Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu
Hi
I followed the instructions here: https://github.com/lopaka/instructio...asus-x205ta.md and have created a bootable USB stick with Ubuntu 14.10 that works on the Asus x205ta. Much of it is working - desktop, basic mouse functions, proper screen resolution.
However, there are lots of problems with the hardware:-
- Hot keys do not work, apart from volume up / down / mute. In Ubuntu MATE Linux, there is an Asus Laptop keyboard type but selecting it has no effect.
- Suspend doesn't appear to be working. It just turns the screen off.
- The internal Broadcom wifi card is not recognised.
- Bluetooth card not recognised.
- Sound card not recognised.
- No battery status available. The system thinks it is plugged into the mains.
- The Micro SD card reader doesn't work. Cards are not recognised or mounted.
- The trackpad does not support anything more than pointer positioning and right / left clicks. No multi touch (for example, two finger scrolling).
- An external wifi card (EdiMax) will work, but is flaky; times out.
I am sure there are other problems and I know there is another thread that talks about running 14.04 on the X205TA.
I ran the utilities requested in that other thread and the output is here.
Output of 'sudo lspci -knn'
Code:
ubuntu
description: Notebook
product: X205TA (ASUS-NotebookSKU)
vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
version: 1.0
serial: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
width: 64 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.7 dmi-2.7 vsyscall32
configuration: boot=normal chassis=notebook family=X sku=ASUS-NotebookSKU uuid=060B9F3C-618E-4E09-AD6E-325920EEB823
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: X205TA
vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
physical id: 0
version: 1.0
serial: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
slot: MIDDLE
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
physical id: 0
version: X205TA.205
date: 10/06/2014
size: 64KiB
capacity: 960KiB
capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int14serial int17printer acpi usb smartbattery biosbootspecification uefi
*-memory
description: System Memory
physical id: b
slot: System board or motherboard
size: 2GiB
*-bank
description: DIMM DDR3 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)
product: Array1_PartNumber0
vendor: A1_Manufacturer0
physical id: 0
serial: A1_SerNum0
slot: A1_DIMM0
size: 2GiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 10
slot: CPU Internal L1
size: 224KiB
capacity: 224KiB
capabilities: internal write-back
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 11
slot: CPU Internal L2
size: 1MiB
capacity: 1MiB
capabilities: internal write-back unified
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU Z3735F @ 1.33GHz
vendor: Intel Corp.
physical id: 12
bus info: cpu@0
version: Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU Z3735F @ 1.33GHz
slot: SOCKET 0
size: 1330MHz
capacity: 2400MHz
width: 64 bits
clock: 83MHz
capabilities: x86-64 fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer aes rdrand lahf_lm 3dnowprefetch ida arat epb dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid tsc_adjust smep erms cpufreq
configuration: cores=4 enabledcores=4 threads=4
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series SoC Transaction Register
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 0f
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
configuration: driver=iosf_mbi_pci
resources: irq:0
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 0f
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
resources: irq:105 memory:90000000-903fffff memory:80000000-8fffffff ioport:1000(size=8)
*-usb
description: USB controller
product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series USB xHCI
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 14
bus info: pci@0000:00:14.0
version: 0f
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi xhci bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=xhci_hcd latency=0
resources: irq:104 memory:90800000-9080ffff
*-generic
description: Encryption controller
product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1a
bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0
version: 0f
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=mei_txe latency=0
resources: irq:106 memory:90700000-907fffff memory:90600000-906fffff
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Power Control Unit
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1f
bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0
version: 0f
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=lpc_ich latency=0
resources: irq:0
*-scsi
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@1:2.1
logical name: scsi0
capabilities: emulated scsi-host
configuration: driver=usb-storage
*-disk
description: SCSI Disk
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
size: 1937MiB (2031MB)
capabilities: gpt-1.00 partitioned partitioned:gpt
configuration: guid=e8412333-63a1-4ab4-9764-8c9e837c422f sectorsize=512
*-volume
description: Windows FAT volume
vendor: mkfs.fat
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
logical name: /cdrom
version: FAT32
serial: 9901-bf29
size: 1934MiB
capacity: 1935MiB
capabilities: boot fat initialized
configuration: FATs=2 filesystem=fat mount.fstype=vfat mount.options=ro,noatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro state=mounted
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 1
bus info: usb@1:2.2
logical name: wlan0
serial: 80:1f:02:60:f8:07
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8192cu driverversion=3.16.0-23-generic firmware=N/A ip=10.0.1.42 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
Output of 'lspci':
Code:
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series SoC Transaction Register [8086:0f00] (rev 0f)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:18cd]
Kernel driver in use: iosf_mbi_pci
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display [8086:0f31] (rev 0f)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:18cd]
Kernel driver in use: i915
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series USB xHCI [8086:0f35] (rev 0f)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:182d]
Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:1a.0 Encryption controller [1080]: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine [8086:0f18] (rev 0f)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:182d]
Kernel driver in use: mei_txe
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Power Control Unit [8086:0f1c] (rev 0f)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:182d]
Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
Output of 'lsusb':
Code:
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 7392:7811 Edimax Technology Co., Ltd EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS]
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0930:6545 Toshiba Corp. Kingston DataTraveler 102 Flash Drive / HEMA Flash Drive 2 GB / PNY Attache 4GB Stick
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:57b5 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
The Edimax card is an external USB micro wifi card. I think the Realtek device is the sound card.
How can this be progressed? It's a great machine otherwise, and (reportedly) on sale for only $99 in Staples for Black Friday (2014). You lucky Americans get all the best deals - I think there are going to be an awful lot of people buying them.
Cheers
JonB
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
More discussion on the Amazon review page comments here http://www.amazon.com/review/R2JJZZSPCO9OHH/
There is also a version of Fedora called Fedlet here : https://www.happyassassin.net/fedlet...trail-tablets/ which says it supports Bay Trail tablets including the Asus Transformer book (T-1000). I'm downloading it now to see if any more hardware is supported on the x205..
Latest is that Asus Technical Support have stated they do not support Linux on the x205 (comment posted on the Amazon product review thread).
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
Update: The Fedlet distribution doesn't load. You get a GRUB screen with options and on selecting Fedlet a pie shaped progress indicator which stops at around 95%. I think it's attempting to install on the internal drive. It doesn't look like a live CD.
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Jon Bradbury
Update: The Fedlet distribution doesn't load. You get a GRUB screen with options and on selecting Fedlet a pie shaped progress indicator which stops at around 95%. I think it's attempting to install on the internal drive. It doesn't look like a live CD.
Actually Fedlet did load a live CD enviroment for me, it does pause a couple of times during the boot but does make it to 100% and a "live CD" enviroment. The graphics and desktop enviroment felt quite slow, so I suspect it did not reconize the graphics chip well, but it did load a working Gnome 3 desktop. Ultimately it felt like getting it to work well on the X205 was going to be a fairly major project so I held off actually installing it and just installed Cygwin on Windows to tide me over - I usually work in the CLI anyway. Since then a newer beta of Fedlet was released so I may give that a try.
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
@haziz: Thanks - I was beginning to think I was on my own in here.. :) How was hardware support in Fedlet? Does it recognise any of the ACPI / wifi hardware?
Anyway in the end I returned my x205 to the store. I had to use VirtualBox to get Ubuntu running propery and it wasn't too bad. Of course, all the x205 hardware worked perfectly. But mine was a blue one which looked like a 5 year old laptop after 3 days thanks to the paint finish showing up every little fingerprint, so I decided to wait for the gold one to become available in the UK (I saw a white one but it looked and felt really nasty). I might also be able to get a 64GB version if they ever make good on their announcement and produce it!
My VirtualBox settings were all default except for number of processors: 2 and memory: 996MB. I used the 32 bit Ubuntu MATE 14.04 distribution - you should give it a go, you might be surprised at how well it runs.
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
I've just managed to install Ubuntu 14.10 on my asus x205ta notebook, following lopaka's guide like you Jon and I also had the same wifi etc. problems.
I used a different wifi adaptor (Netgear N300 Wifi Mini Adapter) but with the same flaky results - connection fading out and having to often reconnect.
I did have a few extra problems following lopaka, though. They're probably pretty trivial to more experienced
Linux installers but I'm not a complete novice, so it might be worth mentioning them.
1) After initial installation, when trying to boot back into the installed version via command line GRUB on the LiveLinux USB:
Lopaka had steered me right up to this point so when he suggested using
(hd1,gpt2)/boot/vmlinuz-3.16-0-23-generic
as the argument to the linux command, I went for that (the file existed). The attempted boot failed. After much
hair-pulling, I noticed that there had been another vmlinuz option. There was also
a vmlinuz-3.6-0-23.efi.signed file in /boot. I tried that instead and the command line GRUB boot succeeded.
(NOTE: I had remembered to disable secure boot, so that hadn't been the problem).
2) In the final stage of building grubia32.efi, I had problems with the line
../grub-install -d . --efi-directory /boot/efi/ --target=i386ex
It was giving me a 'Can't open <something>/dev/mmcblk0p1" error [sorry, can't remember the
exact wording of the message or what <something> was]. I thought that it was some esoteric problem
related to addressing MMC/SD device partitions because I'd seen some related errors on other forums,
Then somebody from whom I'd eventually asked for help, pointed out that I wasn't making the call as a su!
When I tried sudo ../grub_install... it worked fine. You could say it was just my stupidity to not spot
the problem immediately but I think it's an easy thing to overlook when you are paranoid about all
the potential problems with ****** eMMC storage devices.
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
Hi Mike
This kind of sucks. It's a perfect Linux machine. Oh well.
So, you actually installed to your internal storage? I kept mine as a live USB setup then ran Unbuntu MATE in a VM - it was reasonably quick and supported all hardware. Of course the problem with that is there is hardly any disk space left. Since then I returned the machine because I hated the nasty fingerprint grabbing paint, and will wait for a gold one to become available in the UK. We really need 64GB in this machine, then dual booting becomes reasonable. But for my part I can't really countenance installing Ubuntu internally until at least the wi-fi card works properly, otherwise it would severly limit the utility of the machine. I could have got by with an external card but the one I had gave the patchy results (and it is the same device mentioned as working in lopaka's guide).
One thing that was frustrating was the unavailability of a touchpad settings widget in the system prefs. This may be because it's not in the distro by default, or maybe it cannot detect the trackpad as a pad - seems to thnk it is a mouse?
Anyway, thanks for replying and keep up the good work.
Cheers
JonB
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
Hey All,
I got an Asus X205 to work on to get this into a relatively working state.
To get rid of the MMC errors, you can go to https://plus.google.com/communities/...03024346186936 and download their latest Stable 3.18 Kernels for Ubuntu 15.04 (I honestly don't know if they can be used on 14.10).
The 64-bit Kernel files are here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?...XNrbzN6djQzajg
The battery indicator works with their patches, but I've so far been unable to get sound and wlan to work. I honestly think that the X205 is a T100 in a laptop format, but alas it seems that the sound and wifi must be different chipsets. I am positive that the X205 uses a brcm 4330 chipset for wifi on the X205 (that's what I got from the PCI vendor IDs when I HAD Windows installed), but I cannot get the module to load no matter what I try.
Cheers
Steve
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
Are they any news?
I've tried Fedora (fedlet, to be precise) but it doesn't boot.
Re: Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu 14.10
I'm now in the position whereby I am looking to score another X205 in Gold, hurrah,although it is not a done deal yet. I hope to resurrect this thread or participate with others if I am successful.
@Steve: I read your blog and I can't tell if you got another X205 or not. What's your current status?
Cheers
Jon
PS, Posted from a Samsung NC-10 netbook running Ubuntu Mate. :D
