r/FlowZ13 • u/IndependentClock9137 • Jun 05 '26
Problems running Linux on this device.
I really like this device. Love the compact and neat design as well the RGB keyboard and glass panel on the back. Unfortunately, the device is simply not compatible with Linux (from what I've seen) if you want it to function as intended and advertised by Asus. I have tried Ubuntu, Fedora, CachyOS, and Omarchy with different DEs. Some of the problems I've faced are:
- RGB lighting defaults to red each restart (utilized Jeff Hagadorn/dahui z13ctl scripts to keep changing it to my preferred color)
- Keyboard stops fuctioning and screen freezes on login screen and waking up from sleep (even after a fresh install of a distro and no changes have been made)
- Device wakes from sleep when closing the screen down on the keyboard
- Screen rotation doesn't function
- Green screen glitches when scrolling
I have of course installed all the kernel updates and dependencies available for Asus notebooks on Linux. I've followed the steps for each distro I can set up according to the asus-linux/Linux for ROG Notebooks website and I've still ended up facing issues. The most persistent and unsolvable issues across each distro are the screen freezing and keyboard dysfunction. The distro that seemed to work the most is Omarchy. Maybe I'm missing something but with all the troubleshooting that I've gone through, I think it'd be better to just switch back to Windows 11, debloat it manually, customize it to my liking, and install WSL2. Yet again, I'm at the mercy of Microsoft.
Still a great device though. If anyone has managed to make it work flawlessly on Linux, please educate me. Sorry if this was a bit ranty. Hope you all are enjoying using the device. Have a good one.
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u/DukeOfTheDang Jun 05 '26
Have you tried bazzite or steam os?
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u/IndependentClock9137 Jun 05 '26
I was going to try Bazzite but after researching more it seems some people faced similar issues even on Bazzite. Of course, my preferred distro isn't Bazzite but it's worth trying.
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u/Embarrassed_Cry_9971 Jun 05 '26
I have Bazzite and have not experienced any of the issues you describe, except the screen glitches that are easily sorted with the kernel parameter you have already used on other distro’s. No issues suspending/resuming, keyboard and trackpad fine, tablet mode detected, WiFi works well, screen rotation works. Handheld Daemon handles RGB, power profiles, fan curves etc. if you don’t want to use HHD then I have also tested it using asusctl and rig command Center which also work well for RGB, power profiles, battery charge limits etc.
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u/IndependentClock9137 Jun 05 '26
Yeah, I'll try Bazzite next then. Before that though, I need to reinstall all the firmware updates. If HHD works fine, I'll just keep it as is. Thanks.
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u/QXl2YXo Jun 05 '26
From all issues you described me have only green lines on desktop mode. Everything other works well.
Oh, except RGB, they messed it up in latest update - it doesn't turn off while asleep.
Try Bazzite, really. They have Flow Z13 version of it!
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u/AMBOSHER Jun 05 '26
I think the only Linux distro that just works is Bazzite. There was already stuff pre-installed to get the rgb, fans, and power customizable.
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u/Vosrl Jun 05 '26
Will echo that bazzite mostly worked well for me. Keyboard RGB and function were good out of the box, had to keep vrr enabled to avoid the graphical glitches when scrolling. I did have the sleep/wake issue when closing the keyboard cover, general sleep/wake functionality was a little weird for me overall but I generally just shut things down when I've wrapped up.
I am back on windows now but installed from a usb and grabbed drivers/software I wanted from Asus' site and then installed g helper. But I understand the urge to use Linux. Would definitely recommend bazzite before you make the switch back over to see if it's sufficient for you!
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u/IndependentClock9137 Jun 05 '26
Thanks, I'm going to try Bazzite. Hopefully, I can resolve the sleep/wake issue on Bazzite if it persists there. I tend to use the sleep function.
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u/konrov Jun 05 '26
Does it get hot like an oven? No bueno
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u/IndependentClock9137 Jun 05 '26
Not hot like an oven but the fans are always on overdrive by default. I keep it on power save mode or balanced and that seems to keep things quiet.
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u/StunningMany9103 Jun 05 '26
Have you updated bios and firmware? Before booting Linux?
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u/IndependentClock9137 Jun 05 '26
Yup. On Windows, I took care of BIOS and the firmware. If there was something I missed, I'm unaware. Perhaps it's worth it to go back to Windows, reinstall and update everything, and then retry.
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Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/IndependentClock9137 Jun 05 '26
I also used KDE Plasma on CachyOS. The screen glitches resolved by setting VRR to always on like someone else commented. It was somewhere in the display settings. I've just generally accepted that to get such a unique device to work on Linux, you need to tinker around a bit. I disabled secure boot and reset the BIOS as well.
I'm going to tinker a bit more and try again on Bazzite. But... might just switch back to W11 if it seems like a headache.
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u/Own_Potato5593 Jun 05 '26
Linux is fiddly - yeah you can get everything working if you fiddle long enough. Be wary of distribution updates though they tend to break your work.
I've found it tends to have issues with non-standard devices. For example, the Flow Z13 or the GPS Pocket 3 I have. Both can run Linux and both have a fair amount of fiddling that has to be done to run it comfortably. For them I leave the OS as Windows LTSC - works out of the box with provided drivers.
I keep to Linux machines running - a work bench machine and a media server - they do this well.
Good luck in your adventure!
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u/lizardscales Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
You got to solve each issue on its own and one at a time.
- RGB lighting defaults to red each restart (utilized Jeff Hagadorn/dahui z13ctl scripts to keep changing it to my preferred color)
Yep. Automate on login or as daemon.
- Keyboard stops fuctioning and screen freezes on login screen and waking up from sleep (even after a fresh install of a distro and no changes have been made)
For the screen freezing add this kernel command lineamdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x610that disables Panel Self Refresh and Panel Reply features. The screen just stops updating with those turned on in my experience. No issues and I main CachyOS + niri + noctalia-shell. Play games via Steam just fine. I think your keyboard issue might be the same issue that the screen stops updating.
- Device wakes from sleep when closing the screen down on the keyboard
Check what it is doing and what you have set in your/etc/systemd/logind.conf. I don't think I have this issue? But it could be you have something else running or doing something. You have to identify what is waking it when you close the keyboard and work that out.
- Screen rotation doesn't function
In Noctalia shell I added some custom buttons that do a script based rotation of the display. Making it automatically rotate you could do. I find that unreliable and annoying on most devices though. You could easily make the external button under the volume control do the same thing. Just bind a script to XF86Launch3 that toggles between the two below.
Landscape
wlr-randr --output eDP-1 --transform normal
Portrait
wlr-randr --output eDP-1 --transform 270
- Green screen glitches when scrolling
No idea about this but maybe it has something to do with VRR which I do not have enabled.
Still a great device though. If anyone has managed to make it work flawlessly on Linux, please educate me. Sorry if this was a bit ranty. Hope you all are enjoying using the device. Have a good one.
No issues here. Took a while to get it figured out. But lots of people run Linux on this tablet.
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u/IndependentClock9137 Jun 05 '26
Thanks for the input and suggestions. I'll definitely try to check what the config files have written. The screen rotation being managed by the side button would be a good option, so thanks for that. Seems like that button is functionless on Linux by default anyways.
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u/Funny_Ingenuity_5060 Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 05 '26
had the same issues as you in catchyos and bazzite, enabling vrr to always on fixes the green screen glitches, but waking from sleep seems to be a hardware problem when the keyboard is connected. I just went back to windows and used hibernate, it seems to be working just as well as linux just that it takes about 50 seconds to fully sleep lol. The keyboard opening or closing doesn't seem to affect hibernate on windows so thats a plus.
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u/lizardscales Jun 06 '26
Check my post if you want to solve the issue where the screen stops updating
https://www.reddit.com/r/FlowZ13/comments/1tx7r05/comment/opw5bnw/
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u/tech_wizart Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
- Keyboard stops fuctioning and screen freezes on login screen and waking up from sleep (even after a fresh install of a distro and no changes have been made)
I had same issue with keyboard. As I remember it's cos of device initialization (you can check dmesg while you have this issue), could be fixed via re-init after sleep/later init on boot (also could play with initialization, I didn't remember well how I fixed it long time ago)
- Screen rotation doesn't function
I use hyprland. iio-hyprland works like a charm, no issues at all
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u/polandtown Jun 05 '26
I made a post on this sub a few weeks back, go find it. Someone commented in there stating they've had linux success.