5rc3

Catalyst

Using Catalyst it is only possible to use radeon or intel at a time. No application based switching.

14.20, 15.3, 15.7, 15.9 all show tearing on desktop and games.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log notes:

(II) fglrx(0): TearFreeDesktop is not supported on PowerXpress systems currently.

See Bug: http://ati.cchtml.com/show_bug.cgi?id=467

AMDGPU

Topaz/Iceland is supported by amdgpu from kernel v4.5-rc3. xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu is required and not available on trusty.

Older kernels will trigger the following bug:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=91330

Intel

Complete Tear Free alternative: Purge fglrx and use intel only with the following X11 configuration. (Switching to intel via amdcccle does not solve the tearing.)

/etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "Device"
    Identifier "intel"
    Driver "intel"
    Option "TearFree" "True"
EndSection

Hardware Video Decoding

vlc can use the Intel i965 card for video decoding using VA-API

$ sudo apt-get install i965-va-driver
$ vainfo 
libva info: VA-API version 0.35.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_35
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 0.35 (libva 1.3.0)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver - 1.3.0
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileVC1Simple              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Main                :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Advanced            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileNone                   :	VAEntrypointVideoProc
      VAProfileJPEGBaseline           :	VAEntrypointVLD

# lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT DRAM Controller [8086:0a04] (rev 0b)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0a16] (rev 0b)
00:03.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller [8086:0a0c] (rev 0b)
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series USB xHCI HC [8086:9c31] (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HECI #0 [8086:9c3a] (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller [8086:9c20] (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:9c14] (rev e4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 4 [8086:9c16] (rev e4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 5 [8086:9c18] (rev e4)
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 8 Series USB EHCI #1 [8086:9c26] (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 8 Series LPC Controller [8086:9c43] (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 8 Series SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] [8086:9c03] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 8 Series SMBus Controller [8086:9c22] (rev 04)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 07)
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 3160 [8086:08b3] (rev 83)
03:00.0 Display controller [0380]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Topaz XT [Radeon R7 M260/M265] [1002:6900]