Asus ROG Flow Z13 2025 Linux Setup Notes

I am a hardcore Linux user who has already wasted a lot of time trying to make this device work without any obvious problems on Linux. At this point, I feel like this is some kind of toxic relation/habit. It's bad for me, but it's hard to stop.

So, here I am listing down some notes related to this device on Linux with some ways to fix them. I will be trying to find solutions to them and keep this list updated.

A lot of these are just notes for future me and me trying to make sense of things by writing it down, and can be unrelated to Z13.

User experience of modern Linux distros in terms of utilizing potential of SOTA consumer hardware need a lot of work. So, here I am trying to improve the UX and utilize the wider feature set of ROG Flow Z13.

I would really appreciate others to join in this effort.

Disclaimer: It is a work in progress.

ankk98@fedora:~$ fastfetch
             .',;::::;,'.                 ankk98@fedora
         .';:cccccccccccc:;,.             -------------
      .;cccccccccccccccccccccc;.          OS: Fedora Linux 43 (Workstation Edition) x86_64
    .:cccccccccccccccccccccccccc:.        Host: ROG Flow Z13 GZ302EA_GZ302EA (1.0)
  .;ccccccccccccc;.:dddl:.;ccccccc;.      Kernel: Linux 6.18.0-0.rc5.251111.4427259c.344.vanilla.fc43.x86_64
 .:ccccccccccccc;OWMKOOXMWd;ccccccc:.     Uptime: 16 hours, 40 mins
]:ccccccccccccc;KMMc;cc;xMMc;ccccccc:.     Packages: 2952 (rpm), 34 (flatpak)
,cccccccccccccc;MMM.;cc;;WW:;cccccccc,    Shell: bash 5.3.0
:cccccccccccccc;MMM.;cccccccccccccccc:    Display (MSICCC2): 3840x2160 @ 60 Hz (as 2560x1440) in 27" [External]
:ccccccc;oxOOOo;MMM000k.;cccccccccccc:    DE: GNOME 49.1
cccccc;0MMKxdd:;MMMkddc.;cccccccccccc;    WM: Mutter (Wayland)
ccccc;XMO';cccc;MMM.;cccccccccccccccc'    WM Theme: Adwaita
ccccc;MMo;ccccc;MMW.;ccccccccccccccc;     Theme: Adwaita [GTK2/3/4]
ccccc;0MNc.ccc.xMMd;ccccccccccccccc;      Icons: Adwaita [GTK2/3/4]
cccccc;dNMWXXXWM0:;cccccccccccccc:,       Font: Adwaita Sans (11pt) [GTK2/3/4]
cccccccc;.:odl:.;cccccccccccccc:,.        Cursor: Adwaita (24px)
ccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc:'.          Terminal: Ptyxis 49.2
:ccccccccccccccccccccccc:;,..             Terminal Font: Adwaita Mono (11pt)
 ':cccccccccccccccc::;,.                  CPU: AMD RYZEN AI MAX 390 (24) @ 5.06 GHz
                                          GPU: AMD Radeon 8050S Graphics [Integrated]
                                          Memory: 5.39 GiB / 22.60 GiB (24%)
                                          Swap: 0 B / 8.00 GiB (0%)
                                          Disk (/): 213.80 GiB / 389.62 GiB (55%) - btrfs
                                          Local IP (wlp194s0): 192.168.0.113/24
                                          Battery (ASUS Battery): 80% [AC Connected]
                                          Locale: en_US.UTF-8

• Keyboard Lid Close resumes system from sleep

  • https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1oh8755/suspend_then_lid_close_resumes_the_system/
  • https://dev.to/ankk98/fixing-asus-rog-flow-z13-2025-keyboard-lid-wakeup-issue-on-fedora-linux-4bcf

• Bluetooth is not detected at random times: https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1odz6vp/bluetooth_is_not_detected_at_random_times/

• Battery life depreciating very quickly: https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1od5wh2/battery_life_depreciating_very_quickly/

• 4k 160 fps support missing from Linux: https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1o75682/4k_160_fps_support_missing_from_linux/

• Abrupt power cut on Linux under heavy CPU load: https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1o13yrg/abrupt_power_cut_on_linux_under_heavy_cpu_load/

• Camera goes missing on Linux randomly: https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1nu7ip4/camera_goes_missing_in_linux_randomly/

• Z13 screen freezes regularly on Linux: https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1ncaf0e/z13_screen_freezes_regularly_on_linux/

• Allocate 12gb VRAM: https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1l6xt0a/allocate_12gb_vram/

• Mapping Asus ROG Key to some shortcut: It's simple, can be done using GNOME keyboard setting & mapping it to a shortcut.

• Ultra power save mode

  • Currently, investigating the right approach to implement this feature
  • https://github.com/Ankk98/ultra-power-saver

• Rear camera drivers

  • AMD ISP4 drivers are being developed actively. I think it will start working in 2026.
  • Camera: OV13855 (13MP)
  • https://lwn.net/Articles/1043254/
  • Chip ID: 0xD855 (readable via I2C 0x300A-0x300B)

• Chassis/Rear-Light drivers

  • It works for me sometimes, need to add support to asusctl
  • https://gitlab.com/asus-linux/asusctl/-/issues/681

• ROCm Drivers

  • Version 7.9 will add official support for the device
  • https://rocm.docs.amd.com/en/7.9.0-preview/install/rocm.html

• Setting up NPU Drivers: https://dev.to/ankk98/guide-to-setting-up-amd-ryzen-ai-npu-drivers-on-fedora-43-477i

• Building PyTorch to utilize GPU using Vulcan: TODO

• NPU utilization statistics in mission center

  • We need to add NPU stats support to the repo
  • https://gitlab.com/mission-center-devs/mission-center/-/issues/239

• Speakers: Loudness and quality improvement like Windows drivers

  • Investigation findings: https://dev.to/ankk98/rog-flow-z13-2025-linux-audio-quality-investigation-3ggk
  • A simple kernel patch to wire the correct firmware should do the job.
  • Initial attempt was unsuccessful, I will try again.

• Enabling Variable refresh rate along with fractional scaling on GNOME 49.1:

  • gsettings set org.gnome.mutter experimental-features "['scale-monitor-framebuffer', 'variable-refresh-rate']"
  • https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Variable_refresh_rate#GNOME

• Voice input setup: TODO

• Face unlock setup

  • https://github.com/boltgolt/howdy
  • Adding UI for howdy for ease of use https://github.com/Ankk98/howdy-gnome

• Emoji support on keyboard: TODO

• Configuring on screen keyboard with keyboard is detached

  • Currently, when the keyboard is detached, and I touch on an input, it sometimes does not open a virtual keyboard for it. This is very irritating and ruins the experience.
  • One workaround I have found is to pin accessibility settings to the top bar and enable on screen keyboard when I need that.
  • I need to understand how virtual keyboards work and how I can make the experience flawless.

• Setting up keyboard backlight controls

  • I am on Kernel 6.18 right now and keyboard backlight toggle & brightness setting seem to be working fine most of the time.

• Running LLM models

  • Use LM Studio with Vulcan Runtime, as ROCm runtime throws error.
  • One interesting thing I found is that with Vulcan I can run models larger than allotted VRAM with no drop in performance.
  • GPT OSS 20B

• Using LLM driven terminal

  • https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli

• Setting up KDE Connect

  • https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1319/gsconnect/

• LazyVim Setup

  • https://www.lazyvim.org/

• Cursor Setup

  • https://cursor.com/download
  • Thankfully now cursor has official DEB and RPM package and repositories.

• Camera with eye gaze correction: TODO

• Camera with face enhancements

  • https://github.com/Ankk98/camfx
  • It needs some work. We can create a virtual camera middleware that uses mediapipe (Like google meet).

• Mic with noise cancellation & using all the 3 mics: TODO

• Enabling desktop shortcuts

  • Install this: https://gitlab.com/rastersoft/desktop-icons-ng
  • Then install this: https://github.com/Tommimon/add-to-desktop

• Configuring volume boost

  • Latest fedora seems to be having volume boost feature even without Boost Volume GS Extention enabled.

• Setting webapp shortcuts with Firefox (WhatsApp, YT music etc.)

  • https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pwas-for-firefox/

• Setting ssh-agent

  • https://www.linode.com/docs/guides/using-ssh-agent/

• Configuring swap in zram based system: https://github.com/systemd/zram-generator

• Configuring fedora to use newer vanilla kernel

  • https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Kernel_Vanilla_Repositories

• Setting up virtual environment for common programming languages: rvm, pyenv, gvm etc.

  • https://github.com/pyenv/pyenv
  • https://rvm.io/
  • https://github.com/moovweb/gvm
  • https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm

• HDR brightness controls integration with quick settings

  • Available from GNOME 49

• Docker setup

  • https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/

• Automating OS using AI agent: TODO

• Install an open source agentic browser

  • https://www.browseros.com/

• Integrating GIF, stickers meme in keyboard especially for chat apps: TODO

• Cheat sheet for using Asus Pen (with or without Bluetooth) and touch screen with top apps: TODO

• Optimize for gmeet power consumption: TODO

• Optimize for youtube power consumption: TODO

• Map copilot button to voice typing or virtual keyboard maybe: TODO

• Virtual keyboard keeps resizing evertime I type something because of suggestions: TODO

• Map function key + F5 to change power modes like it does on Windows: TODO

• There is some bug in keyboard backlight toggle, does not work at times: TODO

• There is some bug with auto rotate sensor, sometimes works, goes missing from quick settings and then come back at times: TODO

Comments

[Nix Genco-Kamin]

So I kind of have a fix for the onscreen keyboard if you're using gnome. The issue I had was similar, the osk does not open automatically for some applications (in my case namely flatpaks and some QT apps). I fixed the issue (with a caveat) using the gnome extension GJS OSK.

The layout is super customizable, including an online config file generator, and it works when I touch any input field now. The caveat is that there's no way to set it to only activate when the keyboard is detached. So if you use the touchscreen to touch a text field even with the physical board attached, it will populate osk.

[Ankit Khandelwal]

Interesting. I will give it a try.

The caveat is that there's no way to set it to only activate when the keyboard is detached.

Sounds something that we can fix with a contribution to project.

[ysovanna]

thanks indeed. i find your note very helpful. I cant get rocm 7.9 to work, keep crashing when inference. I haven't try 7.1 yet. i'm considering back to windows until support for linux is more mature.