Asus U56E laptop functional with Mint

[gordon.cooke]

Bought a new laptop this week as my trusty Averatec has started whining, and having hard drive troubles (plus I wanted more processors and RAM). Now I have an ASUS U56 with core i5, 6Gb RAM, etc.

I tried Mint Xfce 64 bit live DVD. It boots. The video only offered two resolutions so it was on something like 1200x780 but the actual screen is a 1366x768 which caused stretching. Im sure there is some way to edit a X file somewhere. Main problem was no networking--when I checked the only network device present was the lo. So I couldnt easily search for how to fix. I have been pretty exclusive to mint for a few years and was looking at Fxce to check it out; was considering switching. So I was more interested in usability, how the menu works and such. I think I will stay with gnome. With the RAM I have available I dont need something lightweight (but it was fun to see how little of the 6GB was used, very drastic compared to Win7!!)

Right now I am writing this from the Mint 11 gnome DVD. Screen resolution was set properly, wifi picked up my network immediately. Im using about 700MB of RAM with firefox open. Brightness up/down and screen blank function keys work fine, but sound up/down, mute, touchpad on/off function keys dont do anything OOTB. Cant test the keys related to the external video.

The touchpad is an Elan SMartPad- in windows it uses two finger scrolling (which I hate, Im too used to edge scrolling). However it is identified as a logitech scroll mouse. Mouse works, buttons work, and tapping works, but no scrolling.

I found some instructions online to fix issues. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1812252 I will report my success, but for anyone else, here it is now.

Edit: See below from OCT 2012 for Mint 13 update

[gordon.cooke]

For anyone with this Asus U56E laptop, heres and update.

---sound---
I tried some sound (Pandora) and it sounded a bit low in volume- but the speakers did work. I followed the directions in the ubuntu thread above (change advanced sound settings, groups and such). Im not sure it made any difference.
But I can report that sound works from the speakers and when you plug in headphones the speakers mute and sound comes from headphones fine.

---elan touchpad---
dkms was already installed, but followed rest of instructions in the above ubuntu thread. Now edge scrolling works! (mouse setup in control panel has option for two finger or edge)

---asus function keys---
followed asus modprobe instruction in thread above. Now:
works - f2(wifi) f5(dim) f6(bright) f7(blank) f10(mute) f11(vol dwn) f12 (vol up) fn-enter(calc) [asus has a neat hotkey, fn-enter opens the calculator, and it works in mint. Im an engineer and use quick access to the calculator very often]
not working - f9(touch on/of)

Sleep- fn-f1(sleep) and close lid seem to try to start sleep, but screen just blanks and doesnt recover BUT see following

---sleep---
tried s2ram and it didnt work
found instructions at http://thecodecentral.com/2011/01/18/fix-ubuntu-10-10-suspendhibernate-not-working-bug to create a custom script at /etc/pm/sleep.d/20_custom-ehci_hcd

Use gedit to create a the new file

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sudo gedit /etc/pm/sleep.d/20_custom-ehci_hcd

then paste:

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#!/bin/sh
#inspired by http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9744970&postcount=19
#...and http://thecodecentral.com/2011/01/18/fix-ubuntu-10-10-suspendhibernate-not-working-bug   
# tidied by tqzzaa :)

VERSION=1.1
DEV_LIST=/tmp/usb-dev-list
DRIVERS_DIR=/sys/bus/pci/drivers
DRIVERS="ehci xhci" # ehci_hcd, xhci_hcd
HEX="[[:xdigit:]]"
MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS=2
BIND_WAIT=0.1

unbindDev() {
  echo -n > $DEV_LIST 2>/dev/null
  for driver in $DRIVERS; do
    DDIR=$DRIVERS_DIR/${driver}_hcd
    for dev in `ls $DDIR 2>/dev/null | egrep "^$HEX+:$HEX+:$HEX"`; do
      echo -n "$dev" > $DDIR/unbind
      echo "$driver $dev" >> $DEV_LIST
    done
  done
}

bindDev() {
  if [ -s $DEV_LIST ]; then
    while read driver dev; do
      DDIR=$DRIVERS_DIR/${driver}_hcd
      while [ $((MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS)) -gt 0 ]; do
          echo -n "$dev" > $DDIR/bind
          if [ ! -L "$DDIR/$dev" ]; then
            sleep $BIND_WAIT
          else
            break
          fi
          MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS=$((MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS-1))
      done 
    done < $DEV_LIST
  fi
  rm $DEV_LIST 2>/dev/null
}

case "$1" in
  hibernate|suspend) unbindDev;;
  resume|thaw)       bindDev;;
esac

then use this command

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sudo chmod 755 /etc/pm/sleep.d/20_custom-ehci_hcd

Now: suspend works!! works when close lid, works from fn-f1 sleep key, works from mint menu.
However- when i tried hibernate from the mint menu the systems goes down and appears to saving state to disc, but whenI resume it just boots up like normal and doesnt bring back the hibernated state. FOr me not a big deal since I suspend all the time and rarely use hibernate. Thats just me.

[Goewyn]

Hi, I found this post because I was having a curious sort of problem with my Asus U56. The Fn key suddenly stopped working. I looked for an F-LOCK button but could not find one. It is most anoying and vexing. I was wondering if you knew any solution or really also what may have caused it. If you do not, would you happen to know where I could find that information out?

[AlbertP]

asus has a neat hotkey, fn-enter opens the calculator, and it works in mint. Im an engineer and use quick access to the calculator very often

Calculator keys just always work with Linux because there's a standard keycode which everyone uses for it. This is not the case with wifi on/off buttons. My desktop's keyboard has a calculator key too and it just works fine.
Fn-Enter is just Enter on an HP laptop... The keycode used for Enter and Fn-Enter is the same so you won't be able to get an Fn-Enter calculator on a laptop like mine.

[Toontwnca]

Bought a new laptop...

The touchpad is an Elan SMartPad- in windows it uses two finger scrolling (which I hate, Im too used to edge scrolling). However it is identified as a logitech scroll mouse. Mouse works, buttons work, and tapping works, but no scrolling.

I found some instructions online to fix issues. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1812252 I will report my success, but for anyone else, here it is now.

I also bought a new Asus almost 2 weeks ago. Model K53U.
I also was having touchpad issues. There was no way for me to turn it off.
I followed the instructions in the Ubuntu link that you posted and they worked.
Now when I go to my mouse settings I have the 3rd tab for touchpad.
Also I am now able to disable it completely in the GPointing Device Settings preference.

Thanks.

[AlbertP]

This way I'm glad to use an HP laptop. Everything touchpad-related just works, including the on/off button. Gnome Shell even displays a picture of a touchpad with or without a red X when pressing the button. Also the light changes between red and blue.

[Toontwnca]

This way I'm glad to use an HP laptop. Everything touchpad-related just works, including the on/off button. Gnome Shell even displays a picture of a touchpad with or without a red X when pressing the button. Also the light changes between red and blue.

I am so happy for you.

Cheers.

[gordon.cooke]

Glad this was helpful to people. Sorry I haven't replied; been busy with work and school and haven't been on the forums for awhile. (I have not had any problems with Fn key locking or anything so cannot really help you with that)

Just another update: Finally got around to checking some other hardware.

1) The SD card slot works fine (tested with 4 GB and 8 GB cards)

2) The HDMI out works fine. I was trying it to my HD TV. Except that the TV only had 1280x720 (720p) and another 4:3 resolution (I forget exactly) BUT neither of these resolutions are the resolution of the laptop screen. Since there was not any resolution that was the same on both screens I could not mirror the screen, only extend (two screens). So be aware that the laptop screen has some odd resolutions. (If anyone knows a fix or how to force stretching let us know) Mint reports the following resolutions for the laptop:

• 1366 x 768
• 1360 x 768
• 1024 x 768
• 800 x 600
• 640 x 480

[AlbertP]

You should expect a TV to support 4:3 as well, as there may still be TV programs or old DVD's in the 4:3 format.

But yes, those old things are usually 576x432 and not in any common computer resolution.

[gordon.cooke]

You should expect a TV to support 4:3 as well, as there may still be TV programs or old DVD's in the 4:3 format.

But yes, those old things are usually 576x432 and not in any common computer resolution.

Yup- the one I cant remember was 4:3. So the TV reported as one 16:9 and one 4:3 resolution. The laptop had the two 16:9 and three 4:3 resolutions but none of them matched.

[AlbertP]

Then you'll have to extend the desktop over the TV if you want to use both.

[gordon.cooke]

Mint 13 update

So I upgraded recently to Mint 13 Cinnamon 64bit. More specifically I re-installed my root partition, but kept the same (seperate) /home partition.

With Mint 13 it seems much more is supported out of the box on the U56E. Sound works, the touchpad works including scrolling on the side edge, Wifi key (FnF2) works. Brightness controls and blank all work (Fn=F5, Fn-F6, Fn=F7). Touchpad on/off (Fn-F9) works. Volume controls work (Fn=F10, Fn-F11, Fn-F12). Calc key (Fn-NumEnter). And the pause/play/next.last works in banshee (Fn-arrow keys)

A new thing that didnt work was wifi. It would see the SSIDs form wifi networks, but any attempt to connect would fail.
The following commands will get it working

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sudo modprobe -r iwlagn
sudo modprobe iwlagn bt_coex_active=0

... but they dont hold permanent (after reboot you need to do them again)
Found a fix by checkig module iwlwifi (see http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1929304&page=2)

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> gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/iwl.conf
   options iwlwifi bt_coex_active=0
> gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi-disable11n.conf
   options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1

One other thing that didnt was suspend. The computer would try to suspend- hit a balck screen with an underscore in the uper right corner and hang there. The same fix I used with Mint 11 worked like a charm. I check it for suspending via the mint menu, via the sleep key (Fn-F1), and via closing the lid.

Here are the same directions as above repeated
Use gedit to create a the new file

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sudo gedit /etc/pm/sleep.d/20_custom-ehci_hcd

then paste:

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    #!/bin/sh
    #inspired by http://art.ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9744970&postcount=19
    #...and http://thecodecentral.com/2011/01/18/fix-ubuntu-10-10-suspendhibernate-not-working-bug   
    # tidied by tqzzaa :)

    VERSION=1.1
    DEV_LIST=/tmp/usb-dev-list
    DRIVERS_DIR=/sys/bus/pci/drivers
    DRIVERS="ehci xhci" # ehci_hcd, xhci_hcd
    HEX="[[:xdigit:]]"
    MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS=2
    BIND_WAIT=0.1

    unbindDev() {
      echo -n > $DEV_LIST 2>/dev/null
      for driver in $DRIVERS; do
        DDIR=$DRIVERS_DIR/${driver}_hcd
        for dev in `ls $DDIR 2>/dev/null | egrep "^$HEX+:$HEX+:$HEX"`; do
          echo -n "$dev" > $DDIR/unbind
          echo "$driver $dev" >> $DEV_LIST
        done
      done
    }

    bindDev() {
      if [ -s $DEV_LIST ]; then
        while read driver dev; do
          DDIR=$DRIVERS_DIR/${driver}_hcd
          while [ $((MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS)) -gt 0 ]; do
              echo -n "$dev" > $DDIR/bind
              if [ ! -L "$DDIR/$dev" ]; then
                sleep $BIND_WAIT
              else
                break
              fi
              MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS=$((MAX_BIND_ATTEMPTS-1))
          done
        done < $DEV_LIST
      fi
      rm $DEV_LIST 2>/dev/null
    }

    case "$1" in
      hibernate|suspend) unbindDev;;
      resume|thaw)       bindDev;;
    esac


then use this command

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 sudo chmod 755 /etc/pm/sleep.d/20_custom-ehci_hcd

Now: suspend works!!