Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu

[ekyo]

Finally !!
(Thanks to Pierre Bossart and Bard Liao, and many others that put energy and time into this)

NICE !!! =)
You and Pierre Brossart, Bard Liao, and all the guys that worked on it, did a GREAT JOB !!! =)

Could you provide a way to compile a kernel with sound working ? (config, patchs, manual todo things...)

Thank you again, that made my day =)

[harryharryharry]

This is a quick abstract on how to build a kernel from Pierre Bossart's (or the linux-next) kernel tree.
Pierre's tree (and to a slightly lesser degree linux-next) is an experimental kernel tree, be prepared to run into some problems along the way...

# 1. install prerequisites
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y git build-essential kernel-package fakeroot libncurses5-dev libssl-dev ccache dialog ### ubuntu/mint/debian/etc.
#or
sudo pacman -Sy --noconfirm base-devel ncurses bc git dialog ### arch/manjaro/antergos
#or
sudo dnf -y groupinstall "C Development Tools and Libraries" && sudo dnf -y install git ncurses-devel elfutils-libelf-devel dialog openssl-devel ### fedora,etc.

# 2. retrieve the source tree:
git clone https://github.com/plbossart/sound.git -b experimental/codecs

# 3. go to the source tree and select the the right modules (at least CONFIG_PINCTRL_BAYTRAIL and CONFIG_SND_SOC_RT5645 if your starting from scratch):
cd sound
make localmodconfig ### if you're not using your own .config (or mine)
make menuconfig ### save afterwards
# (I am using a .config file with the right modules selected that is bare bones, so the build time and size dont get out of hand)

# 4. patch and build the kernel
# reverse patch the commit that causes the keyboard to malfunction
git diff 3ae02c1^ 3ae02c1 | patch -Rp1

# Next patch is thanks to jazmatjaz, who found a somehow not yet upstreamed patch from may2016 that attempts to fix non-functioning FN-keys
# touchpad toggle (fn-f9) needs a keybinding configuration in the desktop environment
wget raw.githubusercontent.com/harryharryharry/x205ta-patches/master/x205ta-special-keys.patch
patch -p1 < x205ta-special-keys.patch

# 5ghz wifi speeds are terrible without this patch
wget raw.githubusercontent.com/harryharryharry/x205ta-patches/master/brcmfmac-fix-incorrect-event-channel-deduction.patch
patch -p1 < brcmfmac-fix-incorrect-event-channel-deduction.patch

# build - this will take a while
make -j6

# 5. install the modules
sudo make modules_install

# 6. copy the kernel to the boot dir
export KERNELRELEASE=$(<include/config/kernel.release)
cp -va arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-$KERNELRELEASE

# 7. build initramfs
sudo update-initramfs -c -k $KERNELRELEASE ### ubuntu/mint/debian/etc.
#or
sudo mkinitcpio -k $KERNELRELEASE -c /etc/mkinitcpio.conf -g /boot/initramfs-$KERNELRELEASE.img ### arch/manjaro/antergos
#or
sudo dracut -fv /boot/initramfs-$KERNELRELEASE.img $KERNELRELEASE ### fedora,etc.

# 8. rebuild /boot/grub/grub.cfg
sudo update-grub ### ubuntu/mint/debian/etc.
#or
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg ### arch/manjaro/antergos
#or
sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg ### fedora,etc.

# 9. download HiFi.conf from Pierre's github page and place it in /usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5645/
sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5645
sudo wget raw.githubusercontent.com/plbossart/UCM/master/chtrt5645/HiFi.conf -O /usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5645/HiFi.conf
sudo wget raw.githubusercontent.com/plbossart/UCM/master/chtrt5645/chtrt5645.conf -O /usr/share/alsa/ucm/chtrt5645/chtrt5645.conf

# 10. download required packages; something along the lines of:
sudo apt-get install -y pulseaudio alsa-base alsa-utils pavucontrol ### ubuntu/mint/debian/etc. (debian also needs the package firmware-intel-sound which is in the non-free repository)
#or
sudo pacman -Sy --noconfirm pulseaudio pulseaudio-alsa alsa-utils alsa-plugins pavucontrol ### arch/manjaro/antergos
#or
sudo dnf -y install pulseaudio alsa-plugins-pulseaudio alsa-utils alsa-tools pavucontrol ### fedora,etc.

# 11. reboot into the new kernel and use a GUI utility (for example pavucontrol) to select the default output


# optional:
#
#
# some people have reported the headphone only works when it is inserted halfway. ederlezi2 reportedly solved this issue by reverse patching the following commit:
git diff 320c60f^ 320c60f | patch -Rp1 
#then run make -j6 and step 5, 6 & 7 again

For the people that aren't up for the challenge, here is my prebuilt kernel

[franklymydeer]

Finally !!
(Thanks to Pierre Bossart and Bard Liao, and many others that put energy and time into this)

Wow. You have no idea for how long I've been following this thread for this news. I just created an account to say thanks to everyone involved.

I open this thread and the bugzilla thread once every week to see the progress. Since I can't really contribute it any way, I always refrained from commenting. It's a great news and I can use my laptop once again. Using Windows is a PIA, so bloated. Since the hard part it done, I imagine creating a working solution for regular users aren't far. I only needed Wifi and Audio support, and since we have both now, it's a great news. Great job guys! Thanks to everyone involved.

[ekyo]

Thanks Harry, i'm cloning Pierre Brossart repository now. I'm aware this is only for testing purpose, i'll contribute at the bugzilla thread, tests are needed.
Thanks a lot again (sorry, will thank you every one involved at every sentence for a long time )

Edit : it works

[spaman]

Finally !!
(Thanks to Pierre Bossart and Bard Liao, and many others that put energy and time into this)

Thats AWESOME news! Thanks a lot to the community to solve out this issue!

A lot of thanks to:
Pierre Bossart
harryharryharry
Bard Liao
KBT
Marco Bo
...
there are to many Thanks to all! Thats really great news!

[KemyLand]

Came a bit late to the party, but anyways...

We've been waiting for more than 2 freaking years for this to happen. I remember that, back in December 2015, when I first joined you and was a little bit more active working sound seemed like a far-fetched, impossible utopia. We got the system we wanted, the way we wanted it. Building the kernel right now... hope this gets merged into mainstream soon! In the meantime, does anyone have a list of what's still not working, or is it that we have no issues anymore? BTW, this is a good moment for everyone who was waiting for it to get rid of Windows once and for all. Be free my friends!

[ben147]

Hello, I really appreciate all the support from various people here. I used a special guide for Ubuntu to install it on my system (again) and wanted to share my view that the development is awesome, but there is always trouble in finding the latest news on the subject. Therefore, I copied and fixed the steps I took into an answere here. Unfortunately, I forgot which source I used for the .efi. I did not compile any kernel or made big adjustments apart from the wifi, to keep it simple for the normal user.

[bithon]

Finally !!
(Thanks to Pierre Bossart and Bard Liao, and many others that put energy and time into this)

Woohoo!! Amazing news!

[rybopiotr]

There is no "update-initramfs" command in Manjaro. How to compile it in my distro with "mkinitcpio" instead?

[harryharryharry]

I'm guessing you're following the steps I posted in comment 1252 ? Check again

btw, good to see so many people rejoice over audio finally coming to the X205TA !
It was long overdue, this device has always deserved a better linux experience.