Kubuntu 7.10 Support for Asus G1S
Kubuntu 7.10 is very well supported on Asus G1S notebook. Almost every feature and peripheral is working straight out-of-the-box, or at least after little tweaking. In tables below is presented what peripherals and features of Asus G1S are supported by Kubuntu 7.10.
| KUBUNTU 7.10 SUPPORT FOR ASUS G1S MAIN FEATURES | ||
|---|---|---|
| PERIPHERAL | STATUS | NOTES |
| Display | Yes | Needs nVidia proprietary drivers for optimal performance |
| Webcam | Yes | Works with Kopete and aMSN |
| Touchpad | Yes | Install ksynaptics for touch pad fine tuning |
| CD/DVD burning | Yes | |
| Speakers | Yes | |
| Microphone | Yes | |
| LAN Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Yes | |
| Bluetooth | Yes | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Firewire | ? | Not tested |
| eSATA | ? | Not tested |
| Suspend | Yes | Needs tweaking |
| Hibernate | Yes | Needs tweaking |
| KUBUNTU 7.10 SUPPORT FOR ASUS G1S EXTRA FEATURES | ||
| PERIPHERAL | STATUS | NOTES |
| TV-out | ? | Not tested, but should work |
| HDMI | ? | Not tested, but should work |
| CD/DVD Lightscribe | ? | |
| S/PDIF Optical out | ? | Not tested |
| 56K Modem | ? | Not tested |
| IR-LED | ? | Not tested |
| CF/XD/MMS | ? | Not tested |
| SD Card Reader | ? | Not tested |
| ExpressCard Slot | ? | Not tested |
| Hibernate Fn+F1 | Yes | |
| Wireless On/Off Fn+F2 | Yes | |
| Brightness Fn+F5/F6 | Yes | |
| Volume Fn+F10/F11/F12 | Yes | |
| Multimedia Keys | Yes | Works with Amarok by default |
| Touchpad on/off button | Yes | |
| Browser launch button | Yes | |
| E-Mail launch button | Yes | |
| Wireless LED | ? | |
| E-Mail LED | Yes | Needs tweaking |
| Touchpad LED | No | |
| OLED screen | Yes | Needs tweaking |
| Green sidelights | Yes | Needs tweaking |
| Logitech MX518 buttons | Yes | Needs tweaking |
About Kubuntu 7.10
Kubuntu is a user friendly operating system based on KDE, the K Desktop Environment. Kubuntu is one the variants available from the Ubuntu project. With a predictable 6 month release cycle and part of the Ubuntu project, Kubuntu is the GNU/Linux distribution for everyone. Kubuntu Live CDs are made up of Ubuntu's base plus KDE. You can get exactly the same effect by installing Ubuntu Desktop and adding the KDE packages (and removing the Gnome packages) from the Ubuntu archives.
Kubuntu 7.10 Resources
Please visit Kubuntu 7.10 resource page for further information on following items:
- Getting help
- System settings
- Add/Remove applications
- Desktop configuration
- Network settings
- Keeping your system safe
- etc.
Here are some other related resources:
Installing Kubuntu 7.10 on Asus G1S
This article shows how to install Kubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon on Asus G1S. There is also similar installation guide for Ubuntu 7.10 available in our Wiki.
Before starting this installation process, please take following information into account:
- If you have more than 2GB of RAM installed, it is recommended to upgrade your BIOS to a version 300 [or newer] - otherwise the display graphics will appear as garbage.
- If you are going to create a dual-boot or multi-boot system, it is recommended that you should install Windows XP and Vista before installing Linux. If you install Windows after Linux, the Windows installation process will wipe the GRUB boot loader and you have to install it manually.
Disclaimer: This installation guide assumes that you know how to partition your hard disk and you have at least some experience on operating and maintaining Linux system. If you are not familiar with all this, please work with someone who has experience on working with Linux. As always, please backup your valuable data before proceeding with this guide.
Download Kubuntu 7.10 Live CD
Download Kubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon Live CD from Kubuntu download site or mirror nearest you. After download, burn the ISO-image to a CD using your favorite CD-burning software.
Boot Kubuntu 7.10 from Live CD
Place the Live CD into Asus's DVD-drive, reboot your G1S and press ESC as soon as you see the boot splash screen in order to be able to select the boot device. Select the CD/DVD from the boot device list and hit ENTER to start the boot process.
When you see the Kubuntu boot screen, you can select a couple of options here:
- Press F2 to select your default installation language [if other than English]
- Press F3 to select your keyboard layout map [if other than US]
- Press F4 to select graphics mode [1680 x 1050 x 32]
- You can also select other options shown on the screen
After you have selected suitable options, select "Start or Install Kubuntu" and hit ENTER to continue loading the Kubuntu Live CD. The system will now load Linux kernel, necessary drivers and start Linux services. This boot process will last for a couple of minutes.
After successful boot process, the DVD will turn off and you should see a basic Kubuntu KDE Desktop. If you want, you can now play around with the Kubuntu as you want.
You can also test at this point that the wireless and/or LAN/Ethernet interface is working by launching Konqueror, the Kubuntu web browser. You can also un-mute the speaker from lower right-corner of the screen, launch Amarok multimedia player and test that the audio works correctly.
Install Kubuntu 7.10 from Live CD
Start the actual install process by double-clicking to the Install icon on the desktop. The installation wizard will start and you will be presented a series of installation screens. Please note that this installation process from Kubuntu Live CD is a bit compacted version from the Kubuntu Live DVD.
It is recommended that you create three different partitions:
1. The system partition for the root file system / should be at least 5GB - 10GB.
2. The swap partition size should be equal to the RAM you have installed [2GB - 4GB].
3. The user data partition /home should be at least 5GB.
NOTE: If you plan on using suspend-to-disk, (hibernate) you must have a swap partition at least equal in size to the amount of physical RAM, and some users even recommend oversizing it beyond the amount of physical RAM by 15%.
After the installation is complete, you need to reboot the system: Select "K Menu " - "Log Out …" - "Restart".
Login to Your Kubuntu Linux
When the system reboots, you can login to your new Kubuntu Linux notebook. Enter your Username and Password and press ENTER. If everything went as planned, you should be logged in - And you can congratulate yourself.
Setup Your Network Connection
At this point you need to setup your Ethernet and/or Wireless connection, so that you can download updates and start tweaking your new Linux notebook.
Setup Mouse for Double-Click Mode
If you are a Windows user, you may want to change mouse/touchpad operation mode similar to Windows. Open "K Menu" - "System Settings". Select the [default] General-tab and select "Keyboard & Mouse" icon. Select "Mouse" and option "Double Click to open files and folders".
Update Your System
For the very first thing you should do with your new Linux installation, is to update your system and download the security patches and software upgrades.
First, setup the Adept the package manager repositories: Launch "K Menu" - "System" - "Adept Manager". Select menu command "Adept" | "Manage Repositories". From the [default] "Kubuntu Software"-tab enable the "Canonical-supported (main)", "Community-maintained (universe)", "Proprietary drivers for devices (restricted)" and "Software restricted … (multiverse)" repositories. From the "Updates"-tab enable "Important security updates" and "Recommended updates". From "Third-Party Software"-tab disable the cdrom-option". Press "Close" to save settings and download newest the package information. Close the Adept manager.
Open the command console "K Menu" - "System" - "Konsole" and enter following command(s):
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
The system will start downloading the updates [250MB]. Now its is a good time to get yourself a nice cup of coffee. You may need to reboot your system at the end of this upgrade process.
Installing Drivers and Utilities
nVidia Display Driver
First we will install so called "restricted/proprietary drivers" for our nVidia 8600M GT display for optimal performance. Launch "K Menu" - "System Settings" and select the "Advanced" tab. Click to the "Restricted Drivers" and select the "Administrator Mode". Enter your password and enable "NVIDIA accelerated graphics driver". The system will now install the nVidia optimized display driver. After installation is complete, you need to reboot.
After reboot you may want to tweak the font settings. Open "K Menu" - "System Settings" and open the "Appearance" module. Select "Fonts" tab and enable the anti-aliasing and configure the sub-pixel hinting. Select also "Force fonts DPI": 96 DPI. Save the changes and restart the X by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.
Truetype Fonts
After you have installed the nVidia driver, you may find out that some of the fonts used in web pages are looking ugly. The solution is to install the msttcorefonts package:
sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts
After installation, you need to restart the X by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace.
Touchpad Utility
The Kubuntu installation contains already a fully working driver for Synaptics Touchpad. However, you can install the Synaptics Toucpad configuration tool "ksynaptics" for KDE. Open the Konsole and enter command:
sudo apt-get install ksynaptics
Add the shared memory option "SHMConfig" "on" into the touch pad section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf by launching the "Kate" the KDE text editor:
sudo kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Here's an example of where to insert the "SHMConfig" option:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection
Restart the X by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace and login back to the system.
You can now fine-tune the Touchpad settings "K Menu" - "System Settings" - "Keyboard & Mouse" and select option "Touch pad".
You can enable and disable the Touchpad as follows:
- Press the softkey next to the power button in order to toggle Touchpad
- Right-click to the Synaptics Touchpad utility on the applet panel
Multimedia Keys
The multimedia keys at the front work with Amarok when Amarok is running. You may also see instructions on Multimedia Keys at Ubuntu 7.10 wiki page.
Webcam
Using webcam with software like Camorama software doesn't work out of the box. However, webcam works with Kopete and aMSN without problems. For more information, please see instructions for Webcam at Ubuntu 7.10 wiki page.
OLED Display
See OLED Display at Ubuntu 7.10 wiki page. The OLED-screen driver is loaded automatically when system starts, so you don't need to edit the /etc/rc.local file.
LEDs
See E-mail LED at Ubuntu 7.10 wiki page.
See Green lights at Ubuntu 7.10 wiki page.
Suspend
See Suspend at Ubuntu 7.10 wiki page.
Hibernation
See Hibernation at Ubuntu 7.10 wiki page.
Logitech MX518 Mouse Buttons
See Logitech MX518 Mouse at Ubuntu 7.10 wiki page.
MP3 Codecs
Install the libxine1-ffmpeg package and restart Amarok.
sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg
