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ASUS ROG (Republic Of Gamers) is a brand of special hardware primarily aimed at PC gaming and work is now underway by the community to better support their laptops on Linux.

Being spearheaded by software engineer Luke Jones, the rog-core utility is starting off with the Zephyrus GX502GW which is being used as the basis for it. They're going to expand to support others, if they can get more data from other ASUS ROG laptop owners.

They've got big plans for what it will be able to do including: Setting/modifying built-in LED modes, Per-key LED setting, Fancy LED modes (custom programs), running as a Daemon (background process), system control including things like Sleep / Brightness and everything you would expect to be able to do with a fancy "gamer" laptop from ASUS.

I think it's incredible we have projects like this, where the hardware vendor doesn't usually give Linux a second thought. If you wish to help out you can find the rog-core utility on GitHub.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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51 comments
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Cyba.Cowboy Apr 20, 2020
So they chose a $2000 laptop that almost no one can afford to start on? That makes perfect sense.

This.

Besides, they should have started with the ASUS ZenBook Duo, which is the laptop I plan to upgrade to in the near future (no, not the monster that is the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo - which is the laptop I want to buy, but absolutely cannot afford to buy!)... :P


Usually when I install Linux on a Laptop most things already work out of the box. I've never bought an Asus before though.

I use an ASUS laptop now, have done for three-ish years, and I've mostly been happy with it... Everything "just works" on it and unlike pretty much every other laptop I've ever owned, this thing actually stays cool - even when pushing it pretty hard.

The only problem I've ever had with it is that the battery swelled up some point, warping the chassis and touchpad (not sure if it was from me leaning too hard on the palm-rest area or not)... But I don't use the latter and I wouldn't mind an excuse to upgrade.


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 20 April 2020 at 10:26 am UTC
TheSHEEEP Apr 20, 2020
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When comments get just too sheepish, it's time to block. Time is too valuable for such nonsense.
Like clockwork. As fragile as an old fortune cookie.
Those of weak mind will always opt to create a bubble to pretend everyone agrees with them instead of facing the opposition...
Rooster Apr 20, 2020
Don't let those people take away the word gamer from you. I'm playing games, so I'm a gamer.

On the contrary, I prefer to avoid any association with "gamer culture". I play games; "gamer" is not an identity for me that I just "am a gamer".

That's exactly what I meant by letting them take away the word from you. People associate good general words with special things and spoil them. Let's keep the words. They're ours just as well.

There is no real point to the word "gamer". When you say: I'm a gamer, what are you trying to really say? That you like to play video games? Or that you often play video games? Then just say, I play video-games. It's more descriptive and clear at the same time.

I like to listen to music, but I don't refer to myself as musicer.
I like to watch movies, but I don't refer to myself as watcher.
In the same way, I don't see the need to refer to myself as gamer, unless I want to feel elitist, or part of some jerk-circle.


Last edited by Rooster on 20 April 2020 at 11:44 am UTC
tuubi Apr 20, 2020
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When comments get just too sheepish, it's time to block. Time is too valuable for such nonsense.
Like clockwork. As fragile as an old fortune cookie.
Those of weak mind will always opt to create a bubble to pretend everyone agrees with them instead of facing the opposition...
1. Those with an inflated ego (like children) always think everybody should be required to listen to their bullshit, and every platform should be made available for them just because they have an opinion.
2. The one with the loudest voice is rarely the one with the strongest mind.
3. Social media platforms are sources of noise, not sources of information. Blocking random internet pests has no downsides.
Eike Apr 20, 2020
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There is no real point to the word "gamer". When you say: I'm a gamer, what are you trying to really say? That you like to play video games? Or that you often play video games? Then just say, I play video-games. It's more descriptive and clear at the same time.

I like to listen to music, but I don't refer to myself as musicer.
I like to watch movies, but I don't refer to myself as watcher.
In the same way, I don't see the need to refer to myself as gamer, unless I want to feel elitist, or part of some jerk-cycle.

The word "gamer" is well established:
a person who plays games especially : a person who regularly plays computer or video games
I want to say with the word what it means according to dictionaries.
Not too unusual, right?
TheSHEEEP Apr 20, 2020
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When comments get just too sheepish, it's time to block. Time is too valuable for such nonsense.
Like clockwork. As fragile as an old fortune cookie.
Those of weak mind will always opt to create a bubble to pretend everyone agrees with them instead of facing the opposition...
1. Those with an inflated ego (like children) always think everybody should be required to listen to their bullshit, and every platform should be made available for them just because they have an opinion.
2. The one with the loudest voice is rarely the one with the strongest mind.
3. Social media platforms are sources of noise, not sources of information. Blocking random internet pests has no downsides.
1. Haven't met a single person who thought anything along those lines, but sure, go ahead. You can move your goalposts wherever you want.
2. Agreed. The one who is able to endure opposition without needing "safe spaces" has the strongest mind.
3. Things that are not agreeable = bullshit, everyone who disagress = internet pest. To those with a weak mind, anyway. And thus, the bubble is born, far away from reality. "I do not agree with this, therefore it is nonsense". I do consider giving people the ability to live in a bubble a serious downside as it removes the need to be able to live with dissenting voices. I also consider it a large part of the ever-increasing gap and growing intelorance between people of different viewpoints - instead of dealing with each other, many people just opt to block the other side.
That might give short-term relief, and is super easy to do, but I honestly think it is harmful long-term.

But what do I know? I guess I'm just an internet pest.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 20 April 2020 at 11:52 am UTC
rustybroomhandle Apr 20, 2020
@sheep guy

You are quite a hypocrite here, because you seem to have quite a negative reaction whenever you are called out for being an asshole. Maybe YOU need the safe space where you can be an asshole without being challenged.

When people disagree with you, you call them weak minded and whatever the hell else... YOU're the one with the problem here, not everyone else.

Anyway, I had you blocked for a reason.


Last edited by rustybroomhandle on 20 April 2020 at 11:58 am UTC
TheSHEEEP Apr 20, 2020
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@sheep guy

You are quite a hypocrite here, because you seem to have quite a negative reaction whenever you are called out for being an asshole.
Nah, man. I really don't care in the slightest what random internet people think of me.
I am merely calling people out on their weak-mindedness and hypocrisy and showing them that not everyone agrees with their attempts at establishing the only "proper" way of thinking by lumping everyone who disagrees them in with whatever group is currently "the enemy", in this case "gamers".
What I also do is correct people when I think they are wrong - which is a normal in a discussion, I would think?

I also fail to understand how having a negative reaction to being called something (which again, I don't, call me whatever you want) would make me a hypocrite. I'd be a hypocrite if I blocked you for calling me an asshole.

Maybe YOU need the safe space where you can be an asshole without being challenged.
I welcome every single challenge and never back away from a discussion (well, except if its been going on for ages and I grow tired of it). Quite in contrast to other people who just love to block those they disagree with or whose directness they cannot handle.

When people disagree with you, you call them weak minded and whatever the hell else...
I have not called a single person weak-minded for disagreeing with me. That is something I'd never do.
I call people weak-minded if they are weak-minded. And quite a few people are - often those who then go ahead and demand people censor themselves or hold back to protect their feelings. Another thing I would never do.
Or, if that fails, block people for disagreeing with them. Yet another thing I'd never do.

I'd block people for harassing me, stalking me or stuff like that - but that hasn't really happened yet.

Anyway, I had you blocked for a reason.
Q.E.D.


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 20 April 2020 at 1:35 pm UTC
tuubi Apr 20, 2020
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Or, if that fails, block people for disagreeing with them. Yet another thing I'd never do.
Have you considered that maybe they block you because they find you annoying, not because they disagree with you? How is blocking a source of irritation a negative thing, if that's all you are to them?

Your smarter-than-thou attitude and talk of bubbles might hold some merit if these people weren't simply blocking some random dude with an abrasive manner on a forum. It just does not matter. They have better things to do. It's like walking away from an obnoxious loudmouth in a pub. He/she doesn't necessarily deserve an audience.

Now, if they were getting all their news exclusively from sources they happen to agree with, that would be an actual problem.
Eike Apr 20, 2020
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Have you considered that maybe they block you because they find you annoying, not because they disagree with you? How is blocking a source of irritation a negative thing, if that's all you are to them?

For me, there's stuff worth an answer, stuff worth at least thought and (lots of) stuff I just ignore. And then there's - as said, very seldomly - stuff that is not worth an answer and in the same time annoying (and not the first time so). I think it's mostly the tone where you can already tell that an answer would be totally fruitless. The tone of "everybody who thinks or feel differently is stupid". The tone that tells people that someone will not even consider to reconsider.
TheSHEEEP Apr 20, 2020
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Or, if that fails, block people for disagreeing with them. Yet another thing I'd never do.
Have you considered that maybe they block you because they find you annoying, not because they disagree with you? How is blocking a source of irritation a negative thing, if that's all you are to them?
But why am I annoying to them? It's not like I go around just randomly insulting people in the worst manners.
I annoy them because I disagree with them, won't back down from my views (or pretend to) prefer honest and direct words instead of buttering up or keeping my mouth shut if I disagree with anyone and call them out on their shenanigans.

Finally, because all of the above mentioned was directed at them instead of with them.
I'd bet my other kidney that if I showed 100% the same kind of tone and behavior and everything else - but actually agreed with them on whatever the topic, they would not have taken even closely that much of an issue with it.
Just look at all the jabs thrown at "gamers" in the posts - none of which were any better or worse than mine.
And none of which caused any ruckus. Huh. I wonder why. As if it was easier to fling sh't at someone who ain't flinging back.

Your smarter-than-thou attitude and talk of bubbles might hold some merit if these people weren't simply blocking some random dude with an abrasive manner on a forum. It just does not matter. They have better things to do. It's like walking away from an obnoxious loudmouth in a pub. He/she doesn't necessarily deserve an audience.

Eh, the majority of things I comment on an article is on-topic and not related to any poster. As it was in this thread, before the usual subjects got oh-so-attacked by my small remark calling out their "online people mean!" whining. And then things went from there, because, as I said, I do not back down from discussions. Even if they are completely off-topic.
Which does make me feel bad and hence I'll stop after this post. I don't like derailing threads due to the mess it causes.

Seriously, though, if you cannot even take the odd minor punch, what are you doing talking to people on the internet?
Offense is always taken, never given.

Now, if they were getting all their news exclusively from sources they happen to agree with, that would be an actual problem.
That's pretty much a given with people like that. People who block others on one platform for whatever minor reasons like "this guy wronged me!", will do it on all platforms and media until all they find "annoying" are gone and only opinions and voices they like remain.
Of course, it is always excused with "not worth my time" - the easy way out if you run out of arguments or never had any to begin with.

Besides, if you think only news bubbles are a problem and not opinion bubbles, then you are very much mistaken. One is just the next "level" of the other.

The tone of "everybody who thinks or feel differently is stupid". The tone that tells people that someone will not even consider to reconsider.
You take issue with your own tone?
Did you block yourself, too?...


Last edited by TheSHEEEP on 20 April 2020 at 4:01 pm UTC
tuubi Apr 20, 2020
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I annoy them because I disagree with them, won't back down from my views (or pretend to) prefer honest and direct words instead of buttering up or keeping my mouth shut if I disagree with anyone and call them out on their shenanigans.
I disagree. I mean, your needlessly argumentative tone is probably part of it, but they're not annoyed because you're "honest". They probably do disagree with you about them being weak minded whiners though. I don't know about you but people don't usually enjoy being talked down to.

I'd bet my other kidney that if I showed 100% the same kind of tone and behavior and everything else - but actually agreed with them on whatever the topic, they would not have taken even closely that much of an issue with it.
Well yeah, if you didn't insult them they probably wouldn't have found you nearly as annoying. Funny thing, that. They probably would have pointed out personal attacks towards someone though, judging by their past behaviour.

Just look at all the jabs thrown at "gamers" in the posts - none of which were any better or worse than mine.
Any quotes? Worst I saw was some generic criticism of certain very visible aspects of what people call "gamer culture", and someone saying they don't want to be associated with that group. No personal insults or anything. Whereas your insults were quite personal.

Your smarter-than-thou attitude and talk of bubbles might hold some merit if these people weren't simply blocking some random dude with an abrasive manner on a forum. It just does not matter. They have better things to do. It's like walking away from an obnoxious loudmouth in a pub. He/she doesn't necessarily deserve an audience.

Eh, the majority of things I comment on an article is on-topic and not related to any poster. As it was in this thread, before the usual subjects got oh-so-attacked by my small remark calling out their "online people mean!" whining.
They complain about something, you don't agree, so you complain about them with an insult-cherry on top. Who won?

Now, if they were getting all their news exclusively from sources they happen to agree with, that would be an actual problem.
That's pretty much a given with people like that.
People like what? People who get annoyed if you insult them? Or just people you disagree with?

Of course, it is always excused with "not worth my time" - the easy way out if you run out of arguments or never had any to begin with.
Internet arguments are mostly a waste of time. Hard to argue against that. A proper, productive discussion is one thing, but those are very rare and easy to spot early on. And they rarely involve insults.

Then there's entertaining banter, but that usually only happens between people who don't actually dislike each other. Anything that's neither entertaining nor productive is probably not worth your time.




I doubt anybody bothered reading all that, but in case someone got this far: I don't mind calling myself a gamer, for the same reason Eike does it. But it's almost exclusively as part of "Linux gamer". I also call myself a coder and a slacker. My wife occasionally calls me other things that end in "r", but I'd rather not repeat those here.
xavi Apr 20, 2020
Republic of Gamers? What a stupid name. I'd be ashamed to use something with that name.

To be fair, ASUS is a Taiwanese company, and I think with that background the name is a bit more understandable.

Anyways, while not officially supported, I always had quite good results with Asus laptops on Linux. And build quiality relative to price at least used to be quite good (have not bought one in some years).

But I also think it is also worth considering buying a Taiwanese brand over a Chinese government front like Lenovo.


I always prefer to buy and doing business with Taiwan than with China!

Last decades Taiwan cannot compete with China on prices, so they take care on quality and the customer.
xavi Apr 20, 2020
Republic of Gamers? What a stupid name. I'd be ashamed to use something with that name.

To be fair, ASUS is a Taiwanese company, and I think with that background the name is a bit more understandable.

Anyways, while not officially supported, I always had quite good results with Asus laptops on Linux. And build quiality relative to price at least used to be quite good (have not bought one in some years).

But I also think it is also worth considering buying a Taiwanese brand over a Chinese government front like Lenovo.


I always prefer to buy and doing business with Taiwan than with China!

Last decades Taiwan cannot compete with China on prices, so they take care on quality and the customer.

But I reply myself: about laptops, I always buy Thinkpads because of better Linux support.

Hope Asus improves that :)
yahya Apr 21, 2020
Fan control by pressing Fn+F5 is the best thing I can get, which works on Linux

Fans being controlled automatically is the best thing I can get.

I think you don't get how this fan control behaves.
The fans are still controlled automatically based on current workload. But they do have speed limits on each mode.
Before using this driver, it seems my laptop fans stay at normal mode, so they won't reach their maximum speed :(
Yes, sometimes I need my laptop fans to work at their maximum speed on heavy workload. But they are noisy. I don't want them to react sensitively when I don't need them to be.

In short, fan control is a compromise between automatic and manual fan speed settings.


Last edited by yahya on 21 April 2020 at 3:36 am UTC
Cyba.Cowboy Apr 21, 2020
I always prefer to buy and doing business with Taiwan than with China!

This.

Say what you want about ol' Trump, but I don't trust China as far as I can spit, and I'll avoid products that have or likely have ties to the Chinese Government, where ever possible... No - before any "Social Justice Warriors" put their 5¢ in - that's not me being "anti-Chinese" or "racist", that's an opinion based on the apalling track record the Chinese Government has with regards to privacy and human rights, which are known (albeit often-ignored) facts.


[quote=xavi]
But I reply myself: about laptops, I always buy Thinkpads because of better Linux support.

Hope Asus improves that :)

My current ASUS laptop has always had great support for Linux-based operating systems, and the ASUS ZenBook Duo I hope to buy in the near-ish future apparently has great Linux support, too... As does the "Pro" version of the ASUS ZenBook Duo - if you have an awfully big bank account! :D

ASUS used to provide official UEFI updates / upgrades for Linux-based operating systems too, but I can't seem to find this on their site any more (at least for the model of laptop I have now), so perhaps this is no longer the case? :S:


Last edited by Cyba.Cowboy on 21 April 2020 at 4:05 am UTC
Eike Apr 21, 2020
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Fan control by pressing Fn+F5 is the best thing I can get, which works on Linux

Fans being controlled automatically is the best thing I can get.

I think you don't get how this fan control behaves.
The fans are still controlled automatically based on current workload. But they do have speed limits on each mode.
Before using this driver, it seems my laptop fans stay at normal mode, so they won't reach their maximum speed :(
Yes, sometimes I need my laptop fans to work at their maximum speed on heavy workload. But they are noisy. I don't want them to react sensitively when I don't need them to be.

In short, fan control is a compromise between automatic and manual fan speed settings.

I think I still don't get it.

Is it that you're not allowed to set a suitable curve,
or do you actually want the fans to react differently on the same load/heat at different times?
Purple Library Guy Apr 21, 2020
When comments get just too sheepish, it's time to block. Time is too valuable for such nonsense.
Like clockwork. As fragile as an old fortune cookie.
Those of weak mind will always opt to create a bubble to pretend everyone agrees with them instead of facing the opposition...
In order to constitute "opposition", wouldn't you have to "oppose", in the sense of taking up and arguing some contrary position? All you've done is make vaguely insulting statements; this hardly constitutes "opposition" in any meaningful sense. Not only is it unclear what your "opposition" would consist of, but it's unclear what exactly you "oppose" in the first place.

Since your ire was apparently aroused by someone saying bad things about uncivil behaviour, my best guess is you're taking a principled stance in favour of people being able to act like assholes without anyone ever mentioning that they've acted like assholes. Not sure quite what the principle is, there.
Purple Library Guy Apr 21, 2020
I always prefer to buy and doing business with Taiwan than with China!

This.

Say what you want about ol' Trump, but I don't trust China as far as I can spit, and I'll avoid products that have or likely have ties to the Chinese Government, where ever possible... No - before any "Social Justice Warriors" put their 5¢ in - that's not me being "anti-Chinese" or "racist", that's an opinion based on the apalling track record the Chinese Government has with regards to privacy and human rights, which are known (albeit often-ignored) facts.
This is true enough. Mind you, there are similarly solid reasons for the world community to avoid products made in the USA (and I'm not even talking about Trump).
So yeah, products from Europe, Taiwan, Japan before products from either China or the US.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 21 April 2020 at 7:38 am UTC
chr Apr 21, 2020
I always prefer to buy and doing business with Taiwan than with China!

This.

Say what you want about ol' Trump, but I don't trust China as far as I can spit, and I'll avoid products that have or likely have ties to the Chinese Government, where ever possible... No - before any "Social Justice Warriors" put their 5¢ in - that's not me being "anti-Chinese" or "racist", that's an opinion based on the apalling track record the Chinese Government has with regards to privacy and human rights, which are known (albeit often-ignored) facts.
This is true enough. Mind you, there are similarly solid reasons for the world community to avoid products made in the USA (and I'm not even talking about Trump).
So yeah, products from Europe, Taiwan, Japan before products from either China or the US.

Yup, this. Every time someone says they avoid Chinese products, I wonder why don't they apply same principles to USA.
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