Working on Asus Tuf A17 FA706QM - Ubuntu 20.04

[JuanuSt]

Ubuntu 20.04 - kernel 5.12.12-051212-generic

BIOS Information Vendor: American Megatrends International, LLC. Version: FA706QM.307 Release Date: 06/02/2021

Base Board Information Manufacturer: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. Product Name: FA706QM Version: 1.0

[mrtglez]

I tried it but nop

[JuanuSt]

I did several things during the installation of Ubuntu, I had problems with wifi and bluetooth combo adapter and of course with Nvidia propietary drivers, so it could just have been a lucky combination of events.

I took few notes during the setup, all I can do is to share them:

0.- Update BIOS firmware https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1012815/ https://www.asus.com/supportonly/FA706QM/HelpDesk_BIOS/ (New installed version FA706QMAS.307)

1.- Download Mini.iso and install (Normal image fails due to UEFI boot) http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/installer-amd64/current/legacy-images/netboot/mini.iso (and follow wizard. Very slow step, I chose Desktop minimal and OpenSSH server)

2.- Update kernel to last stable version. Use this method because problems in libc version sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tuxinvader/lts-mainline sudo apt install linux-image-unsigned-5.12.4-051204-generic linux-modules-5.12.4-051204-generic linux-headers-5.12.4-051204-generic

-- REBOOT --

3 and 4 are for Nvidia and Wifi/Bluetooth steps (not shown).

5.- Keyboard backlight config. Unofficial driver. Install temporally (Follow instructions in https://github.com/hackbnw/faustus)

• Blaclist asus drivers for after reboot nano /etc/modprobe.d/faustus.conf

  blacklist asus_wmi blacklist asus_nb_wmi

• Remove asus modules for current test sudo rmmod asus_nb_wmi sudo rmmod asus_wmi dmesg # Verify they are removed

• Clone hack driver git clone https://github.com/hackbnw/faustus cd faustus make

• Test sudo modprobe sparse-keymap sudo modprobe wmi sudo modprobe video sudo insmod src/faustus.ko ERROR: could not insert module src/faustus.ko: No such device sudo insmod ./src/faustus.ko let_it_burn=1 # OK ./set_rgb.sh edit color and other variables. Test them with this script.

• Current color ubuntu purple echo 77 > /sys/devices/platform/faustus/kbbl/kbbl_red echo 21 > /sys/devices/platform/faustus/kbbl/kbbl_green echo 6f > /sys/devices/platform/faustus/kbbl/kbbl_blue

• Mode: 0 - static color, 1 - breathe, 2 - color cycle, 3 - strobe echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/faustus/kbbl/kbbl_mode

• Speed for modes 1 and 2: 0 - slow, 1 - medium, 2 - fast echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/faustus/kbbl/kbbl_speed

• Enable: 02 - on boot (before module load) | 08 - awake | 20 - sleep (2a or ff to set all) echo 2a > /sys/devices/platform/faustus/kbbl/kbbl_flags

• Save: 1 - permanently, 2 - temporarily (reset after reboot) echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/faustus/kbbl/kbbl_set

• Install and make it on boot make dkms sudo make onboot

-- REBOOT --

After changes and reboot we back to normal drivers, because some hot-keys stop to functions, and the parameters set with experimental driver remain.

• Unblacklist asus drivers rm /etc/modprobe.d/faustus.conf

• Disable from boot cd ~/Dowloads/faustus sudo make noboot

  • Remove faustus sudo dkms remove faustus/0.2 --all

-- REBOOT --

Good luck