More ASUS ROG Laptop Improvements Queued Ahead Of Linux 6.1

Thanks to the work of independent developer Luke Jones and as part of his Asusctl Linux project, ASUS laptops continue seeing better feature support on Linux and with the v6.1 cycle kicking off in October are more ASUS ROG laptop enhancements that have been readied.

The x86 platform drivers maintainer Hans de Goede of Red Hat has queued the latest batch of ASUS-WMI kernel driver enhancements by Luke Jones. For ASUS laptops on Linux he's been working on features like RGB keyboard backlight controls, custom fan curves, panel overdrive, and more, in addition to his Asusctl user-space work.

What's now in the x86 platform drivers' "for-next" tree ahead of Linux 6.1 is support for the hardware GPU MUX on some ASUS laptops. Some ASUS laptop models have a dedicated switch for going between the dedicated GPU mode (dGPU only) and the Optimus mode of using the regular integrated graphics with discrete GPU available too that can be used with the likes of DRI_PRIME.

Also as part of this for-next material for Linux 6.1 is support for the ROG X13 tablet mode for enabling the tablet mode on Linux when flipping the lid.

Other ASUS-WMI driver improvements queued up yesterday include improved tablet mode switch handling and improved documentation around the driver's panel_od / egpu_enable / dgpu_disable sysfs options.

Nearly each new Linux kernel release sees support improvements for ASUS laptops.

As there still is over one month to go until the Linux 6.1 merge window, we'll see what other ASUS-WMI features may be ready in time and for the other x86 platform drivers at large.

More details on Luke Jones' hacking around the ASUS laptop Linux support can be found via his site at ASUS-Linux.org. While it's unfortunate when the vendor isn't contributing directly to Linux support, at least he has indicated being under NDA with ASUS and receiving some documentation / technical support from them for making these Linux improvements.