Question about compatibility with Ubuntu?

Hi guys, I got an Asus N55sf almost a month and, while I'm fairly happy with the machine as a whole, I'm really bothered by the amount of bloatware on the system.

I'm planning to do a clean install of Ubuntu, but I'm wondering if the drivers will be compatible with the OS.

Any advice?

 

That system doesn't have optimus, right? It should be OK, you might want to run the 11.10 beta since it will have a much newer kernel. The only driver you will need to install should be the proprietary nvidia driver from the Hardware Drivers ubuntu app.

 

If by Optimus you mean the Optimus technology in the GT555m then yes, it does Will that prevent me from using Ubuntu properly?

 

Yeah Optimus is a bit of a hassle. There are a couple of ways to attack it, the first is to use only the integrated graphics either by switching a setting in the BIOS setup menu, or using acpi call: https://github.com/mkottman/acpi_call

You can discover if acpi_call will work using the test_off.sh script to test all of the known methods. I have had success with this, but sometimes it causes weird quirks with other acpi functions, like standby crashing the system, for example, where it works before the call.

The other option is bumblebee which is also experimental: https://github.com/MrMEEE/bumblebee

That is a sort of abstracted layer of 3d rendering that lets you use the nvidia card, but it's a bit of a hassle. You can read up on both.

If you leave it as-is, the nvidia card will be on all the time and eating your battery at full clocks, but you won't be able to use it. Huge thread here for further background: http://forum.notebookreview.com/lin...e/473915-no-support-nvidia-optimus-linux.html