[CentOS] XPS 13 9370 / CentOS compat

[Nataraj]

On 11/7/18 7:28 AM, Leon Fauster via CentOS wrote:
> Am 07.11.2018 um 15:15 schrieb Jim Perrin <jperrin at centos.org>:
>> On 11/3/18 12:32 PM, Leon Fauster via CentOS wrote:
>>> Anyone with some Dell laptop XPS 13 9370 (2018) experience here?
>>> Especially with that "Killer 1435 (802.11ac 2x2 und Bluetooth)" device?
>>> Supported by the stock kernel (EL7)?
>>
>> I had reasonably unreliable performance with that particular
>> chip(sometimes wireless wouldn't wake up from sleep and I'd have to
>> reboot), and ended up replacing it with an intel 8265 chip. It takes
>> about 10 minutes to swap, and got me much better performance on my 9370.
>>
>> Link below is the one I picked up, but you may be able to find it for
>> cheaper. Dell tells me that swapping it doesn't void the warranty, so
>> I'm good with it.
>> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZA1AB2
>>
> Thank you for taking the time. A valuable information! The 9365 variant seems
> to be shipped with a Intel8265 card. I will get in contact with DELL and try to
> request it for the 9370 model ...
>
> --

I have an xps 13 9360 and had problems with the killer wireless. I got 
virtually 0 support from Dell on this issue.  Some people who upgraded 
their warranty to Dell Pro Support were able to get dell to send them a 
new ethernet card, but some upgraded their support and still got no help.

I am running Ubuntu 18.04 on mine.  A while back, I don't know the exact 
date, there was a substanial bugfix in the mainline kernel which 
appeared in the Ubuntu  kernel roughly in the May/June 2018 timeframe 
which improved support for the killer chip.  You might  check to see if 
this bugfix got backported to redhat/centos.  Also some people have 
tweaked some parameters in the driver and improved the performance of 
their killer ethernets.

Before you order a card, I suggest you verify that your laptop actually 
has one. (I believe if you download the manuals for your xps, it will 
include instructions for replacing the card if it is replacable).  My 
understanding was that as of the 2018 models, most, if not all of these 
laptops switched from using cards to soldering the chips directly on the 
motherboard.

I did replace my ethernet card with an Intel 8265 card (my xps is a 2017 
model).  For me the 8265 works well with some wifi hubs, but has packet 
loss problems with others, particularly some older hubs that I have.  I 
did verify that the killer card performed well under windows 10 with the 
same hubs which did not work well under Linux.

Nataraj