Dell System

This plugin supports Dell dock with no dependencies on Dell system.

Components

Supported hardware devices:

• USB Hubs
• MST
• TBT
• EC
• LAN
• Retimer/dpmux
• PD
• RMM

Device topology

When this plugin is used, devices present in other plugins may be shown in the topology of this dock. This is intentional as this plugin works together with those plugins to manage the flashing of all components.

• synaptics_vmm9
• intel_usb4

Firmware Format

The daemon will decompress the cabinet archive and extract several firmware blobs with an unspecified binary file format.

This plugin supports the following protocol ID:

• com.dell.kestrel

GUID Generation

These devices use several different generation schemes, e.g.

Dock config independent devices

• Embedded Controller: USB\VID_413C&PID_B06E&DOCKTYPE_07&DEVTYPE_00
• RTS0 USB 3 G1 Hub: USB\VID_413C&PID_B0A1&DOCKTYPE_07
• RTS0 USB 3 G2 hub: USB\VID_413C&PID_B0A2&DOCKTYPE_07
• RTS5 USB 3 G2 hub: USB\VID_413C&PID_B0A3&DOCKTYPE_07
• RMM: USB\VID_413C&PID_B0A4
• MST: USB\VID_413C&PID_B0A5
• LAN: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DEVTYPE_07

DP ALT config

• Package: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_01&DEVTYPE_PACKAGE
• PD UP 5: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_01&DEVTYPE_01&INST_00
• PD UP 15: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_01&DEVTYPE_01&INST_01

T4 config

• Package: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_02&DEVTYPE_PACKAGE
• PD UP 5: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_02&DEVTYPE_01&INST_00
• PD UP 15: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_02&DEVTYPE_01&INST_01
• PD UP 17: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_02&DEVTYPE_01&INST_02
• TBT Controller: TBT-00d4b0a1

T5 config

• Package: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_03&DEVTYPE_PACKAGE
• PD UP 5: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_03&DEVTYPE_01&INST_00
• PD UP 15: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_03&DEVTYPE_01&INST_01
• PD UP 17: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_03&DEVTYPE_01&INST_02
• Retimer: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_03&DEVTYPE_06
• WT PD: EC\DOCKTYPE_07&DOCKSKU_03&DEVTYPE_10
• TBT Controller: TBT-00d4b0a2

Update Behavior

This dock contains multiple components and updates in a specific sequence.

Components don’t reboot during firmware writing; updates are staged and managed activation according to the plugin-defined process during the composite_cleanup phase. The Power Button LED of the dock will flash three times to indicate the update is completed.

There are two ways to trigger the staged firmware, and the update behavior can be adjusted via the plugin configuration UpdateOnDisconnect.

Update on Connected (UOC)

When all the component updates are installed and staged to the dock, the dock reboots the devices to activate the new version immediately. The connected peripherals on the dock side will be disconnected from the host, and take a few minutes to finish.

Starting from fwupd 2.0.17, or 1.9.33, this is the default update behavior.

Update on Disconnected (UOD)

Staged updates are activated when the dock’s Type-C cable is disconnected from the host, while the power cable must remain connected to support the update process. This design ensures devices remain usable during firmware installation in the user’s OS runtime session.

Plugin Configuration

This plugin supports the following parameters by modifying dell_kestrel section of /etc/fwupd/fwupd.conf.

UpdateOnDisconnect

The firmware updates are staged to the devices in the dell dock and activated when the user manually unplugs the dock cable. Default: false.

Vendor ID Security

The vendor ID is set from the USB vendor, in this instance set to USB:0x413C

Owners

Anyone can submit a pull request to modify this plugin, but the following people should be consulted before making major or functional changes:

• Crag Wang: CragW