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Notes on installation and compatibility of Ubuntu with Asus laptop computers.

Summary

Details

Asus A2500K

* SYSTEM LOG ERRORS two ways of proceeding: 1.(only if problem continues)UNINSTALL completely ACPI daemon from apt for solving problems so you don't have completely ACPI

• support Type "sudo modprobe ac" seems to work well Type "sudo modprobe battery" seems to work well Type "sudo modprobe fan" No problems but ??? Type "sudo modprobe thermal" No problems but ??? Type "sudo modprobe processor" No problems but ??? Type "sudo modprobe button" No problems but???

2.MODIFY /etc/rc5.d/S10acpid and add "modprobe -r asus_acpi" between "esac" and "exit 0"

• DON'T Type "sudo modprobe asus_acpi" it's the cause of SYSTEM LOG ERRORS

* VIDEO ERRORS INSTALL flgrx driver for solving problems about video remember to modify /etc/xorg.conf removing "ati" driver and writing "fglrx" in

• the driver section

Under kubuntu type: apt-get install fglrx-control and it appears an icon on the menu but under ubuntu type:

• /usr/bin/fireglcontrolpanel

*WIRELESS WORKING 1.Launch synaptic or whatever package management tool you prefer 2.Install the package "ndiswrapper-utils" 3.Copy from

• the ASUS W-Lan directory bcmwl5a.inf and bcmwl5.sys, please pay attention to copy them both otherwise driver won't work(windows wireless-lan driver). 3.Call "sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5a.inf" 4.Call "sudo modprobe ndiswrapper" to install the needed module. 5.Now you can set up your

  working Wlan device under Desktop->Administration->Networking 6.a)Dont forget to type "ndiswrapper -m"

b)if you want to load it at startup automatically add "ndiswrapper" in "/etc/modules"

See How to setup ndiswrapper for more information

-Bertoldic

Asus A4709L-LH

• Nearly everything worked out of the box. WLAN, IrDA, modem, SD/MC card reader have not been tested yet.
• Sound worked out of the box.
• Computer powers off automatically when shut down.
• Don't use frame buffer - otherwise you won't able to use the display at the optimal 1280x800. The SIS chipset used is easier to get working at this resolution than the mobile Intel chipsets - which require a third party utility to enable 1280x800.

Asus A6BG16E-RWDL

• Nearly everything worked out of the box.
• IrDA is working. I used ircp in order to transmit pictures to my Sony Ericsson T68i cell phone.
• Suspend-to-ram and Suspend-to-disk are working out of the box. However, if working with a framebuffer (vga=791 in grub) suspend-to-ram doesn't wake up anymore.
• Native resolution of screen panel (1280x800) is working out of the box.
• Sound works great.
• PCMCIA and Modem haven't been tested yet.

• Integrated webcam et SD reader aren't working. A driver is being developped for the bison cam : see ALi USB2 M5603C on http://www.linux-projects.org.

• hotkeys are working perfectly out of the box : fn-hotkeys (wifi, suspend, lcd brigthness, sound) as well as run-hotkeys (mail, browser, etc.) and even audio-dj ! I'm able to control rhythmbox with the play/pause/next/previous buttons on front of the laptop.
• Of course, DVD burning is working very well.
• Wifi is working like a charm.

• In order to use the front leds (wifi, led), you've got to install mail-notification for example, and to configure "echo 1 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled" as the action when a mail incomes, and "echo 0 > /proc/acpi/asus/mled" when the mail box is empty. Just the same with the wifi led.

• Battery time is between 3h15 and 4h30, depending on the set lcd brigthness.

Asus M2400N

• Nearly everything worked out of the box. IrDA and Modem have not been tested yet.
• Sound worked after adding "acpi_irq_isa=7" to the boot options (not needed in Breezy). ("sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst" opens according file, edit the line "kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.8.1-3-386 root=/dev/hda4 ro quiet splash".) Volume control buttons fully functionable in Breezy.
• Also the WLAN module (centrino 2100) is installed it doesn't work.
• IPW2200 worked out of box.
• Computer doesn't power off automatically when shut down, except Breezy.

Asus M6N/e

• Most things works out of the box, even the widescreen.
• Intel 2200bg wireless works with the ipw2200.sf.net drivers. Sound,display,broadcom works out of the box

  • MattZimmerman: this driver is already part of the standard kernel, installed by default

  • Acpi working, Asus corrected the DSDT issues with the latest BIOS. For M6N it's 0214a and 0208A for M6Ne.

• For a correct shutdown please comment "CONFIt G_X86_UP_APIC" in your kernel's .config and recompile it or just add "nolapic" to your boot options in /boot/grub/menu.lst
• To make S3 (Suspend to RAM) work simply add "acpi_sleep=s3_bios" to your boot options in /boot/grub/menu.lst
• Don't use framebuffer console: it causes flickering (especially radeonfb mobule)

Asus M3N

• If you have a 1400x1050 panel on your M3N, follow the steps listed here to get it up and running.

  • download 855resolution from http://perso.wanadoo.fr/apoirier/ unpack with tar zxvf filename and build with make. (If you get a message that states that you are lacking cc, use apt or your favourite package tool (like synaptic) to install gcc.

  • Instructions for use are in the Readme. Add a little script for executing the patch at startup with appropriate options in /etc/init.d/

  • Then, to get it to actually execuate at startup, symlink this script from /etc/rc2.d - make it start before X.org stats, symlinking with a name like S15Res855 should do the trick (assuming you are root and standing in /etc/rc2.d the command you issue is like this: ln -s ../init.d/yourscriptnamehere

  • Now, either restart X.org completely or just reboot the whole system.

  • Hopefully your panel will now run in it's native resolution!

Asus W5A

• This laptop has a 1280x768 screen. To get this working, you'll need the latest 855resolution (from the webpage above), as well as X from breezy. The 855resolution package in universe is out of date, but has a useful init script. Add Option "VBERestore" to the driver section of xorg.conf to keep your text consoles available.

• Hibernate/suspend: in /etc/default/acpi-support, set SAVE_VBE_STATE=true and POST_VIDEO=true, and add resume=/dev/yourswappartition for hibernate. Suspend you need to add echo 1> /proc/acpi/asus/lcd and then change the brightness (either with fn-f5/f6 or via /proc/acpi/asus/brn). Suspend only works once per reboot.

• Bluetooth: get the patches from http://nocturno.nsk.pt/scriptpages/index.cgi?operacao=asusw5&language=english

Asus W3V

• Loading sound card (snd-hda-intel) driver hangs hotplug and prevents breezy from booting. To boot hit Ctrl+Alt+SysRq+e during hotplug initialisation

• Once the OS loads up you can make sound work by following my notes on bug #15465 (https://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=15465)

• 1280x780 screen was detected automaticaly

• I used the FGLRX drivers from the ATI site http://ati.com, and did the full install

• Video out to CRT and S-Video out both work in clone mode--other modes weren't tested (FGLX drivers needed)
• Machine does not suspend in s1 or s3 mode
• There's some stuff in dmesg about bluetooth but I don't have any devices to test this with
• CD player and volume control keys work

-- MylesByrne

Asus M6V

• Sound card (intel HDA)of this laptop doesn't work out of the box, but it can be configured by using latest ALSA drivers.
• 1400x1050 screen was detected automaticaly
• Bluetooth and Hibernate work.

• WiFi was recognoized and setup during the installation, but I haven't tesetd it.

• Haven't tested modem, IRDA.

• Some of the special keys dont work: cd controls & sound controls, I assume they can be configured.

• Battery and CPU temperature monitoring works.
• CPU frequency scaling works.

Asus Z71A

I bought the barebones kit from digitalhotbuy.com and added the cpu/ram/hdd/wifi myself. I decided against buying an optical drive, and put a second battery in that bay instead.

• Sound card works out of box
• video works out of box
• 1280x800 screen was set to 1024x768 out of the box, but after installing and configuring "855resolution" the proper resolution is set you may need to run "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" (the howto is on this forum)
• Hibernate works out of the box
• Suspend to ram works after installing "gnome-power-manager"
• The keyboard is totally recognized. the "Fn" keys and special buttons do what they are supposed to out of box. (sleep button works, volume buttons work, etc)
• Haven't tested modem, or SD/MS card reader but those are totally useless anyway.
• Battery and CPU temperature monitoring works. Gnome-power-manager even recognizes that i have two batteries and will monitor each one separately.
• CPU frequency scaling works.
• PCMCIA works fine.
• Onboard LAN works fine
• Automatic screen dimmer works fine
• i love this machine, i might buy another

-CameronBergh

Asus Z9000 and Asus A3500L

• Sound works out of the box

• Suspend to disk works, suspend to ram works, as well (after uncommenting ACPI_SLEEP=true in /etc/default/acpi-support and /etc/init.d/acpi-support restart)

• Models tested have no wireless in them.

• Modem, CardBus, Card reader and IrDA haven't been tested yet.

• Absolutely love and recommend these machines.

Asus A3500E

• As I've stated above, it refused to boot on the first boot after install. Here's what I've done to fix, or it would be better to say, to workaround the issue.

I've managed to boot by adding "init=/bin/sh" at the end of "kernel" line in GRUB, e.g.

• [snip] root (hd0,5)

  kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.13.3 root=/dev/hda7 ro quiet splash init=/bin/sh <-- here you go [snip]

Then, after boot I've moved hotplug startup scripts out of the /etc/rcS.d/ directory (S40hotplug, S41hotplug-net) and rebooted to check whether it boots normally now. It basically worked, but there were some issues with it, one of them was probably kernel related, snd-hda-intel sound module refused to work with my sound controller, and I've googled that this was fixed in 2.6.13-rc3. So I just grabbed vanilla 2.6.13.3 from kernel.org, built it, moved hotplug scripts back to the place and rebooted. The system booted normally and with sound working (except when using headphones or external ), as well as wireless (I also had to build ipw2200 wireless kernel module, which was not in Ubuntu repositories, and use ipw2200 firmware from ipw2200.sf.net/firmware.php). By the way, if I'm not mistaken, in 2.6.14 ipw2200BG driver was accepted into the Linux kernel.

• At the time of writing this (2005.10.30), it is said, that no headphone sound is fixed in ALSA CVS.
• If not these few issues, it would be a brilliant machine, very fast and responsive. Note that it might be not an issue anymore with a more recent kernel.

-ŽygimantasBeručka

Asus V6V

• Video doesn't work out of the box. Install flgrx driver, modify /etc/xorg.conf removing "ati" driver and writing "fglrx" in the driver section.
• SD/MC card reader not work.
• Nearly everything worked out of the box. IrDA, modem have not been tested yet.

CategoryLaptop