This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which drivers you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required drivers have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.

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Page Contents Authors Introduction Editing This Page Specifications Linux Compatibility Notes Related Resources Summary

Authors

Bill Giannikos (bill2 at giannikos.com.au)

Introduction

This is a guide to running Linux with the Asus A3H laptop, model A3HF420SM56HG. A good notebook which is unfortunately let down by the need to use ndiswrapper, making installation trickier.

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Specifications

Processor	Intel Celeron-M 420 1.6GHz
Screen	15"
RAM	512MB
HDD	60GB
Optical Drive	Double Layer DVD+-RW
Graphics	Intel 940GML
Network	10/100 Ethernet, Atheros AR5001 802.11g Wireless, Bluetooth
Other	4 x USB 2.0, 1 x Firewire

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes
Screen	Yes
Optical Drive	Yes
Graphics	Yes	Use i810 driver
Sound	Yes	Use snd-hda-intel driver
Ethernet	Yes	Use 8139too driver
Wireless	Yes
Bluetooth	Not Tested
56K Modem	Not Tested
USB	Yes
Firewire	Not Tested
PCMCIA	Not Tested

Notes

The wireless controller requires the use of the ndiswrapper driver. For details on using ndiswrapper you may like to follow our Configuring the ndiswrapper driver article. The Windows drivers are available here. The files you need are net5211.inf and ar5211.sys.

Related Resources

Preparing your laptop for Linux
Configuring the ndiswrapper driver for wireless controllers without native Linux drivers
Increasing battery life

Summary

The wireless functionality requires some Linux knowledge to get working, especially if ndiswrapper is not included with your Linux distribution. Other than that the Asus A3H is well suited for Linux.


Have you installed Linux on this laptop? If so how about leaving a comment about your success in the comments section below.