this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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I keep a small partition set aside in case I need it for settings, but I leave the keyboard on one setting all the time.
Fedora by far has the best bootloader setup for modern bleeding edge hardware. Their Anaconda system (not related to Python's "conda") uses a shim key that is signed by Microsoft's 3rd party UEFI key signing arrangement. Outside of the questionable philosophical implications around this arrangement and system, overall the setup is ideal for the end user. Fedora can on coexist with a windows partition easily, encrypt the entire thing and Windows can't mess with anything on the Linux side. Personally, I haven't ever actually used Windows since W8. My workstation router runs on a whitelist firewall so W11 is in a post internet age where it rightfully belongs. It might as well be a tab in the UEFI bootloader settings for all I care.
Fedora also has a system that builds the Nvidia kernel module from scratch every time the Linux kernel is updated. Around half of the updates still require me to do a quick restart after initial boot to enable the Nvidia kernel module. It falls back to the open source alt driver and still works fine, but I do AI stuff and need the CUDA API, so I have to reboot to get that working once a week or two. Fedora really is quite easy now. I would use something like NIX, but the Anaconda system is unmatched and too good to give up. You will have secure boot locked all the time even if you can not register custom keys or do not care to set them up manually.
Oh, I don't need the keyboard to be pretty. Just lit up at all which seems to be effective locked by asus.
When I tried, I had put Ubuntu on it. That process seemed to go pretty good except the keyboard. Even got the WiFi working just fine. I may give fedora a try, but I'm way too lazy to switch back and forth between os's depending on how dark the room I'm in is.
Does it not stay set at a default or have some amount of functionality? Like my Gigabyte Aorus has the full settings nonsense app in Windows, but if I set it to one thing, the change is persistent. I just always keep it on low and green. The function keys will let me alter the brightness between medium, bright, and alien abduction; which is super annoying because I can't get back to low, but there is something.
You may find some info searching too, some people occasionally make their own kernel modules or app for individual machines. I would take a look at Linux Hardware Probe (https://linux-hardware.org/) to see what shows up with your model, although the peripheral accessories are not usually the focus, they may be mentioned.
The main thing I was worried about with the proprietary settings like RGB was actually the thermal management settings that are also in that app. I have the 3080Ti, aka the 16GBV monster GPU. I can't say any details about how the thermal performance will work with gaming or whatnot, but I do some AI training loads that hold the GPU at absolute max load for hours and it has never gotten above 80C. It throttles as expected, and each laptop's thermal design will vary, but I can put the laptop with its vent inlet ports directly in front of a window AC and the GPU will hold max load at 70C for as long as I have ever pushed it (3-5hours straight). I'm playing with buggy code, much of it written by myself, and I never attempt to override the Nvidia settings, but with daily use since the beginning of July, I've had no complaints. This was the big thing weighing on me in the back of my mind. Just thought I might mention it if you change your mind and want to make the switch.
Oh no, the lights were just off. I never change it anyways. I'm not one to care about making the keyboard do anything dynamic.
I ran into the same issue when I uninstall the bloatware from asus in windows.
Honestly, asus just is a huge pain here and I'll definitely be avoiding them in the future.