This is a guide to running Linux with the Asus F3Tc laptop. This is one of only a few laptops with an AMD processor and an impressive graphics card. However Linux support is lacking as the wireless controller included does not have any native drivers.
This guide is intended to provide you details on how well this laptop works with Linux and which modules you need to configure. For details on how to actually install and configure the required modules have a look at our guides section for distribution specific instructions.
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| Name | Asus F3Tc |
| Processor | AMD Turion64 X2 TL52 1.6Ghz |
| Screen | 15.4” WXGA |
| RAM | 1GB |
| HDD | 120GB |
| Optical Drive | DVD+-RW |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce Go 7300 |
| Network | 10/100/1000 Ethernet, Atheros AR5006EG 802.11g Wireless, Bluetooth |
| Other | 4 x USB2.0, 1 x Firewire, Webcam |
| Device | Compatibility | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Yes | |
| Screen | Yes | |
| HDD | Yes | |
| Optical Drive | Yes | |
| Graphics | Yes | |
| Sound | Yes | Use the snd-hda-intel module |
| Ethernet | Yes | |
| Wireless | Partial | |
| Bluetooth | Not Tested | |
| 56K Modem | Not Tested | |
| USB | Yes | |
| Firewire | Not Tested | |
| Card Reader | Yes | Tested on ALT Linux |
| ExpressCard Slot | Not Tested | |
| Camera | Seems not working | I have not found any drivers yet |
For the graphics chip you can use either the open source 'nv' module or NVIDIA's proprietary 'nvidia' module. For installation instructions, you can view our Configuring a nVidia graphics chip guide. For 3D support, you will need the proprietary module. Some older versions of X may not have support for the NVIDIA GeForce Go 8300, in this case you will need to use the proprietary module.
This wireless controller really have native opensource drivers – madwifi-ng.
For installation instructions, you can view our Configuring the ndiswrapper module guide. The windows driver to use with ndiswrapper can be found here.
The main issue with this laptop was the configuration of the wireless controller. Other than that there were no problems in getting this laptop working when used with an up to date Linux distribution. It is recommended to use a Linux distribution with kernel version 2.6.16 or greater, such as Fedora Core 5 or Ubuntu 6.06.
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