UPDATE: everything works out-of-the-box with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
For anyone considering buying this laptop and running Ubuntu Linux on it, here’s my experience with it.
It’s been 4 months now and my experience is positive – everything works, though not from the beginning. My exact model is FX705GD-EW106T with the following specs:
- CPU: Core i7 8750H
- RAM: 16GB of DDR4 (now upgraded to 32GB)
- Storage: 256GB NVMe SSD + 1TB HDD
- GPU: GTX 1050 (switching)
- Screen: 17,3″ Full HD IPS
- OS: Windows 10 Home
TL;DR: Use kernel 5.3+ and everything will work.
I initially tried installing Ubuntu 18.04 because I prefer LTS releases, but although it installed normally, I could not boot into Ubuntu. I did not invest any time in debugging, because I already had the 19.04 image ready, so I tried installing that. It worked, I guess because of the 5.0 kernel.
With Ubuntu 19.04 and kernel 5.0 pretty much everything worked, except the keyboard backlight. For example, when waking up the laptop from sleep, it would not light up at all. Only turning off the machine and starting it again would make the backlight come back. Or it would stay on even when the screen was locked and therefore turned off.
So using the Ukuu tool I updated the kernel to 5.2 and backlight was working again when coming back from sleep – most of the time. However, the function keys to brighten or dim the backlight would still not work (there are 3 levels btw). Any press of either keys would completely turn off the backlight and again a complete power off was needed to get it back.
So some time passed and kernel 5.3 was released. It was with great joy that after installing it, I could state the laptop was fully functional – the backlight was working and so were the + and – keys.
Today (Dec 2019), after upgrading Ubuntu, I am on 19.10 which ships with kernel 5.3, so if you install this release, everything should work out of the box!
So your choice is either to use the 5.3 kernel on a pre-19.10 version or to use 19.10.
Any alternative to Armoury Crate for cooling mode (fan noise)?
Honestly, did not even know Armoury Crate worked with this laptop 🙂 Will check it out in Windows.
However IMHO the fan speed/noise is decent as it is. The fan button also works for me (switching between two speeds), but I don’t use it.
Good to know, thanks. I was afraid Asus gaming laptops should be avoided by Linux users.
hola, saludos,
puedes activar dual boot?
puedes tener windows con ubuntu?
tengo un fx505dt y no ha sido posible, algun consejo?
gracias,
Hello greetings,
can you activate dual boot?
can you have windows with ubuntu?
I have an fx505dt and it has not been possible, any advice?
thanks,
Hi, sorry for the late reply. Yes of course it works, but if I remember correctly you have to set the SATA mode to AHCI. Maybe with today’s Ubuntu version it is not needed any more.
I used Macrium Reflect to clone the Windows disk to the HDD, then installed Ubuntu on the SSD.
Hello, have you had any problems regarding the drivers? and also, have you ever “needed” Armoury Crate to manage stuff like lights and drivers and stuff?
Hi Sebastian, in the beginning, yes – it was impossible to regulate the keyboard backlight and fan level with the function keys.
Regarding everything else… all devices work. However last time I used an external display on the HDMI port, I had to manually switch to the nvidia profile, since I have it always on intel to save battery.
Actually I never tried Armoury Crate, since I really never use Windows on this machine.