This description has been linked at tuxmobil.org.

A newer version for Debian 5.0 is available here.

Hey Guys!

As I had some trouble installing Linux on the ASUS X50R-F5R notebook, I find it quite helpful to let you know about how to succeed with this little "monster". I decided to buy this computer at Christmas 2007, because it was quite cheap compared to other notebooks with about the same equipment.

When going to a computer shop with a KNOPPIX cd, you should not be surprised that it doesn't come up with X11 (update: X11 now works out of the box using Knoppix 5.3!). You shouldn't even be frightened of KNOPPIX detecting neither LAN nor WLAN nor the sound card. These problems can be solved when installing a distribution to your hard disk. But before buying this computer you should keep one thing in mind: You're not able to install Linux via LAN or WLAN, so you need Bluetooth, CDs or DVDs. Additionally, this computer doesn't have a PCMCIA port (only ExpressCard).


Installing the Penguin


Although I didn't experience the following problems on my laptop model, I would like to publish a note that I received from Nahuel Greco who uses an Asus X50R-AP199P:
"Also, I'm using ndiswrapper for the wifi card and I note that sometimes I must unload the kernel module "asus_laptop" to enable the wireless led using the switch at the laptop side. This can be very confusing at first time."

Output of lspci:
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 5a31 (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:04.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 5a37
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:07.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge
00:12.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI0)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI1)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI2)
00:13.3 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI3)
00:13.4 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI4)
00:13.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB Controller (EHCI)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 SMBus (rev 13)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 IDE
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Azalia
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to PCI Bridge
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RC410 [Radeon Xpress 200M]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. Unknown device 001c (rev 01)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. Unknown device 2048 (rev a0)


I hope this introduction helps. It was created between 2007-12-24 and 2008-01-13. Updated on 2008-04-13 and 2008-06-17. For further question about this computer, feel free to send a mail to kontakt _att_ k-40.de . Document released under CC-BY-SA licence.