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#1 2012-04-29 10:47:49

spoonie_aus
Member
From: Australia W.A
Registered: 2009-03-12
Posts: 47

Arch Linux on ASUS G74 sx

Hi all
Been using Arch for while on my gaming system then it died sad . So I got my self a ASUS G74sx laptop and I would like to run Arch linux on it. I would like to know if any users have had Arch up and running on this laptop and if they had any hardware issues. I have been googling for info, Gentoo have a wiki page on kernel config for this laptop but I carn't find much else.

Thanks guys

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#2 2012-05-01 12:56:00

g00fy
Member
Registered: 2012-05-01
Posts: 2

Re: Arch Linux on ASUS G74 sx

I installed Arch on my Asus G74sx and it worked great. Using gnome-shell, the "fn-keys" and numpad worked as intended. Installed wine and played a few games (Civilization 5, Portal 2 etc) without any problems. I'm currently running Ubuntu 12.04 (will probably re-install Arch again at some point) and it works great aswell. It's a great linux laptop.

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#3 2012-05-05 06:03:05

spoonie_aus
Member
From: Australia W.A
Registered: 2009-03-12
Posts: 47

Re: Arch Linux on ASUS G74 sx

Thanks for the reply g00fy.
Cool so Arch run well smile. Where you able to get the back-lights behind the keyboard to work.

Thanks

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#4 2012-05-07 09:59:01

g00fy
Member
Registered: 2012-05-01
Posts: 2

Re: Arch Linux on ASUS G74 sx

In gnome, all the fn-keys works as intended, so the keyboard backlight works just fine. I don't know if the fn-keys works with KDE, xfce, lxde etc..
If you don't want to use gnome (or simply want to do some CLI-magic), you can always use this command to change the keyboard backlight:

echo X > /sys/class/leds/asus\:\:kbd_backlight/brightness

Just replace X with a number between 0 - 3 to set the brightness (0 = off, 1 = low, 2 = medium, 3 = max)

Another tip. If you wish to disable/enable the touchpad just use this command:

synclient touchpadoff=X

Replace X with 0 (false) or 1 (true).

Last edited by g00fy (2012-05-07 10:01:07)

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#5 2012-05-07 12:56:04

baronmax
Member
From: Missouri, USA
Registered: 2012-04-22
Posts: 37

Re: Arch Linux on ASUS G74 sx

I'm using an asus G73 and it's working flawlessly with Arch (there are some differences between our laptops, but they're more similar than not).  You have newer CPU, NVidia GPU (I have ATI) and an upgraded, but very similar motherboard.  I actually set my computer up with gnome, got everything working, then got a wild hair and decided to go compiz/awn.  Using compiz/awn, everything still works perfectly, even my function keys (increase/decrease brightness, keyboard lights, volume, etc).  I would expect that you would have a very similar experience with Arch.  Just remember that you'll need to set up cpufreq to get the CPU scaling working or your laptop may run a bit hot (although not too bad, really) and it may use up a bit more juice.  There's an article on the wiki about how to set it up, the setup is very straightforward and easy. 

The one thing I can't really speak to is the NVidia GPU.  I had very little trouble setting up my ATI GPU, and the NVidia ones are usually even easier than ATI.  I haven't tried HDMI out, but I have no reason to believe it wouldn't work, since I'm using the AMD driver blob (you may have issues if you use nouveau instead of the nvidia proprietary driver).

Beyond that, it should be a simple install.  I installed Arch on one disc and left winblowz on the other one, initially, but I've since removed win 7 and used that drive as /home (I assume yours has dual hard drives, if not, it has room for 2 hard drives, since they use the same case).

I'll subscribe to the topic, so if you have any issues, I'll see if I can help you overcome them. 

Best of luck to you and welcome to Arch!


Intel 980x| 24GB RAM| Arch + Cinnamon/i3
Intel 2600K| 8GB RAM| Arch + Awesome/XFCE
Intel Q740| 6GB RAM| Arch + XFCE/Cinnamon
AMD Phenom x6 1090T| Ubuntu/Winblowz (gaming)

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#6 2012-05-13 05:23:48

spoonie_aus
Member
From: Australia W.A
Registered: 2009-03-12
Posts: 47

Re: Arch Linux on ASUS G74 sx

Thanks Baronmax for the info, the back-light and function keys are not a big thing, I read some where that under unbuntu function keys and black-light would work properly after the laptop woke up from sleep mode, its good to know arch has no problems. Will have Arch on as soon as D3 comes out and it works well under wine, hopefully on the 16th tongue.

thanks

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#7 2013-01-04 21:20:26

mdaocus
Member
Registered: 2012-10-04
Posts: 2

Re: Arch Linux on ASUS G74 sx

I have an Asus G74SX-TZ407D, with KDE. Same problem with screen brightness.

After seing some Ubuntu posts,I started using this pseudo-sollution: increase/decrease the brightness with the FN shortcuts, then put the laptop in sleep mode and resume it.

Still looking for something more  civilised ...

Last edited by mdaocus (2013-01-04 21:34:53)

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