On the zenbook ux501 I have been able to install linux mint (a version of ubuntu) along side of Windows
in a dual boot configuration. The result is a beautiful, high performance,
mobile linux workstation. But there are a few problems along the way. These instructions
are written for a reasonably experienced user.
You will need a live dvd for mint v 18.3, an external dvd drive, a usb mouse, and
a magnifying glass. The last item is because if you end up in command line mode the
font is unreadable. The mouse is because neither the touchscreen nor the touchpad
can be used easily for the high resolution screen.
First shrink the disk partition in Windows. By default Windows will not
go below 50% but there is a workaround for this. I have 140GB set aside for
Windows and 360GB for Linux.
Next power off and plug in the DVD drive with the live dvd. Then boot into the BIOS
by holding F2 down during power up. Disable secure boot and look at the boot entries.
There should be one for the disk and one for the DVD, so fiddle with the BIOS until
the DVD is selected. F10 will then finish the boot. A grub menu appears. Select the
cinnamon entry and type 'e' to edit the entry. Add 'nomodeset' to the kernel parameter
line and F10 to complete booting. The mint install menu should come up.
During the install process DO select "use 3rd party ..." and also DO DO DO select
"Install Linux side by side with windows". Otherwise the install should be
straightforward.
Reboot the system normally without the DVD installed. The machine should
display a grub menu with about 4 entries, one of these being Windows. You
can select it to test that Windows still works. Another thing to do for grins
is to select the cinnamon entry and edit the kernel parameter line, adding
'single'. Then boot into single command-line mode and try out your magnifying
glass. If you can read it then tu esta un hombre mejor que yo.
To boot into multiuser mode correctly you will probably need to disable the
noveau driver. Just add noveau.blacklist to the kernel command line in the
grub menu, then F10 to complete the boot. This does not change the command
line permanently, so one of the first things to do in the running multiuser
system is to edit the /etc/default/grub file and modify the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX
line to look as follows:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="noveau.blacklist=1 quiet splash acpi_osi="
and then reinitialize grub.
I did several things to improve the system. I upgraded the kernel to the
4.4.0-47 version. This fixes the problem with the sound so that the
headphones work, although if the laptop is closed or even sleeps the problem
comes back. I installed the nvidia drivers to get the best windowing and
OpenGL performance. Finally, the cinnamon gui is by default designed for a
much smaller screen size, so do Menu->Preferences->General and then select
Double under the Desktop Scaling item. I also run xterm in preference to
gnome terminal (because function keys) and this can be launched in a usable
mode as xterm -fa "Monotype:size=12" geometry=90x40 -- you can choose a
different font if you like. Finally, I run Google chrome as my browser, it
can stream Netflix and Amazon. Enjoy your new laptop.
| Standing screen display size | 15.6 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 3840 x 2160 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 3820*2160 Pixels |
| Processor | 2.6 GHz core_i7 |
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
| Memory Speed | 2133 MHz |
| Hard Drive | 512 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | Nvidia GTX 960M 2G |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Card Description | Dedicated |
| Wireless Type | 802.11ac |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 3 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 6.2 Hours |
