ASUS N551JM - ArchWiki

# ASUS N551JM

Device | Status | Modules
Intel | Working | i915 and xf86-video-intel
Nvidia | Working | nouveau or nvidia
Ethernet | Working | r8168 or r8169
Wireless | Working | iwlwifi
Audio | Working | snd_hda_intel
Touchpad | Working | xf86-input-synaptics
Camera | Working | linux-uvc
Card Reader | Working | rtsx_pci
Bluetooth | Working | iwlwifi

ASUS N551JM - this article covers hardware specific configuration. All topics covered can be performed after an installation of Arch Linux has been finished and the machine rebooted into it. Also this article could be applicable for the ASUS N551JK model.

For a general overview of laptop-related articles and recommendations, see Laptop, for a predecessor with a similar configuration, see ASUS N550JV.

## Configuration

### Video

Integrated Intel graphics works out of the box. For the hybrid graphics configuration, see Bumblebee.

You could install bumblebee along with Nvidia and Intel drivers. Add the kernel parameter `rcutree.rcu_idle_gp_delay=1` to your bootloader configuration, so that optirun will not fail to start (not necessary with the current stock kernel).

#### Display brightness

`FN+F5` and `FN+F6` will not produce any output (will not work) until you use the kernel parameter `acpi_osi=` to your bootloader. It's indeed followed by a blank space.

Although for the Asus N751JK the kernel parameter `acpi_osi=` works for the brightness controls, it also brings some ACPI errors in the kernel log. Using the following kernel parameters prevents these errors, while the brightness controls still work: `acpi_osi=\"!Windows 2006\" acpi_osi=\"!Windows 2009\" acpi_osi=\"!Windows 2012\" acpi_osi=\"!Windows 2013\"`. The backslashes are needed for grub to escape the double quotes.

It might happen that display brightness adjustment will not work even when the kernel parameter is used. In this case, make sure you are still using kernel parameter `acpi_osi=` and load the `asus_nb_wmi` module with the following command:

    # modprobe asus_nb_wmi

### Audio

Install PulseAudio.

To enable the internal microphone and the external subwoofer support, install asus-n551-hda-fixAUR from the AUR. This package installs the pincfg patch, and also enables the internal microphone by adding the asus-mode8 to the HDA driver options.

After installation, reboot the laptop to ensure all modules are loaded. Check if the fallback device is correctly set to Build-in Audio Analog Stereo with pavucontrol. See PulseAudio/Troubleshooting#Fallback device is not respected for more information. Also check for muted devices:

    $ alsamixer -c PCH

Note: alsa-utils provides `alsamixer` and `amixer` shell programs.

### Keyboard

Keyboard support is provided out of the box.

#### Brightness

In some cases, `FN+F3` and `FN+F4` might not work out of box with some desktop environments, so install asus-kbd-backlightAUR from the AUR. Load the module to control hotkeys:

    # modprobe asus-nb-wmi

and start and enable the `asus-kbd-backlight.service`.

Now you can take control over the keyboard backlight:

    $ asus-kbd-backlight up
    $ asus-kbd-backlight down
    $ asus-kbd-backlight max
    $ asus-kbd-backlight off
    $ asus-kbd-backlight night
    $ asus-kbd-backlight 2
    $ asus-kbd-backlight show

### Touchpad

Touchpad works out of the box with the default synaptics drivers. You can tweak its options using the default Xorg configuration files. For example:

    /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf

    Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad"
        Driver "synaptics"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
    	Option "MinSpeed" "1"
    	Option "MaxSpeed" "2.5"

    	Option "TapButton2" "2"
    	Option "TapButton3" "0"

    	Option "ClickFinger2" "2"
    	Option "ClickFinger3" "0"

    	Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "1"
    	Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1"

    	Option "VertScrollDelta" "60"
    	Option "HorizScrollDelta" "60"

    	Option "LockedDrags" "on"
    	Option "LockedDragTimeout" "400"

    	Option "CircularScrolling" "on"
    	Option "CircScrollTrigger" "8"
    EndSection

Rich multitouch gestures can be configured with Touchegg. To use two-finger or three-finger gestures, you should disable the corresponding features in the Xorg config:

    /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf

    Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad"
        Driver "synaptics"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"

            # ...

            # Two-finger gestures
    	Option "TapButton2" "0"
    	Option "ClickFinger2" "0"

            # Three-finger gestures
    	Option "TapButton3" "0"
    	Option "ClickFinger3" "0"

            # ...
    EndSection

## Troubleshooting

### nouveau problems

Sometimes nouveau driver produces a lot of garbage log lines during boot and even causes a kernel panic. This is a bug in the driver. You can workaround this by disabling nouveau:

    /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf

    blacklist nouveau

At the same time, you can install a proprietary nvidia dirver.

## Tips and tricks

### bbswitch

If you are using Bumblebee, you can install bbswitch package to manipulate the dedicated graphics card state. You can also change the default state of the dedicated graphics card.

### Touchpad switch

The touchpad can be toggled using a `xinput` script.

### Special keys for window managers

If you prefer using a Window manager rather than a Desktop environment, most settings will not work out of the box, so you might need to manually bind every single `FN` button combination. How to bind, see Extra keyboard keys in Xorg.

You can see the list of the media keys here: ASUS N550JV#Special keys for window managers.

Category:

- ASUS