Aus Rog G733QSA attempt to install Fedora and "asus-linux" with Fedora 34 Spin

fedora34spin-asus-linux

# Goal: Follow asus-linix Fedora docs as much as possible to get a system working properly

https://asus-linux.org/wiki/fedora-guide/

Notes:
  - Before installation, it was confirmed that the iGPU was in "auto" mode in Windows in the Crate software.
  - Due to behviour of this laptop (G733QSA), I can not follow the instructions to not use an external monitor (at all times anyway).
    https://asus-linux.org/wiki/fedora-guide/#use-the-laptop-screen
    There are two cases where booting to a black screen seemed inevitable until I added the second monitor
    - The Fedora-34-workstation-spin live usb boots to a black screen when using only the laptop's screen.
       Connecting a monitor via HDMI does allow booting to the live usb.
    - After installing the NVIDIA drivers, Fedora boots to a black screen when using only the laptop's screen.
       A successful boot does happen if:
         - A monitor is connected via HDMI AND...
	 - "quiet" boot arg is removed.
    - (*) means boot was done with a monitor connected via HDMI
    - (**) means boot was done with a monitor connected via HDMI and "quiet" boot arg was removed.
           This was done BECAUSE IT WAS NECESSARY FOR A BOOT TO WORK
           This means a boot, with no external monitor, and without editing grub args was attempted and failed.
           This means a boot, with an external monitor, and without editing grub args was attempted and failed.
           This means a boot, with no external monitor, and editing grub args to only remove "quiet" was attempted and failed.

And yes, (**) in every occurance below means the different configurations were all tried.

################################################################################
# STEPS 
################################################################################

- Install via Fedora 34 Spin for workstation live USB (*)
  ISO https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/alt/live-respins/F34-WORK-x86_64-LIVE-20211101.iso        
- Add COPR for asus-linux, update and reboot
  Confirmed kernel in use is as expected
  kernel-devel.x86_64                               5.14.16-300.fc34                       @copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:lukenukem:asus-linux
- Install Nvidia drivers, update grub, and reboot (**)
  Gnome shell was found to be running X11 (Xorg) and
  The gnome-shell process is on the Nvidia card (per nvida-smi).
- Install Asusctl (with supergfxd and power-profiles-daemon services) and reboot (**)

################################################################################
# TESTING
################################################################################

#Set the graphics mode to use only the AMDGPU
supergfxctl -m integrated
# reboot
# Discovered that I could boot in this mode *with* a second monitor or edting grub args


#Set the graphics mode to boot up with both NVIDIA and AMDGPU
supergfxctl -m hybrid
# Found that this boots and freezes immediately (long before GDM could come up)
# unless I both: use an external monitor connected with HDMI, and remove "quiet" from grub args

################################################################################
# RESULTS 
################################################################################

Glad to have all this functionlity on a new Kernel and general sw stack.

But, I wish I could boot with Nvidia support without having an HDMI connected monitor.
TODO: figure out how to call xrandr as GDM starts. https://gist.github.com/pwyoung/05c928161ef702bfa821ec18e26c0fcb

################################################################################
# DETAILS 
################################################################################


# led-mode works
asusctl -k med led-mode static -c 0000ff 

supergfxctl -g -p # hybrid suspended  
# "suspended" seems wrong since Xorg is running on Nvidia
nvidia-smi  | grep Xorg  # Xorg is running on NvidiaGpu


# switch to integrated mode caused gnome shell crash and did not change the mode
# but repeating the attempt did work
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
supergfxctl -m integrated
If anything fails check `journalctl -b -u supergfxd`

Note that nvidia-drm.modeset=0 is required in kernel cmdline to enable the nvidia drivers to be unloaded on demand`

Graphics mode changed to integrated. User action required is: logout

cat /proc/cmdline 
pm_debug_messages amd_pmc.dyndbg=+p acpi.dyndbg=file drivers/acpi/x86/s2idle.c +p BOOT_IMAGE=(hd0,gpt6)/vmlinuz-5.14.16-300.fc34.x86_64 root=UUID=a6c73e61-6411-4e75-8d8a-61891e61afcb ro rootflags=subvol=root rd.driver.blacklist=nouveau modprobe.blacklist=nouveau nvidia-drm.modeset=0 rhgb

Log out and back in
"gnome-shell quit unexpectedly"

supergfxctl -g
Current graphics mode: hybrid

# reboot (**)
Got the same results

supergfxctl -g
Current graphics mode: hybrid

# reboot (**)

#
# Worked
#

supergfxctl -g
Current graphics mode: integrated

lsmod | egrep -i "nvidia|amdgpu|nouveau"
amdgpu               7802880  2
drm_ttm_helper         16384  1 amdgpu
ttm                    86016  2 amdgpu,drm_ttm_helper
iommu_v2               24576  1 amdgpu
gpu_sched              45056  1 amdgpu
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 amdgpu
drm_kms_helper        303104  1 amdgpu
drm                   630784  7 gpu_sched,drm_kms_helper,amdgpu,drm_ttm_helper,ttm

xlsclients  | grep gnome
fedora  gnome-shell

gnome-shell -> settings -> about : shows WAYLAND

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Check out the hybrid gpu situation
# Q:is this muxing the same as other Rogs?
# A: probably, seems like there is no Hardware Mux on this
# --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# kernel support for hw mux
sudo grep -i switcheroo /boot/config-*
/boot/config-5.14.14-200.fc34.x86_64:CONFIG_VGA_SWITCHEROO=y
/boot/config-5.14.16-300.fc34.x86_64:CONFIG_VGA_SWITCHEROO=y

# file is created if this tool ran (which does require XXX.modeset=1 to be set, which it usually is not, 
# but this was tested with integraed mode set by supergfx and grub options had "amdgpu.modeset=1")
sudo ls /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo
ls: cannot access '/sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo': No such file or directory

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HybridGraphics
vga_switcheroo is the kernel mechanism that allows you to switch between GPUs if your machine has a hardware mux. Note that this method is not supported by all machines and only works if you are using the opensource driver (nouveau, radeon) and not the proprietary ones (nvidia, fglrx). 

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