• Contact: LexRoss

• Make: ASUSTek Computer Inc.
• Brand: ASUS
• Model: F5N

• Website: http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=23&l3=523&l4=23&model=1791&modelmenu=2

Current Issues

• My ISP requires VPN to connect to the Internet, so "pptp-linux" and "network-manager-pptp" must be installed as well. The package "network-manager-pptp" is not included with the Desktop CD, which is unfortunate.
• LCD Panel not recognized
• 8.04 Alpha 6 Hardy only: Scroll Lock LED does not work
• Fails to resume from hibernate mode (grey screen with 4 vertical stripes)
• 8.04 Alpha 6 Hardy: wakes up to black screen with backlit off from suspend
• Shut down works but restart does not

• Switching active users produces white screen due to nvidia-glx-new bug in nVidia proprietary binary code. See Bug #160264

• 8.04 Alpha 6 Hardy only: Wireless and Bluetooth LEDs are constantly on, even with wireless turned off (and there is no bluetooth adaptor present on this model) - same thing on 7.10 with asus-laptop 0.42 kernel module loaded instead of deprecated asus-acpi 0.30 one.
• 7.10 Gutsy only: built-in ethernet card problem with MAC address randomly assigned
• Testing 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon 32-bit and 8.04 Hardy Alpha 6 64-bit desktop CD images.
• This laptop works good with 7.10 being properly tuned, and touchpad right side corners are working as they should. They never did under Other OS, which made me believe that was Asus' hardware problem. Now with Ubuntu 7.10 this laptop pleases me. There are still issues with wireless, web camera, and buttons, as well as suspend and hibernation. I look forward to those to be fixed before recommending this otherwise great laptop to anyone.

System Info

• system-manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
• system-product-name: F5N
• system-version: 1.0

• NVIDIA GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M chipset

• AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58
• 2GB DDR-2 667MHz RAM

• 128MB integrated video: nVidia Corporation GeForce 7000M (rev a2)

• 120GB 5400RPM SATA drive
• 15.4" LCD 1280x800 WXGA

• Synaptics TouchPad

• NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller (built-in Ethernet Adapter)
• Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5007EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
• Built-in software modem
• Built-in USB 1.3 Megapixel Chicony CNF6131 (OEM Syntec D-MAX STK-1135) Web Camera
• Built-in PCI Express card reader
• CD/DVD rewritable drive

Hardware details

Notes

Features that are not working out of the box and are not present in Ubuntu repositories are marked as "No" in the table above. Instructions on how to fix them are given in "Comment" column and are provided below. The only problem that I have no clue as how to fix it that this laptop fails to reboot. Kernel parameter reboot=b (use BIOS for reboot) does not help. It did reboot right after initial system install was completed, so something must stopped working during system upgrade I suppose.

Ubuntu 7.10 and 8.04 Sound Fix

These instructions are based on the original instructions found on Ubuntu Community Documentation page. Please note that you do not have to update ALSA driver in order to fix the sound problem. Just add two lines at the bottom of /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base file as shown below.

• options snd-hda-intel enable=1 index=0 model=lenovo

  alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

Reboot and you should have your sound working!

Ubuntu 7.10 Webcam Installation

These instructions are based on the original instructions I found here (The Dec.14 2007 post) and copied over from Asus F3SV page for your convenience. F3SV has Syntec STK-1125 webcam while F5N comes with Syntec D-MAX STK-1135 webcam. Colours are wrong in Camorama - apply colour correction filter to fix them. Below is the procedure for driver installation.

First download version 1.2.3 of the drivers from http://syntekdriver.sourceforge.net/ to your home dir. Now open a terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) and type in the following:

• sudo apt-get install ctags

  tar -zxvf stk11xx-1.2.3.tar.gz

  cd stk11xx-1.2.3

  wget http://bookeldor-net.info/merdier/Makefile-syntekdriver

  make -f Makefile.standalone

  sudo make -f Makefile-syntekdriver install

  sudo modprobe stk11xx

Now the drivers should be loaded properly. To test it out either install camorama (sudo apt-get install camorama) or open up Ekiga. If you use Ekiga you'll have to go through the configuration Druid. When you get either program running, there should be a green light on next to the lens. And you should see a video in the proper window.

Ubuntu 7.10 Hibernation Note

Hibernation works fine if no X is running (that is, there is no graphic screen). This is an indication that hibernation problem is related to the above mentioned nVidia binary code bug. Wait for nVidia drivers update.

Making hotkeys work with asus_acpid

In Gutsy 7.10, you will need to reload asus-laptop kernel module instead of deprecated asus-acpi loaded by default:

• sudo rmmod asus-acpi sudo modprobe asus-laptop

To make changes permanent, edit system configuration files as follows.

• sudo echo blacklist asus-acpi >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist sudo echo asus-laptop >> /etc/modules

Now for both Gutsy 7.10 and Hardy 8.04 you have to download and compile asus_acpid daemon following instructions fount at ACPI4Asus project home page. You do not have to compile the kernel module (in driver directory)as it is included with Ubuntu distribution already. The only directory you need in the package is asus_acpid. If you haven't compiled anything, install build-essentials package:

• sudo apt-get install build-essentials

Then change to acpi4asus-0.41/asus_acpid directory where you unpacked the package and type

• make sudo make install

That's it!

Once you have compiled and installed asus_acpid daemon, unpack the user_home_asus_acpi.tgz file into your home directory. Do not forget to edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to include "SHMconfig "1" option for your Synaptics touchpad. Otherwise touchpad disabling button will not work. And for the web camera you need either Cheese or Camorama installed. Restart your Gnome session to verify that everything works. Press keys, enjoy!

Notes concerning 8.04 Alpha 6 release:

It is nice my list of known issues/requests to shrink from Alpha 4 to Alpha 6 release although I am not sure if anyone actually bothers to read it. Anyways, here is where we are today.

• Ubuntu splash will not go beyond 640x480 upon startup, picking up 1024x768 on shutdown. This is provided you set up your /etc/usplash.conf to correct 1280x800.
• In Network Manager, Point to point connection should be renamed to Modem connection, as PPPoE and GPRS are essentially modem connections; then add VPN connection as a separate option on the same menu, so that one has a choice between wired, modem, and VPN.
• It would also be nice if Network Manager could handle configurations like ISP assigned address on eth0, hoset me LAN static IP on eth0:1, and VPN to ISP. It should then be able to make Internet available to other computers on home LAN.
• Fix sensitivity for Synaptics touchpad.
• Fix LCD panel recognition. It should be 98x98 DPI 1280x800 wide screen LCD with subpixel dithering turned on. Will make fonts look beautiful. Changes the way people judge Ubuntu big time.
• Fix audio - this should be easy as the fix is already there.
• Webcam should now work out of the box but ironically, there is no application installed to test it. And without proper VPN support I cannot go to the Internet to get one. *Smile*

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CategoryHardware CategoryLaptop