ASUS M50V

Article status

This article has some todo items:

General Configuration
Bluetooth
ASUS Extras

The Asus M50V is a laptop manufactured by Asus in 2009. It features an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 along with 4GB of RAM, a 250GB hard disk, and an NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS with 1GB of VRAM.

This article describes the hardware on the M50V and the drivers required to use it.

Hardware

Hardware Summary and Support Status
Hardware Type	Device	Model	Support	Driver
Processor	Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo P8400	Full	acpi-cpufreq
	Power Management	ACPI	Full	acpi
	PCI Express Bus	Intel ICH9 PCIe	Full	pcieport
Secondary Storage	Hard Disk	Intel ICH9M SATA AHCI Controller	Full	ahci
	DVD RW Drive	HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T50N	Full	ahci
	Memory Card Reader	Ricoh R5C822	Full	sdhci-pci
Video Chipset	Discrete GPU	NVIDIA 9600M GS	Partial	nouveau
Input	Keyboard	-	Full	evdev
	Touchpad	-	Partial	synaptics
Network	Gigabit Ethernet	Realtek 8168B	Full	r8169
	802.11n Wifi	Atheros AR928X	Full	ath9k
	Modem	?	?	?
	Infrared Interface	?	?	?
Sound	HD Audio	Intel ICH9 HD Audio	Full	snd_hda_intel
Peripheral	USB 1.0	Intel ICH9 UHCI USB Controller	Full	uhci_hcd
	USB 2.0	Intel ICH9 EHCI USB Controller	Full	ehci_hcd
	IEEE 1394 Firewire	Ricoh R5C832	Full	firewire_ohci
	Bluetooth	ASUSTek BT-253	?	bluetooth
	Webcam	?	Full
	Fingerprint Reader	AuthenTec AES1600	?
	Brightness Sensor	-	?	asus_laptop
	Info LEDs	-	?	asus_laptop

General Configuration

TODO

Hard Disks and DVD Drives

The hard disk controller should work with the standard AHCI driver:

KERNEL AHCI Driver

Device Drivers --->
    [*] Serial ATA and Parallel ATA drivers  --->
        <*> AHCI SATA Support

Make sure that AHCI support is compiled into the kernel, and not as a module, or the kernel may fail to boot.

The DVD drive may lock up spinning a disc upon insertion due to bad firmware. A firmware update exists, but the install tool is made for Windows, so it may be a good idea to install the update first if coming from a Windows environment. Note that installing this update may void the warranty. See this bug for more details.

Memory Card Reader

The memory card reader should work fine with the standard driver:

KERNEL Card Reader Support

Device Drivers  --->
    [*] MMC/SD/SDIO card support  --->
        <*> Secure Digital Host Controller Interface support
        <*> SDHCI support on PCI bus

Video Chipset

The video chipset is an NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GS, which has full support for 2D/3D acceleration, CUDA, and OpenCL with the proprietary drivers. At the time of this writing, the open source drivers provide 2D acceleration and partial 3D support. See NVIDIA for details on video card support and driver selection.

Input Devices

The keyboard support for X11 is provided by evdev. Touchpad support is provided through synaptics.

FILE /etc/portage/make.confInput Device Support

INPUT_DEVICES="evdev synaptics"

The media buttons on the touchpad are not supported, but normal touchpad and scrollwheel functionality works perfectly.

Ethernet

Networking is provided by a Realtek 8168B Gigabit Ethernet device.

KERNEL Ethernet Support

Device Drivers  --->
    [*] Network device support  --->  
        [*] Ethernet (1000 Mbit)  --->
            <*> Realtek 8169 gigabit ethernet support

802.11 Wifi

Wifi is provided by an Atheros AR928X wifi adapter:

KERNEL Wifi Support

Device Drivers  --->
    [*] Network device support  --->  
        [*] Wireless LAN  --->
            <M> Atheros Wireless Cards  --->
                <M> Atheros 802.11n wireless cards support

Sound

The audio hardware is supported by the Intel HD Audio drivers:

KERNEL Audio Support

Device Drivers  --->
    <*> Sound card support  --->
        <*> Advanced Linux Sound Architecture  --->
            <*> Sequencer support 
            <*> OSS Mixer API
            <*> OSS PCM (digital audio) API
            [*] OSS PCM (digital audio) API - Include plugin system
            [*] OSS Sequencer API
            <*> HR-timer backend support
                [*] Use HR-timer as default sequencer timer
            [*] PCI sound devices  --->
                <*> Intel HD Audio

USB

USB support is provided by the standard drivers:

KERNEL USB Support

Device Drivers  --->
    [*] USB support  --->
        <*> Support for Host-side USB
        <*> EHCI HCD (USB 2.0) support
        <*> UHCI HCD support (most Intel and VIA) support

Firewire

The Firewire port should work fine with the standard driver:

KERNEL Firewire Support

Device Drivers  --->
    IEEE 1394 (FireWire) support  --->  
        <*> FireWire driver stack
        <*> OHCI-1394 controllers

At the time of this writing, the author has not tested Firewire.

Bluetooth

TODO

Webcam

The built-in webcam is a is supported through V4L with USB2.0 UVC:

KERNEL Webcam Support

Device Drivers  --->
    <*> Multimedia support  --->
        <*> Video For Linux   
        [*] Video capture adapters  ---> 
            [*] V4L USB devices  --->
                <*> USB Video Class (UVC)

Fingerprint Reader

The fingerprint reader should be supported through USB and libfprint. See Fingerprint Reader.

ASUS Extras

TODO