ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A

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This page contains instructions, tips, pointers, and links for installing and configuring Arch Linux on the ASUS Zenbook UX31A and UX21A Ultrabooks. Most of it should also hold for UX32VD.

See previous generation ASUS Zenbook UX31E page that has mostly orthogonal information to those here (may be only partially applicable to UX31A)

Installation

To install Arch Linux on UX31A, you can follow the official Installation guide. Since the UX31A uses UEFI and GPT, make sure to also read the UEFI, GPT and Arch boot process#Boot loader pages. To prepare a UEFI USB device, read UEFI#Create UEFI bootable USB from ISO.

Boot from USB medium

Press Escape to get into the boot menu. If the USB bootable device is not listed, enter the configuration menu and directly press F10 to save. Press Escape again on reboot: This time the USB bootable device should appear in the menu.

Make sure to boot the USB in EFI-Mode, to easily install the bootloader later.

Function keys

Note: A working keymap means that there is some output in xev when the key combination is pressed OR that the functionality is built in and "just works". It does not means that the keymap is linked to the functionality. For that it is often necessary to add a keyboard shortcut or to use a desktop shell with built-in shortcut support for the keycode in question. For some of the keys the function operates on a BIOS level and no shortcut is needed.

This table shows the function keys, their intended function, what keycode (if any) X recognizes and whether the function key operates at the BIOS level or if it needs a shortcut.

Keys	Function	X sees	shortcut needed
`Fn+F1`	Sleep	XF86Sleep	no
`Fn+F2`	Turn off WLAN and Bluetooth	XF86WLAN & XF86Bluetooth	no
`Fn+F3`	Dim keyboard backlight	XF86KbdBrightnessDown	yes
`Fn+F4`	Brighten keyboard backlight	XF86KbdBrightnessUp	yes
`Fn+F5`	Dim LCD backlight	XF86MonBrightnessDown	no
`Fn+F6`	Brighten LCD backlight	XF86MonBrightnessUp	no
`Fn+F7`	Turn off LCD	No named key	no
`Fn+F8`	Toggle display	XF86Display	yes
`Fn+F9`	Toggle touchpad	XF86TouchpadToggle	yes
`Fn+F10`	Audio mute/unmute	XF86AudioMute	yes
`Fn+F11`	Audio volume down	XF86AudioLowerVolume	yes
`Fn+F12`	Audio volume up	XF86AudioRaiseVolume	yes
`Fn+a`	Ambient light sensor	m:0x0 + c:248	yes
`Fn+c`	Switch display profiles	XF86Launch1	yes
`Fn+v`	Webcam	XF86WebCam	yes
`Fn+space`	Switch power profiles	XF86Launch6	yes

Screen backlight

Screen backlight should work with any recent kernel (after 3.7). The brightness is managed via hardware, so it should work across all DE's. In case it's not working directly, you need to set the kernel parameter acpi_osi= (the space is required).

Keyboard backlight

Keyboard backlight should work automatically with any recent kernel. Desktop environments that use UPower, like GNOME or KDE, work out the box and do not need any tool or script to register the keys and change the keyboard brightness.

Manually setting the brightness

The easiest way to change the keyboard brightness is to use the UPower D-Bus interface. This even works without root.

 # Get current brightness
 dbus-send --type=method_call --print-reply=literal --system --dest="org.freedesktop.UPower" /org/freedesktop/UPower/KbdBacklight org.freedesktop.UPower.KbdBacklight.GetBrightness
 # Set brightness to 2
 dbus-send --type=method_call --print-reply=literal --system --dest="org.freedesktop.UPower" /org/freedesktop/UPower/KbdBacklight org.freedesktop.UPower.KbdBacklight.SetBrightness int32:2

You can also control the brightness of the keyboard backlight through the brightness file in /sys/class/leds/asus::kbd_backlight/ or /sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/leds/asus::kbd_backlight/ by writing a value to it. This needs root. You can retrieve the maximum from max_brightness:

# get maximum brightness value
cat /sys/class/leds/asus::kbd_backlight/max_brightness

# set to a particular value:
echo 2 > /sys/class/leds/asus::kbd_backlight/brightness

Using asus-kbd-backlight from AUR

asus-kbd-backlight^AUR from the AUR is a convenient way to manage the backlight brightness, if one does not want to use UPower. To allow users to change the brightness, write:

# asus-kbd-backlight allowusers

Users of systemd can use the unit file included in the package.

Now you can easily change keyboard backlight in terminal:

$ 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

You can then bind the XF86KbdBrightnessDown and XF86KbdBrightnessUp keys to the above functions.

Ambient Light Sensor (ALS)

The Zenbook has an ambient light sensor which enables adjustment of the keyboard and LCD backlights based on the light environment in which the Zenbook finds itself. The AUR contains packages to build the necessary kernel module and userspace programs to change keyboard and backlights and to turn the sensor on and off. The kernel module package is als-dkms^AUR and the userspace programs in als-controller-git^AUR.

ALS Driver

The ALS driver is a module named als. The resulting device is represented in sysfs in the directory /sys/bus/acpi/devices/ACPI0008:00. The ambient light sensor is enabled by writing a "1" to the file enable:

# echo "1" > /sys/bus/acpi/devices/ACPI0008:00/enable

However, it is better to use the userspace controller described below. Note that the module will need to be rebuilt with every kernel update.

If the sensor is not visible at /sys/bus/acpi/devices/ACPI0008:00, you should set acpi_osi='!Windows 2012' at the end of GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in /etc/default/grub and then rebuild sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg and reboot.

ALS Controller

The als-controller package will build the als-controller program and an example userspace script. The als-controller program is installed as /usr/share/als-controller/service/als-controller. If the programs is run as root and without parameters it will start the als-controller daemon and create a pidfile and socket for it in /var/run:

# /usr/share/als-controller/service/als-controller

The als can then be enabled and disabled by running als-controller as an unprivileged user with the appropriate parameter ( -e or -d. To enable:

$ /usr/share/als-controller/service/als-controller -e

and to disable

$ /usr/share/als-controller/service/als-controller -d

The project, which seems to be Ubuntu-centric, does not yet include a systemd service file. I use the following (overly verbose) one:

[Unit]
Description=Ambient Light Sensor Daemon
 
[Service]
User=root
Group=root
PIDFile=/var/run/als-controller.pid
ExecStart=/usr/share/als-controller/service/als-controller
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Sample Script

The sample userspace script is installed as /usr/share/als-controller/example/switch.sh. The script is designed to be run by being bound to a key combination. It requires that libnotify be installed to have OSD confirmation of state change appear. If you wish to bind enabling/disabling to the same [Fn]+[a] combination as in Windows, the relevant keycode under X is 248. If you are using xbindkeys, add the following to your .xbindkeysrc file:

# Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) Toggle [Fn a]
"/usr/share/als-controller/example/switch.sh"
m:0x0 + c:248

More information can be found in the project's README file.

Solid State Drive

If you are using a SSD, make sure to read Solid State Drives.

Graphics

To use the Intel graphics card, install the xf86-video-intel package and read Intel graphics. For hardware accelerated video read Hardware video acceleration.

Touchpad

Instructions to activate the right button. (As an alternative you cant try This).

Multifinger taps work out of the box.

Tip: Multifinger taps: Two finger for middle click; three fingers for right click.

Multitouch gestures

To enable multitouch gestures like those under Windows, one can install touchegg^AUR from the AUR. Using touchegg will require disabling some input-handling that is done by the synaptics input driver. Edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad catchall"
        Driver "synaptics"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Option "TapButton1" "1"
        Option "TapButton2" "0"
        Option "TapButton3" "0"
        Option "ClickFinger2" "0"
        Option "ClickFinger3" "0"
        Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "0"
        Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "0"
        Option "ClickPad" "true"
        Option "EmulateMidButtonTime" "0"
        Option "SoftButtonAreas" "50% 0 82% 0 0 0 0 0"
EndSection

An alternative to X.org configuration files is to use the synclient command within the .xinitrc script. This method will limit changes to your desktop environment.

 synclient TapButton2=0 TapButton3=0 ClickFinger2=0 ClickFinger3=0 HorizTwoFingerScroll=0 VertTwoFingerScroll=0

touchegg will need to be autostarted for multitouch gestures to be activated. This can be done with touchegg & in your .xinitrc, or using the autostart/startup applications functionality of your desktop environment. ~/.config/touchegg/touchegg.conf can then be configured as necessary.

Multi-tap, two-finger scrolling does not work

Check "xinput list" and see whether the Elantech touchpad was recognized as an Elantech Click-pad. If so, brenix's comment in psmouse-elantech AUR fixed it for me.

Multitouch gestures in Gnome 3

GNOME 3's gnome-shell does its own mouse-handling, which can interfere with synaptics and touchegg settings unless the appropriate plugin is disabled.

 gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.mouse active false

Note that disabling this plugin will cause the the current settings within the Mouse & Touchpad section of System Settings to be ignored.

Disable Touchpad While Typing

One of the criticisms this laptop gets (see reviews at Amazon) is that the placement of the touchpad results in frequent touchpad brushing during typing. You should use whatever touchpad disabling method you prefer. See Touchpad Synaptics#Disable touchpad while typing.

HDMI plugged at boot

There seems to be a problem whereby having an HDMI device plugged in at boot results in the screens being switched and also the laptop screen not coming on. To make this more bearable you can automate switching HDMI on with the following udev rule and script:

Add the following script as root:

/usr/local/share/hdmi-plugged-startup

#!/bin/bash

export XAUTHORITY=/home/$USER/.Xauthority
export DISPLAY=:0

/usr/bin/xrandr -display :0 --output eDP1 --auto --output HDMI1 --auto --above eDP1

then make it executable

# chmod +x /usr/local/share/hdmi-plugged-startup

And add the following udev rule:

# echo 'ACTION=="change", SUBSYSTEM=="drm", RUN+="/usr/local/share/hdmi-plugged-startup"' >> /etc/udev/rules.d/10-local.rules

Suspending, unplugging the HDMI cable, and resuming is a way to enable the Zenbook's screen without rebooting if it was booted with the cable plugged in.

Powersave management

To configure some power saving options and tools, see Power saving.

Hardware and Modules

Devices

Description	Device Id	Driver/Module
Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller	8086:0154	ivb_uncore
Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller	8086:0166	i915
Intel Corporation Device	8086:0153	none
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller	8086:1e31	xhci_hcd
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1	8086:1e3a	mei_me
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2	8086:1e2d	ehci_hcd
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller	8086:1e20	snd_hda_intel
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1	8086:1e10	pcieport
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2	8086:1e12	pcieport
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1	8086:1e26	ehci_hcd
Intel Corporation HM76 Express Chipset LPC Controller	8086:1e59	lpc_ich
Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller	8086:1e03	ahci
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller	8086:1e22]	i2c_i801
Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family Thermal Management Controller	8086:1e24	none
Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6235	8086:088e	iwlwifi
Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd Asus 720p CMOS webcam	04f2:b330	uvcvideo
Intel Corporation [Bluetooth Device]	8087:07da	btusb
Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5139 Card Reader Controller	0bda:0139	rtsx_usb

Other Devices and Drivers

MEI

If you know what you are doing and want to use the i7 MEI, you need the Intel Local Manageability Service. You can find it as intel-lms in the AUR.

Additional resources