Linux on the R1F

[mthode]

Does the touch screen show up as a usb device?

The screen should switch from what I have heard.

Anyone worried about handwriting recognition should know that all I have found is a gesture recognition program called xstroke, not true handwriting recognition. I found a deb file that works on ubuntuforums.com.

Wireless and bluetooth should work with the kernel drivers in the stock kernel.

I have no clue about the fingerprint reader. If anyone who has linux installed on it could run 'lspci' and 'lsusb' in the terminal window and post the output, that would be great.

Thanks

[BornLoser]

Are you planning on running ubuntu in the near future? If so, let us know about your experiences as any information would be greatly appreciated.

If you're curious about running Linux in an R1F in general, you can check out this thread (http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=3718) to see where this topic has been briefly discussed before. Also, look here (http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=3699&page=2) to see where one of our members has in fact posted a little bit of info about running Linux on the the R1F.

I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful but I really have no way of telling you what works 100% and what doesn't on the R1F in a linux environmment as I haven't tried it myself and no thorough write ups currently exist.

Good luck.

[mthode]

Thanks for the info.

[ignacykrasicki]

I don't have time (and skills :) ) to make it all working...
Wifi and BT works fine.
No sound.
Wacom has problem with resolution.
I haven't done anything about screen switching and recognition.

radek@radek-laptop:~$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
0000:00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
0000:00:1b.0 0403: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
0000:00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
0000:00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 02)
0000:00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
0000:00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
0000:00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) Serial ATA Storage Controllers cc=IDE (rev 02)
0000:05:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation: Unknown device 4222 (rev 02)
0000:06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 8168 (rev 01)


radek@radek-laptop:~$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 004: ID 0bda:0111 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0483:2016 SGS Thomson Microelectronics Fingerprint Reader
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0b05:1712 ASUSTek Computer, Inc.
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 056a:0090 Wacom Co., Ltd
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

[mthode]

Nice to see that the tablet portion is usb based.
there is something called '915 resolution' that could help the resolution problem.

as far as the fingerprint reader is concerned, I found two links
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Installing_Ubuntu_6.06_Flight_6_on_a_ThinkPad_X60s #Fingerprint_reader
http://www.thinkwiki.org/index.php?title=How_to_enable_the_fingerprint_read er&redirect=no

these should help for enabling it for login and the like.

[nash]

Hi All,

The fingerprint scanner on the R1F is from UPEK. STM is perhaps the foundry that produced it. UPEK has drivers for linux on their site. www.upek.com

Best regards,
Naresh

[mthode]

Thanks for the info but I thought that it was the "SGS Thomson Microelectronics Fingerprint Reader" not a upek one.

[BornLoser]

I don't know how much this will help you since it's for a Toshiba, but perhaps things such as the setting up the dual core (if you haven't done it already) are similar. It's worth taking a look perhaps:

Linux on a Portege (http://www.math.upenn.edu/~vincentb/UbuntuPortege.html)

Also...are you sporting 800X600 resolution? If this is the case you're using the VESA driver and need to get Linux to recognize you are using intel's integrated graphics. I'll try to find a how to on this and get it posted later.

Also, I'm looking into your sound issue....perhaps I can find something out.

Good luck

Update: Upon some searching...I found a couple of things that may remedy your sound issue. Check out this post (http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/forum/showthread.php?t=286&highlight=Asus) from linux-on-laptops.com to hear others lament about the problem. About halfway down the page there's a guy proposing a solution. You can read his post and see where he links to this site (http://www.gidnetwork.com/b-106.html) for a proposed solution. The guy sets up his sound on a Dell in Slackware...so I know it won't be as beneficial to you as an Ubuntu walkthrough, but maybe it can get you somewhere. I also found a more general link here (http://www.alsa-project.org/alsa-doc/doc-php/template.php?company=Intel&card=ICH+southbridge+HD-audio+and+modem.&chip=ICH6%2C+ICH6M%2C+ICH7%2C+ESB2&module=hda-intel) it may be your best bet. Hope this helps you.

[krako]

Dear friends,

I have been working with the asus R1F for 2 weeks.
And here is what I have found so far:


Distribution Kubuntu 6.10.




The good news:

What works out of the box or with little configuration:

-Wireless
-Ethernet
-Dual processor
-Hibernate
-USB
-SDreader
-DVD burner and reader (I had to use it once on windows to set up the zone)
-Bluetooth (a little configuration to use the mouse)
-Vga: Out of the box it only uses 1024x768. Quite common problem with intel graphics. As posted before 915resolution solves the problem.
-Rotate screen: with randr
-Some keys: esc and ctrl-alt-del work out of the box. Maybe rotate screen could work also but needs configuration.
-External VGA


I have not tried yet:

express card
TV out
fingerprint reader

And now the bad news:

What does not work (yet I hope)

-Sound: Out of the box there is no sound. With the latest development drivers from alsa there is sound from the speakers and from the mic jack :confused:. There is no sound from the headphone jack. Moreover the mixer and the sound controls do not control anything. i.e. the volume is fixed. It seems to be a common problem with many laptops with the same sound card/mixer so I hope it will be solved soon.


-Tablet :mad: We are out of luck here. It seems that all the previous tablet pc use a serial port to connect the tablet to the board. The asus r1f seems to be the first model that uses a usb port to connect. The developers of the wacom drivers for linux claim that there is no support for this kind of tabletpc (yet) but I do not know if there is some one working in the needed driver.

Out of the box the tablet seems to work, and it only needs some calibration, but this is not the case. What happens is that x.org treat it as a usb mouse, you can use the pen to move the cursor like using a touchpad.

-Suspend: It hangs the computer. (maybe I have not configured it properly but i'm not a fan of suspend mode)


Conclusion:

Until some one writes the driver for the usb wacom it is a good laptop but a useless tablet.

Krako

[BornLoser]

Your statements about the tablet portion are disheartening...in fact, that combined with no headphone out or ability to control volume almost seems like a deal breaker to me.

Hopefully these issues will get worked out sooner or later, until then I guess I'm stuck in Windows for any serious work I'll need to be doing. :(

[ignacykrasicki]

Hi again!
I've just saw BornLoser post on thred new R1F: first impressions (http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=4734). Not everything is true.

I'm using Ubuntu.

Wacom device is usb device,
#lsusb
(above in this thread) shows it.

Bluetooth works without any poblems.

Screen rotation isn't a problem ( xrandr -o left|right|normal ).

I'm working with linuxwacom tools, but everything is wrong (as ussual:). I've build newest wacom.ko but it seems it has version problem. That's because linux source doesn't have Module.symvers file. Now I'm trying another kernel.

I'm looking forward any opinions or advices.

[Fido]

Can you just install Linux on that odd 6Gb data partition Asus put on for some reason?

[ignacykrasicki]

I don't think so. You should have at least 1GB swap partition (I have 2GB).
I used qtparted from Knoppix (boots from CD, no installation needed) to resize partitions. After this installed Ubuntu.

[BornLoser]

ignacykrasicki...thanks for the corrections. I'll check my sources better next time.

[The Niles]

http://www.justinclarke.com/archives/2006/12/ubuntu_linux_61.html

Okay this post belongs here not in the other one I posted it in just now. Anyway, not for the R1F specifically but still worth a look.

[BornLoser]

ignacykrasicki, when you say 'everything is wrong' what do you mean?

Is it something similar to what was posted earlier by krako

-Tablet We are out of luck here. It seems that all the previous tablet pc use a serial port to connect the tablet to the board. The asus r1f seems to be the first model that uses a usb port to connect. The developers of the wacom drivers for linux claim that there is no support for this kind of tabletpc (yet) but I do not know if there is some one working in the needed driver.

Is that the problem? You have tablet funcionality but it is actually just working like the touchpad or usb mouse would? Or is there some other problem?

Also, how is the sound? Have you made any progress in that department?

[ignacykrasicki]

Evierything is wrong means I'm not pro enough to build wacom module without problems. Finally I did it, but it's not a solution.
As Krako said, wacom drivers doesn't support Tablet PC with wacom connected by usb yet.
I've contacted Ping Cheng form Linux Wacom Tablet Project and asked when they will add support for us. Answer:

"It is in my to-do list http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1593330&group_id=69596&atid=525127 ). But, I don't have time to work on it soon. If you have development experience, you may work on it. Otherwise, we'll have to see if there is anyone else available in the development group before I get a chance to work on it. "

By default it works like touchpad or something, unusable. Module that controls it is usbhid (should be wacom): ). Maybe it is posiible to do this with this module, maybe. I don't know. If you start wacdump on wacom device it looks so promising...

I haven't done anything with sound, but Krako have some progress and I think it will be solved soon.

[kshepherd]

Unfortunately the same lack of touchscreen support is true for the Asus R1E.
Progress on Linux support for this Wacom chip can be followed here:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1593330&group_id=69596&atid=525127

Let us hope that it is supported soon.

[zanados]

I'd love to see more of this thread continued.
I'm on a R1F and have played around with a few Linux distros, mostly Ubuntu 7.04+.
In my time playing with it, out of the box 7.04 and above recognized almost everything. It did however lack the fingerprint reader and the tablet input, as well as simple fixes like resolution. Wacom drivers didn't help anything to get the tablet up, as noted with the usb vs serial problem in the wacom build i used. I never got around to experimenting with upek's drivers either.

[aritisart]

Hello everyone I have found some interesting information about some driver that are not spicifically for the asus r1f but generally for USB touchscreen, if there are any programmers who would like to modify this to work on The asus R1F. Here are some links to some of the things I have found so far.

http://touchscreens.com/support-drivers-magictouch.html
http://www.softcoded.net/eduard/elousb.html
http://zalman.ostergaard.net/touch.html
http://blog.nouse.net/?p=100#comment-36903
http://www.conan.de/touchscreen/evtouch.html
http://dkukawka.blogspot.com/search/label/TabletPC

give it go programmers :cool:

[deek]

Anyone currently exploring Linux tried the latest build(Feb 28, 2008)?
Versions out are 0.7.8-3(Production) 0.7.9-8(Development)

[Jack the R]

Would love to get the stylus working in Linux on my R1E - I sure which they would put a PayPal donate button up on Sourceforge, I'd be happy to help motivate them!

[Chiii!!!]

I got the stylus working in a R1f and ubutnu 8.04 with a patch of the linuxwacom released here:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1593330&group_id=69596&atid=525127

It may be difficult for those who are not used to compile modules, and configure the Xserver, so if you're not used to maybe it's better to wait until the oficial release.

I can write a small guide about how to get it working, if anyone requests it.

[Chiii!!!]

Anyway I've written a small guide based on the instuctions provided on the web:

This only works with 2.6.24 kernels, but in the web above there are also patches for 2.6.22

1. Download the patch from: http://linuxwacom.pastebin.com/f3d5b9e73 (Click on download)
2. Download the source of linuxwacom: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/linuxwacom/linuxwacom-0.7.9-11.tar.bz2
3. unpack source: tar xjvf linuxwacom-0.7.9-11.tar.bz2
4. Apply the patch
cd linuxwacom-0.7.9-11
patch -p1 < [dir to file]/f3d5b9e73.txt
5.Install dependencies(Kernel headers, build essential,etc..):
In my case these were missing: xorg-dev xorg-xserver-dev libxi-dev
6. Confugure and compile: ./configure --enable-wacom , make and sudo make install
7. Copy the module into correct place(replace the dir of the kernel version with yours):
sudo cp src/2.6.24/wacom.ko /lib/modules/2.6.24-16-generic/kernel/drivers/input/tablet/wacom.ko
8. run: sudo depmod -e
9. if the module isn't loaded correctly (check with dmesg) run: sudo modprobe wacom
10. Add this configuration to the Xorg.conf :


...

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "USB" "on"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
Option "TopX" "100"
Option "TopY" "100"
Option "BottomX" "28400"
Option "BottomY" "17900"
Option "Button2" "3"
Option "Speed" "1.5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "USB" "on"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "USB" "on"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"
EndSection

...
...

Section "ServerLayout"
...
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

11.Restart Xserver
12.Enjoy


I've only compilated the information from the web above, I'm not an expert. Thanks to atrueba, ianmcarthur for providing the information, and specially to zappacky who I think is the one that has made this possible.

[Jack the R]

Your pressure sensitivity works too?

Good to see progress being made here!

[Chiii!!!]

Yes pressure sensitivity is fully working. I've only tried gimp, but if it works for gimp....

[deek]

This is such great news. Short of getting the built in wireless to work the R1F in OSX the R1F can take any operating system and chew it up. Now if I could only get my R1F to R1E motherboard project going to be able to install the bad ass 45nm mobile intel chips...

It also looks like I am going to have to see how a Gentoo install preforms. Compiling from source may take awhile but the speed and performance benefits rock.

[suitcase]

Chili,
how/can you calibrate the pen in Ubuntu?

[Chiii!!!]

Mine did not need calibration, but I think that it's done with wacomcpl

I I'm not shure if it's working, but if you read this thread http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1593330&group_id=69596&atid=525127 from the wacomlinux you can get some ideas how to do it.

[Jack the R]

Good news on the tablet pressure! Has anyone got sound working?

[Jack the R]

I installed the latest Ubuntu, now I need a LOT of help making it work!

1st prob - the screen is so dark I can barely read it. Even during boot. How to fix?

2nd prob - no recognition of the Asus bluetooth mouse! The bluetooth icon beneath the screen is lit up, so I assume it's working.

3rd prob - wireless internet not recognized! Maybe this can be easily fixed once I can navigate around the GUI with the mouse.

-- edit - That wasn't as bad as I was afraid it would be.

For anyone else thinking of installing Linux, here's what you need to know -

1) Use Fn + F6 to turn the screen brightness up.

2) If installing Ubuntu, use alt+F1 to get into the taskbar menu.

3) The wireless internet will work, once you manually connect to the network. But you need to get your mouse working first

4) Instructions for setting up the bluetooth mouse are here (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BluetoothSetup)

[Jack the R]

Big thanks to Chiii!!! and everyone at Source Forge who put the wacom driver patch together! The stylus part works beautifully! The eraser needs help but I never use it, it's faster to switch to the eraser tool via hotkeys than to flip the pen around.

Very happy!

[deek]

I'm glad to see that Linux is finally running well on the R1F(e). I am also excited to find out that there are some drivers for the intel3945 that allow for packet injection.

[Jack the R]

I've got sound working, even the headphones.

Follow the instructions in this thread -

Link (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=820959)

At the end of the alsa-base file, add the line -

options snd-hda-intel model=asus

Run alsamixer and make sure nothing is muted (I believe it shows MM for muted, toggle it with the M key (?) ) You may also need to check some settings in the regular volume control.

[deek]

GREAT WORK Jack the R! It looks like the R1 is 100% work in linux now correct?

[Jack the R]

There are things I don't use, or don't want, that I haven't looked at yet. I haven't looked at the fingerprint scanner or the buttons on the tablet screen - I had that stuff disabled anyway in Windows because I kept accidentally activating it while working. I haven't looked at the microphone yet, but if all the other sound stuff works it probably works too.

I'm trying to figure out how to access the screen brightness command. I don't know if this is true of all recent Linux distros, but Ubuntu 8.04 has a bug that causes the screen to set to minimum brightness on boot, recovery from suspend mode, and any time the screen orientation is changed. It's not a huge deal since the keyboard brightness controls work, and I've added an applet to the taskbar to turn the brightness up in tablet mode. But if I can add another line to my screen flipping scripts, it's that much slicker.

BTW it looks like the scripts can be added to the Ubuntu taskbar through a "launcher," so flipping the screen can be done at the push of a button. Much better than Vista! I haven't been able to make Ubuntu remember to start in the last screen orientation though, which is not as good as Vista, which could get it right half the time. It hasn't been an issue for me though since I usually want the pc to restart in normal orientation.

What else -

Be sure to install wacom tools to get the cursor to align with the stylus in portrait mode -

sudo apt-get install wacom-tools

Wireless internet worked out of the box, the touchpad worked out of the box, cd burning worked out of the box. If there's an IR port on the R1E I haven't looked at it yet.

The bluetooth mouse needed configuring -

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BluetoothSetup

The card reader needed configuring. I can't remember how I did it now, only that it didn't take long to find what I needed.

That's all the problems I can think of.

If you can find the programs you need under Linux, I highly recommend upgrading to Ubuntu 8.04, a 7200 rpm hard drive, and 4 gigs of ram. The R1e will be completely transformed from the machine you pulled out of the box. When I got mine it chewed on the hard drive constantly. CONSTANTLY. Ubuntu barely touches it. Altogether it's a much nicer OS.

[Jack the R]

I've got a start on licking the brightness problem. Unfortunately, after each boot, you currently have to run -

sudo chmod 777 /proc/acpi/video/VGA/LCDD/brightness

- if using Ubuntu. Maybe any Linux with a recent kernel.

The permissions to this program get reset on each boot, so, run it each and every time :( Until I can find a permanent solution for it.

After that, Linux can be set up so rotation happens at the push of a button, and everything with the tablet and the screen brightness will work as it should.

Download and untar this file -

Link (http://www.extinctionlevelevent.com/misc/linux/screen_rotate.tgz)

This will give you the 4 scripts I use for rotating the screen, and an icon for each orientation.

In Ubuntu, make launchers for each script (or whichever ones you want) in the taskbar, attach them to the icons, and voila, one-click screen rotating. Pretty cool huh?