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.

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 A6J laptop, model A6QJAT23DL18PG. There is also the Asus A6Jc which is similar to this laptop except with a NVIDIA graphics card instead.

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Specifications

Processor	Intel Core Duo T2300 1.66Ghz
Screen	15.4"
RAM	1024MB
HDD	80GB
Optical Drive	Double Layer DVD+-RW
Graphics	256MB ATI Mobility Radeon x1600
Network	10/100 Ethernet, Intel 3945ABG 802.11g Wireless, Bluetooth
Other	4 x USB 2.0, 1 x Firewire, Webcam

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Yes
Screen	Yes
Optical Drive	Yes
Graphics	Yes
Sound	Yes
Ethernet	Yes
Wireless	Yes	Use ipw3945 driver
Bluetooth	Not Tested (Update: 08.01.07: Works for me (xubuntu 7.10))
56K Modem	Not Tested
USB	Yes
Firewire	Not Tested
PCMCIA	Not Tested
Webcam	No	No drivers available

Notes

At the moment, the radeon driver included with most Linux distributions does not currently support the ATI Mobility Radeon x1600. There is support for this chip in the ATI driver. These will need to be installed for the display to function.

For the sound to work you will need to install ALSA version 1.0.11 or higher. Since these drivers are included with kernel 2.6.16 or higher you should choose a Linux distribution which uses this kernel.

Related Resources

Preparing your laptop for Linux
Configuring an ATI graphics chip
Configuring the audio
Configuring the ipw3945 driver for the Intel 3945ABG wireless controller
Increasing battery life

Summary

There are a number of issues with the Asus A6J under Linux. However with newer Linux distributions it is likely these issues will go away.


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