Asus ROG Strix GL702ZC

[TMM_]

If you have time TMM_, can you tell me more about "I'm temporarily using systemd-nspawn containers instead of vms for my work which so far has worked fine (LXC is another option)" and "external flasher to upload a BIOS with the flag enabled" ?

LXC is 'LinuX Containers' you can install the libvirt driver for LXC and deploy something that works a lot like a VM. You can only deploy other Linux distributions though. So if you run Fedora you can install an Ubuntu LXC system but you can't deploy FreeBSD or Windows. It works for my usecase (development) but it may not work for you if you need to say run Windows vms.

As for the external flasher: It is possible to enable the SVM flag in the bios of the laptop without Asus' help. This requires taking your laptop apart, placing a special clip on the BIOS chip if the motherboard, downloading the Asus bios, editing it, and uploading it back to the laptop.

This can be a hairy operation

[eggz]

Ah yes, I do get the KVM warning. I was able to run vms via virsh, but the acceleration is clearly missing, it goes very slow.

Sorry for the confustion!

[adidom]

Mister TMM_, can you help me with that bios edit please? I dont have much knowledge about it, 99% i will brake something there.

[TMM_]

Mister TMM_, can you help me with that bios edit please? I dont have much knowledge about it, 99% i will brake something there.

I have not yet tried this, I will only attempt this if the next BIOS doesn't actually have SVM. I can try to make step-by-step instructions though if it comes to that.

[adidom]

i have returned this laptop, i was extremly pissed off doing this return because everything its ultra on it. Love it, but bad attitude by ASUS with customers and i can say "stupidity" for not doing with "virtualization" or an update at least. STUPID.

What you recommend for me guys on this buget? Im looking for performance on cpu ( more threads ) for virtual machines like memu and other adroid, tablets aplications, multi tasking and so on.

[jranita]

I also complained with Asus because of the virtualization, at first they told me:

Comme promis, j'ai envoyé la requête liée à votre demande et je viens de recevoir la réponse.
La cellule d'expertise indique qu'il est necessaire d'activer une option dans le bios.
Ci-dessous la démarche à suivre :
Advanced >> Chipset >> GFX Configuration >> IOMMU >> Enabled
A noter que le processeur étant un AMD, il faut vérifier que le logiciel de virtualisation est bien compatible Ryzen aussi.
En vous remerciant pour votre patience, je reste à votre disposition pour toute question supplémentaire et je vous souhaite une bonne journée.

Of course BIOS 300 has no such options, so I sent them some pictures and asked them again, their answer on 2017/12/04 was:

I take into consideration any details mentioned that I transmit to the service concerned to check them.
Meanwhile, as explained, the development department has taken care of the case and the creation of a new version of the Bios is in progress.
In a week or more, you can check your computer page and check for a new BIOS update.

https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ROG-Strix-GL702ZC/HelpDesk_Download/

I remain at your disposal for any additional question and I wish you a good day.

[TMM_]

BIOS 303 was released recently and now SVM works

$ dmesg | grep -i kvm
[ 5.759319] kvm: Nested Virtualization enabled
[ 5.759324] kvm: Nested Paging enabled

For some reason the BIOS isn't on the US download site yet, but it is on the Turkish one: https://www.asus.com/tr/Laptops/ROG-...HelpDesk_BIOS/

Now for me at least everything I wanted this box for works

[tocsa]

Can I ask current owners how are things right now? As I see virtualization works now. How acceptable is the touchscreen now? Does the keyboard backlight and the monitor backlight controllable now? Probably I'd use latest non LTS Ubuntu.

[Azultra]

Does the keyboard backlight and the monitor backlight controllable now?

Both have been controllable since I received the laptop mid-November.

Probably I'd use latest non LTS Ubuntu.

Kubuntu 17.10 here, with an official 4.15.3 kernel from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/

How acceptable is the touchscreen now?

I use almost exclusively a mouse, but the touchpad works just fine when enabled, including multitouch. I can't tell if the failures TMM_ experienced during heavier usage are still there though.

[tocsa]

Both have been controllable since I received the laptop mid-November.


Kubuntu 17.10 here, with an official 4.15.3 kernel from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/


I use almost exclusively a mouse, but the touchpad works just fine when enabled, including multitouch. I can't tell if the failures TMM_ experienced during heavier usage are still there though.

Thanks for your info!
Then the only thing I'm worried about is a kernel oops related to Xfce https://forum.manjaro.org/t/asus-gl7...-standby/38102
although Manjaro developers say it's some kind of kernel or driver bug.
This can affect me because I'd use (such as I'm using now for ~4 years) Ubuntu Studio, which comes with Xfce. I can switch to Lxde maybe (while staying on Ubuntu Studio).