Linux (Ubuntu) and my Asus notebook

I've decided to give Ubuntu a spin and noticed that ASUS lacks Linux compatability for its software. With the EEE PC coming out you'd think that ASUS would be Linux friendly but I guess not.

So here's my question... Does anyone have an ASUS notebook (I have a W3J) that they are running Ubuntu with? Do you have any recommendations for driver support/have alternatives to ASUS software?

 

Go check the official ubuntu forum. I saw a thread of G1s users under ubuntu.

 

This is what I did to get Ubuntu to run on my G1S
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=2372742#post2372742

Its pretty nice from what I have played with it so far. I am just a bit worried about battery time and heat. Since I have no idea how it throttles the processor back, and I haven't found a way to undervolt it yet in Ubuntu/Linux. When I was just on the desktop the fans kicked on to a pretty high speed and it was warm. So, when I use it on battery power I boot back into Vista. This might be a fluke and stuff, since alot of things use Linux-based OSes for thier mobile equipment. These are just my observations so far ^_^

 

I have a W3A (Z63a) running Ubuntu 7.04, and 2 things were not working out of the box after the installation. The screen resolution was stuck at 1024x768, had to install a program called 915Resolution and I had to manually configure the external monitor (vga and tv-out) in a file called Xorg.conf. I found this site useful : http://www.linux-laptop.net/.

Drivers and support will vary greatly in Linux depending on how old/new is your hardware (mostly wireless, chipset, gfx card and Blue thoot). My laptop is 2 years old so support is actually quite good and open source drivers easy to find. As Scypher said, head to the Linux forum here, a few guys are actually quite good in helping out.

 

I've booted Ubuntu through a live CD on my W3J and it did a good job detecting the video card and setting everything up pretty well. Can't remember if things like the card reader worked or not...

I'm pretty interested in how this turns out so keep us apprised!

~ Brett

 

Will do, I'm thinking of having Vista there as a back up because I've grown tired of XP. Once I have gotten to know both operating systems I'll give a full review. I'm excited to start this process... sometime tonight.

 

Hi All,

I've got a W3J, one of the first ones off the boat in Canada. I've been running Ubuntu and XP in a dual boot since shortly after I got it. I haven't yet upgraded, so I'm still in version 6.06 (the LTS version).

I remember there were a few hiccups when I first installed it. The wireless was a bit difficult to get working, but it works very nicely now that it's been configured.

I had problems with the sound out of the box, but that was a kernel-level problem that has since been fixed (and broken, and then fixed again).

I don't think my card-reader works, but that doesn't bother me.

I was able to configure the ati fglrx drivers without too much trouble. I don't think I have them fully optimized to take advantage of the graphics card, but I don't really care because I'm mostly doing work (using remote X for school, etc).

If I had more time I'd post a more complete review (it's been so long that I don't know how well I could remember installation details, but I can give my thoughts on usability and what's broken). I'm in the midst of trying to get my brother's G1S to play nice with Feisty (it's not going so good; I have no wireless and the graphics aren't working yet).

All the HOWTOs that I used are on the ubuntuforums website. They're generally pretty helpful there.

I'd be interested to hear how your adventure with Feisty goes; I was thinking about reinstalling sometime soon to take advantage of the new version.

Cheers,
Jay

 

Hey Jay! I'm running Feisty and have the same problems, but like you said... doesn't matter much. Except audio, I still have a problem... Think you could help me? That's the only thing keeping me from using XP much anymore

Also to update everyone else, I tried Vista (this was my third time) and I finally decided I will probably never ever install it again. I told myself I'd stick with it no matter how much problems it gave me but... I had to go against my promise for the sake of my sanity. I'll post both desktop configurations soon.

P.S. I'm having problems with AWN, I can't select preferences. Although to let everyone know I haven't spent much time messing around with Ubuntu because of my busy schedule. Like watching my ducks kick cougar ass... Literally our mascot beat up their mascot, haha.

 

it took me several days to find this out when i put 7.04 on my W5 ...

I've installed 6.10 on a few different asus notebooks... ones with intel wireless and intel/ividia graphics are the easiest to get going.