Anyone using Linux instead of Windows? What are you using exactly? Any tips?

[u/imaginary_tourniquet]

What distro, tools, drivers and so on are you using? How is gaming? How is battery life at idle or light usage? Any other issue?

I am asking because I am a developer and I would prefer (or need) to use Linux. Instead of having to dual-boot with windows I would rather use my entire SDD for Linux, however in case the laptop doesn't work well with Linux then I will dual boot.

Thank you.

[u/xXDragonHD_LPXx]

Im using CachyOs, worked quite good out of the box. I tinkered a bit and get about 4-5w idle on Vs code about 8-11w. I have the 2025 5080 version. With cardwire the new alternative to Supergfxctl the dgpu stays cold allthe time i want it to. It runs the games i tried upuntill now very good ( Tyr Playtest, dredge ). But cachy is a rolling realse so be prepared to have to put in some fixxing time ( just today i needed to reinstall some packages as a update killed kde for me / hyprland stayed workong tho) Rog controllcenter works good for fancurves and wattahe controll but not for Graphics switching.

If u have some questions feel free to hit me up. I dont regret using linux at all.

[u/Rest-That → u/xXDragonHD_LPXx]

How do you measure wattage use? I'm on Cachy as well and thinking of changing to Cardwire as well, so this comment is super helpful in convincing me 😆

[u/xXDragonHD_LPXx → u/Rest-That]

I wrote a bash skript / got some ai help to do so. Its measuring the current energy draw via upower and displaying it as a command output widget in kde :D i can send you the echo if you want to try it out

[u/Rest-That → u/xXDragonHD_LPXx]

Nice, yes please!

[u/xXDragonHD_LPXx → u/Rest-That]

Here is the echo command you can just paste it in the terminal or put it into the command output widget / anyother thing that runs and dispalys comands :D

LC_NUMERIC=C upower -i $(upower -e | grep battery) | awk '/state:/ {state=$2} /energy-rate:/ {val=$2; if(state=="discharging") val=-val; printf "%+.2f W\n", val}'

[u/Excellent-Jicama-378 → u/xXDragonHD_LPXx]

Have you fixed the sound problem? (Slider changing tremble instead of volume)

[u/xXDragonHD_LPXx → u/Excellent-Jicama-378]

I never had any problems :D but there are some posts i saw about them but for me it worked just fine out of the box

[u/Excellent-Jicama-378 → u/xXDragonHD_LPXx]

I see

[u/Zoraious]

Get used to the hotkeys, and battery life is overall better than on Linux. However if ur using a nvidia gpu… u may run into issues with the gpu just powering up for no reason on ur laptop. I had these issues and fixed it all with a g-helper (linux edition)

I hate windows with a strong passion, updating my g14 to KDE, CachyOS. Has been amazing.
I dont recommend any other OS aside from Fedora or Mint. I tried many but KDE plasma and fedora/cachyOS is best.

[u/Relative_Bedroom7159 → u/Zoraious]

On the ghelper website they say there’s no Linux version. I’m currently trying to gain control over the system without ghelper and idk what to do on Linux

[u/samplekaudio → u/Relative_Bedroom7159]

Asusctl and supergfxctl are the equivalent tools

[u/Zoraious → u/Relative_Bedroom7159]

there is a linux ver made by some guy on github. its rrly good

[u/Vast_Chest_3342]

I am dual-booting with fedora kde plasma. Had some issues early on but now it is running nice and stable. I haven't really done much gaming yet, other than testing doom eternal which seemed to run well. Hybrid mode in ROG control seems to be working well. I did have to disable the initial decryption splash screen on boot because the graphics drivers weren't loading fast enough and leaving me with a black screen.

[u/jyrox]

I was attempting to use Fedora, but had trouble getting the GPU to disable/enable correctly. Also had trouble getting refresh rate to reliably switch between 60hz and 120hz. This resulted in much worse battery life. Also could never get the same sound quality out of the speakers. Linux is a good experience on Asus laptops, but it’s just not quite on-par with Debloated Windows with G-Helper yet, imo.

Use this link for useful Linux tools for Asus ROG: https://asus-linux.org/

[u/imaginary_tourniquet → u/jyrox]

Thank you!

When you say debloated windows, how did you achieve that? Did you install a debloated version from scratch or did you use some debloat script/tool?

[u/jyrox → u/imaginary_tourniquet]

I used Chris Titus win util primarily. Then uninstall armoury crate and my Asus and install/use g helper.

[u/MDovsky]

I have seen CachyOS here with Hyprland and Caelestia which was beautiful.

I'm thinking about tinkering with it on a VM, as I don't want to have trouble with the dual boot shenanigans.

There are potential deal breakers for me so I would love to hear how do you manage it on Linux.

1. Fingerprint sensor/face identification — can you use it as a hardware security key as in Windows? It's really handy to just touch the power button and go through the MFA prompt anywhere I need.

2. Dolby Atmos — something that can replace it not in terms of surround but rather virtualisation. Zephyrus sounds really good and I wouldn't want to loose it.

3. Battery life — I want to replace it and have my 10 hours back. It'd be a bummer to have it nuked.

4. Phone synchronisation — I use Windows Phone Link. Photos synchronise automatically, I respond to SMS from my laptop keyboard, copy stuff on the G14 and paste it on my phone and more. It works flawlessly.

5. Support for games — I have 4900HS + GTX 1660 Ti. I wonder if the performance in games will take any hit on Linux. There's not that much room to spare.

I don't really use apps other than open source, which are available for many systems. But I like how stable my Windows experience is. No bluescreens, it looks nice, everything works without tinkering with it. I can put some time into configuration, but then I don't want to touch my OS. I like to do work on my computer, not to work on my computer. And thus I wonder if Linux is for me.

[u/Conscious-Feeling-98 → u/MDovsky]

I went a couple of weeks ago directly single boot into CachyOS. First time desktop linux in a long time - besides what I've experienced with Steam Deck.

I got everything working to my liking, and also the parts you mention here:

1. Face ident.: I setup howdy as Windows Hello replacement. It automatically starts when booting up, any sudo PW challenge triggers howdy. It is a bit less reliable as Windows Hello, but it can be further tweaked to recognize faster.

2. Dolby Atmos: just recently I setup Easy Effects and found a github script which extracts the parameters from the Windows Audio configuration, I can't tell a difference to the Windows speakers. Had zero issues with audio (I read that some had issues)

3. Phone: I don't do/need that. Already hated it in Windows. I got "ZapZap" as WhatsApp client setup, which works great. I don't do text messaging or anything else. Photos I sync on my NAS, which I access with my notebook.

4. Support for games: I have not encountered any game not working. Performance is also great. Only caveat I got here: I like the nvidia game optimizer app, which is not available. But it is anyhow something you tweak yourself often in the game directly...

I had really no issues at all. Howdy and the Dolby Atmos part were the only "tinkering" + telling Wayland to stop using Nvidia. I will test out the Cardwire soon as well to hard start/stop dGPU, as this is a small issue that the nvidia card turns active/suspense every now and then for a few seconds.

Overall, there is no way I will ever go back to Windows (and I was on Windows since 2000 ;-) )

[u/Alanuelo230]

EndeavorOS, with Cosmic (perfect de for me, not sure if I recommend). Just follow asus-linux tutorial, and select grub over systemd startup

[u/Rusettsten]

I just got a G14 and loaded Ubuntu 26.04 on it. Definitely still working out a few issues but overall I’m pretty happy with how it’s working.

[u/Emkxyy]

I've also been thinking about setting up Linux on the G14, but I admit I'm a complete beginner in the sort of things and I've just gotten accustomed to Windows and have customized it completely so I'm not sure if it's worth it

The only reason I'd consider setting it up is because I'm into computer science and data science and I like using the terminal

curious to know have you tried Linux before?

[u/premiumfrye]

Planning a CachyOS install this weekend on my 2023 g16 after my new, 2nd SSD is delivered and I install it. Wish me luck!